Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 2nd May 2024. Forward were 156 cattle and 1970 sheep.
31 Prime Bulls sold to 328ppk or £2446
28 Prime Steers sold to 329ppk or £2304
96 Prime Heifers sold to 347ppk or £2271
1 Cast Cow sold for 176ppk and £1372
46 New Season Lambs sold to 465ppk or £215
1414 Prime Hoggs sold to 465ppk or £220
510 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £300
Prime Bulls (31) – Numbers disappointing, quality variable however trade remains strong. An excellent British Blue from W J Scott Ltd, Low Leam Farm, West Woodburn set the pace when he sold for 328 pence per kilo and £2446; three local feeders followed closest with tidy bulls from J R Knox & Son, G H Farms Ltd and C Binks & Son each more than worthy of mention. The super consistent R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall, Brotton were once again the pace setters in the dairy bull section as they sold Friesian’s to a top of 248ppk and £1517. Listed below are the top pen averages.
J R Knox & Son, Heighington sold 2 to average 307ppk and £2263
G H Farms Ltd, Bishop Auckland sold 2 to average 299ppk and £2136
C Binks & Son, Walworth sold 2 to average 297ppk and £2044
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 328 WJ Scott Ltd. 310 305 JR Knox & Son. 309 289 GH Farms Ltd. 307 290 C Binks & Son. 284 JK&CE Farming. 266 255 237 JC&P Tallentire. 249 GS Dowson. 248 238 J Richmond. 239 JM&S Walton.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2446 WJ Scott Ltd. £2278 £2247 JR Knox & Son. £2218 £2054 GH Farms Ltd. £2114 £1974 C Binks & Son. £2010 JK&CE Farming. £1817 £1804 J Richmond. £1807 Rigel Pedigree. £1768 JM&S Walton. £1721 £1558 JC&P Tallentire.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 248 238 237 R Hall & Son. 220 JK&CE Farming. 209 194 190 JC&P Tallentire.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1517 £1489 £1414 R Hall & Son. £1315 JK&CE Farming. £1310 £1190 £1144 JC&P Tallentire.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 264 236 GS Dowson. 246 241 W&R Kemp & Son. 200 WM Allison & Son Ltd.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £1874 £1477 GS Dowson. £1780 WM Allison & Son. £1677 £1359 W&R Kemp & Son.
OTM – Top prices ppk 176 WR Thompson.
Lead Grossing OTM £1372 WR Thompson.
Clean Cattle (124) – The clean beef improved on the week to see the heifers average 304ppk and the steers 283ppk, the E and U grades were noticeably dearer whilst the bottom end R and O grades traded at similar levels. Top of the day per kilo at 347 pence was a superb 600kg Limousin heifer from regular vendors J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange, Summerhouse; following her in to the winner’s enclosure were two other familiar firms, R Hirst, Neasham Grange and T W Clark & Son, Frankland Farm at 244ppk. Thirty-four further heifers sold between 320ppk and 342ppk. Topping the steers per kilo was Ponteland based M F Hall, Woodhill Farm with a beautiful 596kg British Blue selling at 329 pence, his closest rival was a smart Limousin from the Askwiths of Low Mown Meadows at 321ppk ahead of two terrific heavyweight steers from I Marshall & Sons, Hope House Farm at 311ppk. To the gross values and it was the magic from the Marshall’s which ran away with things as their super steers sold thrice over £2200 with their best a 741kg Limousin reaching £2304. Plenty of the better-bred heavier heifers sold over £2000, the leader at £2271 was an expertly fed 682kg Limousin from T W Clark & Son, she was duly followed by a brilliant British Blonde from W J Scott Ltd, Low Leam Farm which sold for £2139. See below some of the days leading consignments.
Steers
M F Hall, Ponteland sold 2 to average 312ppk and £2001
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 309ppk and £1916
I Marshall & Sons, Bishop Middleham sold 4 to average 307ppk and £2240
W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn sold 3 to average 297ppk and £2049
J K & C E Farming, Piercebridge sold 2 to average 296ppk and £2054
Heifers
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 2 to average 335ppk and £1849
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 331ppk and £1884
W J Scott Ltd, West Woodburn sold 4 to average 322ppk and £2014
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 321ppk and £1909
M F Hall, Ponteland sold 7 to average 321ppk and £1845
R Hirst, Neasham sold 10 to average 319ppk and £1871
T W Clark & Son, Durham sold 4 to average 314ppk and £2065
Steers – Top prices ppk 329 299 MF Hall. 321 298 Askwiths. 311×2 306 301 I Marshall & Sons. 310 283 JK&CE Farming. 306 G&JY Marshall. 305 295 292 WJ Scott Ltd. 274 270 JA Gilson.
Lead Grossing Steers £2304 £2260 £2242 £2152 I Marshall & Sons. £2177 £2000 £1970 WJ Scott Ltd. £2135 £1972 JK&CE Farming. £2042 £1960 MF Hall. £1929 £1904 Askwiths. £1846 JA Gilson. £1717 £1668 M&A Bainbridge.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 347 340 336 334 333 327 JV&JA Hodgson. 344 333 TW Clark & Son. 344 339 333 331 330 R Hirst. 342 334 329 327 321 MF Hall. 339×2 338 329 327 WA Armstrong. 339 B Walker. 336 326 Askwiths. 335 322 320 WJ Scott Ltd. 333 B Walker. 332 327 JE Suddes & Son. 328 327 G&JY Marshall. 320 WR Thompson. 320 RO Gilson. 319 317 WF Hustwit. 316 SH Watson & Son.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2271 £2129 £1981 TW Clark & Son. £2139 £2067 £1936 £1916 WJ Scott Ltd. £2108 £2029 £2008 RO Gilson. £2091 £2058 £1932 WA Armstrong. £2082 £2071 £2025 £2005 £2002 £1949 JV&JA Hodgson. £2062 £2002 £1940 JH&M&NW Brown. £2029 £2022 £1983 £1939 £1938 R Hirst. £1987 MF Hall. £1985 Askwiths. £1965 £1953 £1937 WF Hustwit. £1958 £1952 £1947 JE Suddes & Son. £1900 SW Thompson.
