Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 13th October 2022. Forward were 193 Cattle, 2439 Sheep and 7 Pigs.
64 Prime Bulls sold to 299ppk or £2515
29 Prime Steers sold to 312ppk or £2260
100 Prime Heifers sold to 328ppk or £2371
1913 Prime Lambs sold to 308ppk or £150
526 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £215
7 Prime Pigs sold to 142ppk or £115
Prime Bulls (64) – Bull beef bounds along blissfully through October with less forward resulting in a fabulous trade, over one third of the bulls sold over 280 pence per kilo and over half sold beyond £2000 leaving a sale average of 263ppk and an unbelievable £1922. Top of the prestigious pile was regular consignor L S Staley of Bluestone House Farm, Marwood with a superb 700kg British Blue selling for 299 pence per kilo, several superstars from other vendors followed him closely to achieve some excellent returns. Leading the gross values were the brilliant Limousin bulls of the Knaggs family, East Newbiggin, Sadberge; son Josh at £2491 only narrowly beaten by father Eric of W & M Knaggs & Son with a price of £2515. Fewer Friesian’s offered today however they too impressed, the pick came from R Hall & Son, Brotton reaching 214ppk and £1515. Listed below are some of the top performers.
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 to average 293ppk and £2120
J A & M Boyes Ltd, Cleatlam sold 5 to average 284ppk and £1914
J J Horn, Marske sold 2 to average 283ppk and £2000
K & A Harker, Worsall sold 2 to average 280ppk and £2194
J J Kemp & Son, Stillington sold 4 to average 280ppk and £2092
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 299 288 LS Staley. 298 290 289 276 J Layfield. 292 289 282 281 280 JA&M Boyes Ltd. 288 282 D Richardson & Co Ltd. 288 Josh Knaggs. 288 280 JJ Horn. 287 Messrs WA Fettes. 287 270×2 JH&M&NW Brown. 286×2 284 279 269 AG Watson & Sons. 286 284 278 276 JJ Kemp & Son. 286 276 K&A Harker. 284 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 279 270 264 TW Clark & Son. 276 W&M Knaggs & Son.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2515 W&M Knaggs & Son. £2491 Josh Knaggs. £2436 Messrs WA Fettes. £2399 £2093 WJ&AS Bowes & Son. £2260 £2136 £2098 AG Watson & Sons. £2232 £2156 K&A Harker. £2229 £2208 £2134 D Richardson & Co Ltd. £2196 £2156 £2092 £2038 £2014 J Layfield. £2161 £2107 JJ Kemp & Son. £2151 JH&M&NW Brown. £2148 £2093 LS Staley. £2101 GW Dobson & Son. £2081 TW Clark & Son. £2063 Rigel Pedigree. £2011 JA&M Boyes Ltd.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 214 200 R Hall & Son. 206 GS Dowson.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1515 £1176 R Hall & Son. £1186 GS Dowson.
Native Breed Bulls – Top prices ppk 238 225 W&R Kemp & Son. 222 214 GS Dowson.
Lead Grossing Native Breed Bulls £1539 £1500 W&R Kemp & son. £1269 £1119 GS Dowson.
Prime Clean Cattle (129) – Absolutely flying, a few more forward enjoyed the magical live ring trade as it continues to stick two fingers up at the deplorable deadweight, sell them on their feet, you are in for a treat; no weight cap, age discrimination or dependency on the red herring, sorry red tractor. Both steers and heifers today average 284ppk with the whole show levelling at a wonderful £1714. The regular selling Hirst’s have a thirst for top prices and they again quenched themselves today with our leading heifer per kilo a 584kg British Blue selling to H Taylor & Sons Butchers, Darlington for 328 pence. Four Limousin heifers shared second place at 326ppk including another from the hot Hirst pen, two from J V & J A Hodgson and a smart sort from York based raiders P & N Tattersall. Leicestershire’s M & G Chantrell Ltd are another in form outfit and they claimed the top priced steer per kilo with a cracking 595kg Limousin at 312 pence, the top ten steers all sold over 300 pence joining a remarkable 37 heifers in this week’s 300 club. Gross values now and what a day we had; some thirteen clean cattle sold the top side of £2000. Few of late have troubled the might of Barker Farming Partnership, Scorton however a blissful run travelled all the way from Aberdeenshire and laid down a commendable challenge to the Scorton feeders. Messrs W A Fettes, Braes of Enzie, Buckie produced Limousin heifers to a massive £2289 and also our top grossing steer a British Blue at £2260, in response the local firm sold British Blue steers to £2256 and topped the heifers at £2371 with a wonderful British Blonde. The list below is depressing news for the deadweight procurement officers.
Steers
J L Marks, Bishopton sold 2 to average 301ppk and £1672
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 to average 299ppk and £1696
M & G Chantrell, Leicestershire sold 11 to average 294ppk and £1753
W A Fettes, Aberdeenshire sold 2 to average 293ppk and £2132
Heifers
R Hirst, Neasham sold 5 to average 319ppk and £1812
J L Marks, Bishopton sold 5 to average 319ppk and £1784
P & N Tattersall, York sold 4 to average 306ppk and £1799
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 305ppk and £1870
M & G Chantrell, Leicestershire sold 5 to average 299ppk and £1703
Barker Farming Partnership, Scorton sold 3 to average 296ppk and £2160
Steers – Top prices ppk 312 310×2 308 302 291 289×2 284 282 266 M&G Chantrell Ltd. 310 Barker Farming Partnership. 305 303 289 B Walker. 305 299 JL Marks. 303 284 Messrs WA Fettes. 289 288 WJ Smith & Partners. 285 A Crowder. 280 265 WA Armstrong. 267 257 RD Musgrave. 240 231 T Watson.
