Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 10th October 2024. Forward were 206 cattle and 1726 sheep.
81 Prime Bulls sold to 343ppk or £2727
20 Prime Steers sold to 367ppk or £2239
103 Prime Heifers sold to 398ppk or £2510
2 Cast Cattle sold to 174ppk or £2032
1435 Prime Lambs sold to 372ppk or £170
291 Cast Ewes/Rams sold to £222
Prime Bulls (81) – A few more bulls forward on the week and more are needed as another excellent trade developed this week to see them average 292ppk and £1977 per head. The best end and heavy weight bulls enjoyed a super trade with half of those offered reaching 300ppk or more. The top three prices per kilo all went to C H & S E Armstrong, Middle Moor Farm, North Charlton with stunning Limousin’s between 338ppk and 343ppk, the pick of them all a wonderful 32-month-old weighing 732kg. With half of the bulls beyond £2000 it was a tightly packed and impressive leader board for the gross values, a real quality quartet went beyond £2500 including the above-mentioned topper from Middle Moor (£2510) two excellent sorts from D Richardson & Co, Bracken House (£2526 & £2655) but best of all at a wonderful £2727 was a superb 834kg Limousin from T A Horn, Lower Griseburn, Great Asby. Friesian feeding from M A & P D Foster, Smithy House Farm, Great Smeaton led that breed this week topping at 244ppk and £1804 whereas Aberdeen Angus led the native breeds at £1839 from C H & S E Armstrong, Middle Moor or 281ppk from R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall. See below some of the day’s top consignments.
T A Horn, Appleby sold 2 to average 329ppk and £2542
K & A Harker, Worsall sold 2 to average 328ppk and £2429
M & G Chantrell Ltd, Leicestershire sold 16 to average 318ppk and £1995
T W Clark & Son, Durham sold 6 to average 314ppk and £2247
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 4 to average 308ppk and £2161
D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold 4 to average 303ppk and £2438
Continental Bulls Per Kilo – 343 341 338 320 C H & S E Armstrong. 337 N White. 334 322 K & A Harker. 333 324 314 311 310 T W Clark & Son. 333 331 325(x3) 320 319 317 316(x5) 311 310 M & G Chantrell Ltd. 333 327 T A Horn. 326 L R Welsh & Co. 319 314 312 D Richardson & Co Ltd. 315 Tallentire. 312 F W Hodgson & Son.
Native Breed Bulls Per Kilo – 281 R Hall & Son. 263 J A & J Herbert. 262 Tallentire. 262 246 224 C H & S E Armstrong.
Friesian Bulls Per Kilo – 244 240 M A & P D Foster. 238 236 G W Dobson & Son. 231 R Hall & Son. 226 J K & C E Farming.
Continental Bulls Per Head – £2727 £2357 T A Horn. £2655 £2526 £2386 £2184 D Richardson & Co Ltd. £2510 £2474 £2387 £2201 £2192 £2106 C H & S E Armstrong. £2488 £2369 K & A Harker. £2355 £2313 £2257 £2237 £2217 £2101 T W Clark & Son. £2284 £2184 £2093 £2082 L R Welsh & Co. £2220 L S Staley. £2183 £2136 £2065 £2054(x2) M & G Chantrell Ltd. £2177 £2160 J J Kemp & Son. £2156 £2096 N White. £2049 M A & P D Foster.
Native Breed Bulls Per Head – £1839 £1773 £1507 C H & S E Armstrong. £1787 Mayfield Beef Shorthorns. £1775 R Hall & Son. £1601 J A & A Herbert. £1475 Tallentire.
Friesian Bulls Per Head – £1804 £1607 M A & P D Foster. £1491 £1456 G W Dobson & Son. £1448 J K & C E Farming. £1416 R Hall & Son.
Cast Cattle Per Kilo – 174 P T Stephenson & Son. 150 N Howard.
Cast Cattle Per Head – £2032 P T Stephenson & Son. £873 N Howard.