New Season Lambs (46) – The springers remain slow to spring forward in the North East, those trickling forward thus far sit around eighty pence per kilo ahead of this time last year. Top per kilo today were terrific 43kg Texel lambs from I Burn & Sons, Grange House Farm, Stamfordham which sold for 465 pence; W A Wardman Ltd, Thrushwood Farm, Yearby was in close attendance twice selling lambs at 462ppk. Top of the gross values at £215 were a trio of heavyweight 56kg Texel cross Suffolk lambs from P J Tindale, Preston Tilery with the aforementioned lambs from the Wardman’s close behind reaching £212.
Spring Lambs – Top prices ppk 465×2 460 453 420 I Burn & Sons. 462 460×2 430 396 WA Wardman Ltd. 452 GF Whitfield. 448 W Tindale. 434 P&CM Graham. 423 RA Patterson & Son. 420×2 383 PJ Tindale. 348 345 C Moffett.
Lead Grossing Spring lambs £215 £210×2 PJ Tindale. £212×2 £210 £185×2 WA Wardman Ltd. £210 £204 £200×2 £184 I Burn & Sons. £200 P&CM Graham. £190 GF Whitfield. £166 W Tindale. £165 RA Patterson & Son. £150 £145 C Moffett.
Prime Hoggs (1414) – The quality is becoming more varied, those with good runs of well fleshed hoggs continue in fine form however a bottom end best described as miscellaneous dropped the weighed straight average on paper to 374 pence per kilo. Two vendors shared the top ten places per kilo, top spot at 465 pence went to P J & M P Gilhespy, Ponteland with the remarkable weekly run from R Atkinson, Scorton in close attendance selling over 140 hoggs over 430ppk. Still, plenty of the fit heavy hoggs sell over £200, three times bidding reached £220 as the brilliant feeding of A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm twice matched the price set earlier in the sale by A Proctor, St James Street, Stanley. As with the cattle some of the days top averages are listed below.
P J & M P Gilhespy, Ponteland sold 42 to average 423ppk
R Atkinson, Scorton sold 399 to average 414ppk
R E & L Frank, Stokesley sold 20 to average 408ppk
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 53 to average £201
R E & L Frank, Stokesley sold 20 to average £200
J & A Layfield, Hamsterley sold 50 to average £198
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 465 435 430 425 405 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 454 434×3 433×2 431 412×2 404 403×3 400 397 R Atkinson. 416 400 RE&L Frank. 416 409 390 385 TW Clark & Son. 412 395 390×2 Whittington. 408 406 395 387×2 383 PJ Tindale. 404 K&MM Henderson. 396 390 J&A Layfield. 393 TN Callender. 390 J Pallister & Sons. 390×2 J&D Gibson. 390 A Crowder. 388 384 379×2 AC Simpson & Son. 387 C Binks & Son.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £220×2 £218 £211.50 £210×3 £208 £207 £205 £200 £198 £192 £191 AC Simpson & Son. £220 £215 £214 M Proctor. £216 £204 N Demuschamp. £214 £207 £202 £200×4 £198 £194×2 J&A Layfield. £212 J&D Gibson. £202 £200×4 £195×2 £194×2 £190 R Atkinson. £200×2 RE&L Frank. £200 PJ Tindale. £200 JL&J Spensley. £198 O&LW Welford. £196 D&PH Brown. £196 £192 DE Stones. £195 £191 JR Knox & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (510) – Not quite the barnstorming trade of last week but still the ewes remain a straight shot. Much talk of folk building themselves an ark lately, it would need to be quite some size to fit two of every breed represented in our ewe ring today as a very eclectic mix assembled. A gigantic British Rouge ewe from Bridge House Farm, Lincolnshire led the pack by a mile when she sold for a straight £300, a pair of Beltex from W A Wardman Ltd, Thrushwood Farm followed next at £220. Not a particularly heavy show of Mule ewes averaged nicely over £100 with several pens selling in and around £130 whilst horned ewes carrying flesh could sell anywhere £60 to £90 throughout the sale. Still the lambing catastrophes appear and trade remains sharp, even for the disheartened, downtrodden, decrepit and death-defying old girls.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £300 Bridge House Farm. £220 £185 £170 £156 WA Wardman ltd. £190 £150×2 J&D Gibson. £185 W Burton. £182 J Jopling. £181 £158×2 £130 RA Patterson & Son. £174 £150×2 £130 Beckwith. £170 A&EJ Dobinson. £170 £130 P&CM Graham. £163 AJ&KM Foster & Son. £150 £130 C Moffett. £150×2 TN Callender & Son. £150 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £150 W Tindale. £150 J&RA Speed. £150 £130 TM&A Bellas & Son. £146 £138 EW Grieves. £143 Rose A Farms Ltd. £142 JJ Horn.