Lead Grossing Steers £2260 £2005 Messrs WA Fettes. £2256 Barker Farming Partnership. £1896 31856 £1813 31810 £1791 £1765 £1758 £1710 £1681 £1638 M&G Chantrell Ltd. £1820 £1724 £1543 B Walker. £1818 A Crowder. £1743 JL Marks. £1661 £1621 WJ Smith & Partners. £1632 £1598 WA Armstrong. £1567 £1493 RD Musgrave.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 328 326 324 319 300 R Hirst. 326×2 319 318 315 313 305 304 JV&JA Hodgson. 326 314 313 P&N Tattersall. 325×2 320 315 312 JL Marks. 320 309 M&G Chantrell Ltd. 319×2 310 Messrs WA Fettes. 319 313 307 WA Armstrong. 315 304 Barker Farming Partnership. 308×2 EA Martin & Son. 306 304 SH Watson & sons. 305 WJ Smith & Partners. 304 WF Hustwit.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2371 £2223 £1887 Barker Farming Partnership. £2289 £2227 £2188 £2155 £2092 £1992 £1990 £1980 £1949 £1907 £1889 Messrs WA Fettes. £2041 £1931 JL Marks. £2005 £1962 AC Simpson & Son. £1971 £1920 £1910 £1907×2 £1882 £1878 £1871 £1862 JV&JA Hodgson. £1940 EA Martin. £1915 £1878 £1863 R Hirst. £1906 £1851 £1833 P&N Tattersall. £1891 M&G Chantrell Ltd. £1817 WA Armstrong. £1812 WF Hustwit. £1802 SH Watson.
Prime Lambs (1913) – Mart reports, be they good or bad from across the nation carry the same message, buyers are keen to meet the lambs with meat, the coin lies in the loin as better tops make bigger chops; as we now move into the harder months the feed bag is more essential than ever. Once again, the fully fleshed enjoyed a fine trade, today’s weighed straight sale averaged very similar to last week at 240ppk and £106 which is £4 per head better than this week last year. A fantastic pen of six 40kg Beltex lambs from W Ramsay & Sons, Blakeley Hill, Wingate led the pence per kilo at 308 pence, top gross value went to a heavyweight 67kg Texel from J G Atkinson, Staindale Grange, Hornby when he sold for £150. Stacks of the better fed sheep sold in the £120’s and £130’s once again but make no mistake the eagle-eyed buyers can spot a lean sheep from a mile away.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 308 292 281 W Ramsay & Sons. 300 257 MW&M Skidmore. 291 282 265 262 259 254 M&RJ Hall. 286 N&A Bainbridge. 286 269 259 257 J&A Layfield. 278 277 260 D&HM Hodgson. 275 M Smith. 273×2 M Cockburn. 272 KA Luke. 272 D&AM Bayles. 271 258 G Thompson & Sons. 271 GC&JC Pullan. 268 258 DG&B Edwards & DJ Cadman. 268 J Gilson. 264 262 256 255 252 AS&G Donaldson. 264 JE Suddes & Son. 261 254 JA&A Herbert. 260 WR Thompson. 257 S Thompson & Son.
Lead Grossing Lambs £150 JG Atkinson. £144 JJ Horn. £139.50 FD Hall. £138 £128 £127 JN Brown & Son. £135.50 £133.50 £130 £126.50 GD&AF Adamson. £133 £131 D&HM Hodgson. £133 £127.50 GC&JC Pullan. £132.50 AS&G Donaldson. £131.50 £125.50 B Layfield. £130 R Wade & Son. £130 KM Boanas. £129.50 £124.50 PR&KM Brown. £129 JA&A Herbert. £128.80 Melissa Donaldson. £128.50 £126 P Cockburn. £128.50×2 £125.50 J&A Layfield. £127.50 WR Thompson. £127.50 Pear Tree Projects. £127 £126 £122 N&A Bainbridge.
Cast Ewes & Rams (526) – The better continental ewes took a lift, heavy ewes a similar trade and no change for the lean ewes which if healthy are still worth more through the store ring. Top of the tree was Leyburn based Abigail Laws with a super Texel ewe reaching £215, her closest challenger from J R & A R Wall, Raygill Farm, Lartington also joined the £200 club. Mule ewes again if fleshy sold either side of £90 whilst the best pens of horned sheep were trading £50 to £55.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £215 AG Laws. £200 £128 £100 JR&AR Wall. £150 W Ramsay & Sons. £150 GD&AF Adamson. £148 N&A Bainbridge. £140 £116 M&RJ Hall. £130 £118 M&A Gaskin. £130 £126 J&A Layfield. £129 £116 IR Appleton. £123 JH Johnson. £120 £115 C Dawson. £119 £100 W Wearmouth & Son. £114 J Holliday. £114 A&EJ Dobinson. £114 A Pennell. £106 C Dennis. £105 AW Sanderson. £105 A Forrest. £102GF Whitfield.
Prime Pigs (7) – Report writer sings angelically…… “I’ve heard there was a secret chord, That David played, and it pleased the Lord, but you don’t really care for music, do you? Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelu…uuu…. jah”
Finally, the pork scratching scented penny has dropped with our pig price person and we have moved up a gear to join the ongoing bacon boom.
Pigs – Top prices ppk 142 120 110 C Weightman.
Lead Grossing Pigs £115 £104 £81 C Weightman.