Clean Cattle (123) – How was the clean beef trade? Quite simply, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Unbelievable scenes, they’ve somehow gone up another gear, the sizzling heifers averaged a mind blowing 347.34 pence per kilo whilst a plainer show of steers levelled at 305.6ppk. Butchers’ quality has never sold so well, five heifers in the 390’s, seven in the 380’s and fourteen in the 370’s make for some incredible reading. Hat’s off to Robin and Imogen Hirst of Neasham Grange today as they produced four of the top five including our winner, a beautiful 571kg Limousin at 398ppk. Second place at 396ppk went to a 566kg Limousin heifer from Micheal and Jamie Gilhespy, Low House with the Hirst’s up next at 394ppk twice and 390ppk once; to put this in to context, only three cattle bettered these four at last year’s Christmas show. Mark today on the calendar for the Callender family of Ox Eye Farm as they deservedly topped the steers per kilo at a marvellous 367 pence with their handy weight Limousin, well finished suckler bred steers were in high demand and like for like look very close to the red-hot heifers. Top gross value on the day went to a hefty 763kg Limousin heifer from J N Harrison & Sons, Colepike Home Farm when she reached £2510; some super feeding from A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm twice realised over £2500 with the Hirst’s of Neasham and the Lawson’s of Hundith Farm, Wigton both snapping at the leaders’ heels. A lightweight offering of steers averaged only 583kg, top of the gross values was one of the few bucking the trend as an excellent 727kg Limousin from A Crowder, Butsfield Burn Farm impressed selling for £2239. Some mesmerising pen averages are listed below.
Heifers
R Hirst, Neasham sold 11 to average 382ppk and £2245
PJ & MP Gilhespy, Ponteland sold 6 to average 370ppk and £1999
W Miller, Wigton sold 11 to average 370ppk and £1908
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 4 to average 365ppk and £2337
Messrs Lawson & Son, Wigton sold 3 to average 363ppk and £2347
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay Colliery sold 4 to average 359ppk and £2018
JV & JA Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 to average 350ppk and £2026
Steers
T N Callender, Whinney Hill sold 2 to average 349ppk and £1867
Taylor Bros, Richmond sold 2 to average 336ppk and £1893
I Marshall & Sons, Bishop Middleham sold 3 to average 328ppk and £1988
M Robinson & Sons, Staindrop sold 2 to average 321ppk and £1919
Steers- Top Prices PPK 367 332 TN Callender. 344 327 312 I Marshall & Sons. 343 329 Taylor Bros LTD. 323 320 M Robinson & Sons. 320 P&N Tattersall. 308 A Crowder. 294 286 285 278 JA Gilson Agricultural Contractors. 292 274 DL&D Lovegreen. 290 D Lupton.
Lead Grossing Steers- £2239 A Crowder. £2119 £2047 £1800 I Marshall & Sons. £1989 £1746 TN Callender. £1958 £1829 Taylor Bros LTD. £1955 £1883 M Robinson & Sons. £1896 M Ord. £1888 P&N Tattersall. £1781 DL&D Lovegreen. £1754 D Lupton. £1665 £1658 JA Gilson Agricultural Contractors.
Heifers- Top Prices PPK 398 394 x2 390 388 387 386 385 377 363 R Hirst. 396 389 376 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 385 379 378 375 x2 370 369 x2 364 W Miller. 385 375 374 369 366 JV&JA Hodgson. 379 377 Lawson & Son. 378 374 363 AC Simpson. 378 368 JE Suddes & Son. 369 368 363 JG&M Little. 368 P&N Tattersall. 367 P&JH Davison. 364 A Crowder.
