Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 14th August 2025. Forward were 140 cattle and 1729 sheep.
59 Prime Bulls sold to 416ppk or £3609
18 Prime Steers sold to 439ppk or £3206
63 Prime Heifers sold to 464ppk or £2858
1571 Prime Lambs sold to 450ppk or £195
158 Cast Ewes/Rams sold to £220
Prime Bulls (59) – Dearer on the week to average 379ppk and £2666, the best bulls remain similar with eighteen over four pound and fifteen beyond £3000 but a noticeable lift appeared in the middle ground as the first dairy crosses and native breeds jumped 10-15ppk. Two bulls shared the top spot per kilo at 416 pence as Limousin’s from A G Watson & Sons, Nunstainton Grange and also F W Hodgson & Son, Burton House set the pace. The on-song Hodgson bulls followed just a penny adrift with a British Blonde from P Weightman & Sons, Hallfield next at 414ppk ahead of three other vendors at 413ppk. A big lump of a Limousin from A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm topped the gross values when he weighed in at 916kg and sold for £3609; next in line at £3403 came W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Stainton Hill House ahead of another Simpson superstar at £3337 and a good sort from R W & R Henry, Holme Farm at £3318. The pick of the indigenous breeds was a smart Beef Shorthorn from H W & J Birkbeck, Castle Hill, Kirkby Stephen when he sold for £2691 and 378ppk, knocking on the native door were some well fleshed Aberdeen Angus bulls from C H & S E Armstrong, Middle Moor Farm to tops of 367ppk and £2506. A few Friesians forward also enjoyed a sharper shot, top this week was N White, Barf House at 329ppk and £2171. Credit to the top five vendors listed below who all averaged over 400ppk.
P Weightman & Sons sold 2 (716kg) average 411ppk & £2946
AC Simpson & Son sold 3 (809kg) average 404ppk & £3276
PJ&ES Rogerson sold 2 (729kg) average 404ppk & £2949
RW&R Henry sold 3 (765kg) average 402ppk & £3078
WA Wardman Ltd sold 4 (734kg) average 402ppk & £2957
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 416 415 391 FW Hodgson & Son. 416 408 407 393 390 382 AG Watson & Sons. 414 408 P Weightman & Sons. 413 411 405 384 WA Wardman Ltd. 413 396 PJ&ES Rogerson. 413 410 394 AC Simpson & Son. 411 401 396 RW&R Henry. 407 CH&SE Armstrong. 402 JA&M Boyes Ltd. 400 JK&CE Farming. 399 392 387 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 387 375 JA&A Herbert. 387 Taylor Bros.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £3609 £3337 £2882 AC Simpson & Son. £3403 £3115 £2892 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £3318 £3061 £2855 RW&R Henry. £3258 P Weightman & Sons. £3223 £3108 £3107 £3086 £3039 £2874 £2812 AG Watson & Sons. £3191 £2934 £2891 £2812 WA Wardman Ltd. £3033 £2826 FW Hodgson & Son. £3027 £2871 PJ&ES Rogerson. £2880 JK&CE Farming. £2865 £2809 JA&M Boyes Ltd. £2797 £2747 CH&SE Armstrong.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 329 N White. 320 GW Dobson. 311 304 JR Spink. 310 CH&SE Armstrong.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £2171 N White. £2150 GW Dobson. £2131 £2058 JR Spink. £1971 CH&SE Armstrong.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 378 HW&J Birkbeck. 367 358 350 348 339 CH&SE Armstrong. 357 JA&A Herbert. 342 334 GS Dowson.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £2691 HW&J Birkbeck. £2506 £2422 £2396 £2394 £2261 CH&SE Armstrong. £2320 JA&A Herbert. £2028 £1920 GS Dowson.
Clean Cattle (81) – Still a handsome bounty remains on the butcher’s shop beast, arguably not the best show this week still saw the heifers average 421ppk and £2494 with a tidy and handy weighted show of steers checking in at 419ppk and £2565. Two heifers topped at 464ppk as a lovely little British Blue from Five Houses, Hutton Rudby joined a superb Limousin from R Hirst, Neasham Grange. Four heifers followed in the 450’s with a further dozen in the 440’s as trade continues to sit the best part of 100ppk above this time last year. The formidable feeding of Five Houses dominated the top steer prices per kilo with five over 430 pence to top at 439ppk with an excellent 602kg Limousin. One beast stood out in the gross value standings this week, an excellent Limousin steer from G Sedgewick, Ricknall Grange weighing 751kg sold for 427 pence which added him up to an impressive £3206 in the lump. Top of the heifers in the gross values was a lovely 641kg Charolais from J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange when she sold for £2858, second place on both lists went to W O Grix & Partners with their fine run selling steers to £3034 and heifers to £2852.
A few of today’s clean cattle top averages ppk:
B Walker sold 3 (598kg) average 447ppk & £2674
R Hirst sold 8 (594kg) average 441ppk & £2625
JV&JA Hodgson sold 6 (607kg) average 440ppk & £2676
WO Grix & Partners sold 8 (598kg) average 439ppk & £2631
A Swinbank & Son sold 2 (576kg) average 439ppk & £2533
Steers – Top prices ppk 439 435×2 431 430×2 427×2 424 416 Five Houses. 427 G Sedgewick. 425 WO Grix & Partners. 412 404 A Crowder. 407 406 399 Taylor Bros. 384 JK&CE Farming.