Lead Grossing Heifers- £2510 JB&N Harrison & Sons. £2509 £2501 £2354 AC Simpson & Son. £2482 £2386 2174 Lawson & Son. £2409 £2371 £2344 £2325 £2312 £2304 £2272 £2256 £2094 £2065 R Hirst. £2280 M Robinson & Sons. £2254 £2213 £2182 £2169 £2089 £2081 JV&JA Hodgson. £2249 JE Suddes & Son. £2241 £2050 £2019 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £2226 C Binks & Son. £2209 £2029 P&JH Davison. £2156 £2101 £2031 J Richmond. £2136 JJ Kemp & Son. £2103 £2026 P&N Tattersall. £2021 W Miller. £2018 JG&M Little. £2005 N White.
Prime Lambs (1435) – The lamb trade rumbles along still 20ppk ahead of this week last year to level today at 277ppk; very much the same old story unfolded as the fed lambs claimed a real premium, it did at times look like Noah had no room left aboard the ark after the floods yesterday, a very mixed bottom end was certainly on display. Top of the day per kilo, a fine pair of 43kg Beltex lambs from P J Tindale, Preston Tilery which sold at 372 pence, the same run followed at 350ppk along with Andrew Kelly of Fryup at the same price. Top of the gross values were an excellent pair of 50kg Texel lambs from M H Hodgson, East Greystones at £170; the same pen followed with Suffolk’s at £164. Next in line were five vendors at £160, that list comprised of P J Tindale, Brafferton; AWSM Farms, Hutton Magna; J C Hope & Son, Cockermouth; M & A Gaskin, Eggleston and the Wilsons of Hollinside.
Lambs- Top Prices PPK 372 350 320 314 310 PJ Tindale. 350 A Kelly. 347 317 315 314 307 x3 304 298 x2 292 AWSM Farms. 343 x2 335 329 326 324 JC Hope & Son. 340 298 MH Hodgson. 337 K&PM Lough. 331 317 304 295 DG&PD Ayre. 324 N&LL Brown & Son. 319 304 DL&D Lovegreen. 314 308 295 Wilsons. 304 290 JA&A Herbert. 302 292 AW Sanderson. 300 D&G Spry. 300 290 Anthony Tindale. 298 JC Thwaite & Son. £295 JJ Horn. 293 JG Hall. 293 x2 RO Gilson. 291 x2 RG Richardson.
Lead Grossing Lambs- £170 £164 £154 MH Hodgson. £160 £145 x2 Wilsons. £160 M&A Gaskin. £160 £152 £147 £144 PJ Tindale. £160 £145 £141 x3 JC Hope & Son. £160 x2 £155 £152 £151 £146 x3 £143 AWSM Farms. £156 x2 £152 £150 JA Gilson Agricultural Contractors. £156 £147 £146 £145 T Lawson & Son. £152 x2 £152 £140 JC Thwaite & Son. £151 Wilsons. £150 £140 DL&D Lovegreen. £150 £144 £140 R Wood & Son. £146 x2 DG&PD Ayre. £146 Kirkbride & Bell. £144 £140 RG Richardson. £144 JG Hall. £142 J Butterfield & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (291) – Dearer by a lump with a fresh face amongst the buyers at ringside, the whole sale averaged just over £99. A pair of Texel ewes from J & A Layfield led the way when they sold at £222 apiece; plenty of the heavier continental ewes sold between £150 and £200. Mule ewes improved also with plenty in three figures and with a top of £139 whilst hill ewes sold to £61 for a pen of twenty Blackface.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep- £222 £190 £131 J&A Layfield. £190 £149 J A & A Layfield. £176 x2 N Howard. £174 £129 TK Smith & Sons. £172 RG Richardson. £171 £134 £121 £120 £110 JA Gilson Agricultural Contractors. £170 J Milbank & Sons. £158 JH Johnson. £156 £113 R Wood & Son. £147 £144 CM Cameron. £140 E Scott & Sons. £139 JR&J Crowe. £139 S Richardson. £137 F Myers & Sons. £136 £135 G Thompson & Sons. £126 £124 ABP Wilsons. £121 N Medd & Son. £120 JA&A Herbert. £113 R Wood & Son. £111 N&LL Brown & Son. £110 Gray.