Lead Grossing Steers £3206 G Sedgewick. £3034 WO Grix & Partners. £2743 £2650 A Crowder. £2703 JK&CE Farming. £2642 £2608 £2583 £2562×2 £2508 £2468 £2390 £2357 £2288 Five Houses. £2311 £2278 £2273 Taylor Bros.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 464 457 456 440 432 428 R Hirst. 464 457 448 447 Five Houses. 457 455 432 B Walker. 457 456 452 444 443 436 WO Grix & Partners. 450 446 444 439 437 428JV&JA Hodgson. 448 408 406 LW Martin. 444 439 429 428 420 419 WF Hustwit. 444 424 420 418 P&N Tattersall. 443 437 A Swinbank & Son. 432 HW&J Birkbeck. 418 414 A Crowder.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2858 £2810 £2800 £2630 £2628 JV&JA Hodgson. £2852 £2801 £2790 £2639 WO Grix & Partners. £2833 £2634 £2554 B Walker. £2811 £2749 £2710 £2595 £2575 £2572 R Hirst. £2710 £2598 £2565 Five Houses. £2700 £2655 £2586 P&N Tattersall. £2664 £2630 WF Hustwit. £2622 HW&J Birkbeck. £2613 A Swinbank & Son. £2549 LW Martin. £2546 £2533 A Crowder.
Prime Lambs (1571) – Some resistance from the lamb buyers, not all doom and gloom but prices are down £6.15 on average per head on last week, it surely had to come at some point. The weighed straight sale average then of £155.89 per head and 345 pence per kilo is still a healthy 38ppk better than this week in 2024 and 77ppk in front of 2023. The delightful young Davies girls of Houghton Grange romped away with the top price per kilo when they produced a fantastic pair of 40kg Beltex lambs to sell at 450 pence. Other vendors in the four hundred pence plus club were G & E Walton, The Meadow and J C Hope & Son, Cornhow Farm. Weight is still wanted, the bigger and thicker the better, the most obvious example was our top gross valued pen when fifteen thumping 54kg Suffolk’s out of Mules from I Marshall & Sons, Hope House Farm topped proceedings at £195 per head. The better bred 40-44kg lambs this week sold typically between 360ppk and 400ppk whilst the big lamb premium looks clear on paper when we see that just 20 of the 364 lambs making £170 or more weighed under 46kg.
A few of today’s top grossing averages:
Anna Herbert sold 7 (49kg) average 369ppk & £182.43
I Marshall & Sons sold 107 (51kg) average 357ppk & £182.31
JR Knox & Son sold 23 (50kg) average 357ppk & £179.74
J Hird sold 22 (50kg) average 352ppk & £179.55
D Richardson & Co Ltd sold 18 average 363ppk & £177.22
Lambs – Top prices ppk 450 372 S&S Davies. 406 400 389 374 G&E Walton. 404 402 386 382 371 369 JC Hope & Son. 395 377 B Fisk. 392 378 368 JA&A Herbert. 390 375 HT Davies & Partners. 389 380 379 374 370 JV&JA Hodgson. 385 Anna Herbert. 384 370 365 K&PM Lough. 382 HG Thompson. 377 369 365 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 375 369 D Barron. 373 W.K M.M Lamb. 372 D Richardson & Co Ltd. 372 PD Shepherd Farm. 370 J Hird. 369 CM Cameron.
Lead Grossing Lambs £195 £188 £186 £185 £184×2 £174 I Marshall & Sons. £189 £178 £176 Anna Herbert. £188 £174×2 JR Knox & Son. £186 £180 £177 F Shield. £185 JC Hope & Son. £185 £184 £180 J Hird. £184 £183×2 JV&JA Hodgson. £181 £176 JJ Horn. £180 S&S Davies. £180 £177 £175 D Richardson & Co Ltd. £179×2 £176 G&E Walton. £179 IR Appleton. £179 £174 PRE Marwood. £178 £176 JG Hall. £178 G Thompson & Sons. £178 JA&A Herbert. £177 £173×2 JE Suddes & Son.
Cast Ewes/Rams – A lighter show following another good offering of feeding ewes last Monday. Trade rolling along nicely although a shortage of heavy ewes reduced the average to £106.22 this week. Top at £220 was a lovely Texel ewe from Jack Sewell, Knavesmire Farm, following at £200 was the pick of a tidy run from J J Horn, Bushy Park. The big ewes on offer all traded £140 plus, Mule ewes averaged £95 and sold to a top of £130 from I Marshall & Sons, Hope House whilst of the less numerous breeds probably the most impressive were four Hampshire’s from D Coupland, Ricknall Lane which sold for £158.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £220 £110 Jack Sewell. £200 £150 £130 JJ Horn. £170 £120 JG Hall. £160 £150 £130 £110 JA&A Herbert. £158 D Coupland. £156 SMA&J Swinbank. £150 £130 £120 JR&J Crowe. £150 L&S Barker. £150×2 £123×2 £120 P Foster. £148 £130 I Marshall & Sons. £130 MB Dawson. £130 J Pallister & Sons. £130 JR Wilson & Son. £130 BG Dale. £128 £124 E Scott & Sons. £124 RA Patterson & Son. £120 F Watson. £112 JR Knox & Son.
