Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 27th October 2022. Forward were 195 Cattle and 2184 Sheep.
82 Prime Bulls sold to 300ppk or £2328
27 Prime Steers sold to 304ppk or £2014
82 Prime Heifers sold to 311ppk or £2044
4 Cast Cows sold to 188ppk or £1541
1768 Prime Lambs sold to 302ppk or £129
416 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £150
11 Prime Pigs sold to 140ppk or £114
Prime Bulls (82) – Trade easier on the week as the beef processors are suddenly finding sales harder to make than they have for quite some time. This week’s average of 247 pence per kilo and £1748 will still better most outlets but no doubting in real terms a good show were less money. The top performers still returned some impressive figures, a brilliant 714kg Limousin from regular sellers A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford led the way at 300 pence per kilo, twice British Blonde’s impressed as Cumbrian challengers P J & E S Rogerson sold at 291ppk with Elwick’s I R Appleton a penny further back. Fourteen bulls this week joined the £2000 plus club, out in front came a sensational 32-month-old Limousin from J C Johnson, Trimdon Village at £2328 with two flying Scots in hot pursuit; Glasgow’s Firm of J Maxwell produced a hefty Simmental at £2323 with Stirlingshire’s John Burnett & Sons Limousin next in line at £2264. Finally, to the Friesian feeders and success this week for the excellent feeding of R Hall & Son, Brotton who peaked at 214ppk and £1440.
P J & E S Rogerson, Great Asby sold 4 to average 278ppk and £1822
J H & M & N W Brown, Darlington sold 4 to average 274ppk and £1897
L W Martin, Commondale sold 2 to average 274ppk and £1683
T A Horn, Great Asby sold 2 to average 272ppk and £1686
I R Appleton, Elwick sold 3 to average 271ppk and £1977
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 300 257 256 AG Watson & Sons. 291 284 274 264 PJ&ES Rogerson. 290 268 257 IR Appleton. 285 WE Swales & Sons Ltd. 280 278 272 269 JH&M&NW Brown. 279 A&D Proctor. 276 265 262 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 276 264 258 LR Welsh & Co. 275 258 K&A Harker. 275 270 TA Horn. 274×2 LW Martin. 272 270 264 WI&AW Callion. 270 x2 258 TW Clark & Son. 270 F&JS Gargett. 266 264 259 D Richardson & Co Ltd.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2328 JC Johnson. £2323 £2184 Firm of J Maxwell. £2264 J Burnett & Sons. £2185 £2069 £1878 £1841 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £2173 £2138 £1930 F&JS Gargett. £2142 £1996 £1940 £1918 AG Watson & Sons. £2128 WE Swales & Sons Ltd. £2111 A&D Proctor. £2068 £1844 K&A Harker. £2015 £2002 £1913 IR Appleton. £1965 £1915 £1860 £1848 JH&M&NW Brown. £1965 £1906 £1878 TW Clark & Son. £1943 D Richardson & Co Ltd.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 214 210 208 R Hall & Son. 202 176 GS Dowson. 199 RJ Welford.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1440 £1384 £1310 R Hall & Son. £1359 RJ Welford. £1117 £927 GS Dowson.
Native Breed Bulls – Top prices ppk 253 224 220 AS&SM Kemp. 227 226 225 W&R Kemp & Son. 217 JK&CE Farming. 208 TA&J Swinbank. 199 R Hall & Son. 189 GS Dowson.
Lead Grossing Native Breed Bulls £1879 £1691 £1689 AS&SM Kemp. £1482 JK&CE Farming. £1457 £1368 £1350 W&R Kemp & Son. £1387 GS Dowson. £1343 R Hall & Son.
Prime Clean Cattle (109) – The wonderful clean trade of the past weeks and months has finally stuttered; the regular butchers and wholesalers were all in attendance but on the whole a plainer show proved much harder to place. As always we try and honestly reflect the trade in our reports, no cherry picking the weeks we bother to write one. On today’s evidence and knowing the spiralling feed costs our vendors are incurring we sincerely hope that the imminent turkey shortage will see prices bounce back quickly. A very plain bottom end on show this week coupled with the sliding trade pulled the heifer average back to 263ppk whilst the steers averaged 236ppk, all in the sale of clean cattle averaged a reduced £1541. It took a superstar to reach 300 pence today, of which we had half a dozen; best of all at 311 pence was a sweet lightweight Limousin heifer from W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell which sold to H Taylor & Sons Butchers, Darlington. Next in line at 306 pence was a truly wonderful 587kg Limousin heifer from J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse with our top steer at 304ppk following from York based P & N Tattersall. On a falling trade still we found four perfectly finished cattle to sell over £2000, the good yard of S & J E Andrew, Loch of Lowes produced steers to £2014 and a tank of an Aberdeen Angus heifer at £2005 whilst a cracking heifer from J B & N Harrison & Sons, Lanchester chipped in at £2014; best of all however came from the consistent A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear with a superb 720kg Limousin heifer reaching £2044. As always below are listed some of the leading performers.
Steers
W J Smith & Partners, Richmond sold 2 to average 297ppk and £1675
P & N Tattersall, York sold 2 to average 291ppk and £1675
S & J E Andrew, Loch of Lowes sold 4 to average 268ppk and £1946
Heifers
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 6 to average 296ppk and £1736
W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell sold 4 to average 296ppk and £1654
P & N Tattersall, York sold 2 to average 293ppk and £1476
P J & M P Gilhespy, Ponteland sold 6 to average 291ppk and £1648
R Hirst, Neasham sold 10 to average 290ppk and £1664
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 4 to average 277ppk and £1865
Steers – Top prices ppk 304 297 P&N Tattersall. 297×2 WJ Smith & Partners. 279 271 267 256 S&JE Andrew. 279 251 RD Musgrave. 244 227 G&JY Marshall. 243 242 235 230 224 219 RA&BA Ridley & son. 235 I Newton & Son. 222 JB&N Harrison & Sons.
Lead Grossing Steers £2014 £1997 £1914 £1859 S&JE Andrew. £1844 JB&N Harrison & Sons. £1807 ££1793 £1680 £1651 £1630 £1570 RA&BA Ridley & Son Ltd. £1686 £1663 WJ Smith & Partners. £1644 £1567 P&N Tattersall. £1615 £1458 RD Musgrave. £1583 G&JY Marshall.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 311 300 299 W Swinbank & Sons. 306 299×2 296 290 286 JV&JA Hodgson. 301 299 297 294 293×2 291 289 275×2 R Hirst. 300 287 P&N Tattersall. 299 298 295 291 284×2 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 298 278 G&JY Marshall. 284 284 AC Simpson & Son. 284 S&JE Andrew. 281 278 RO Gilson. 280 D Robson & Sons. 279 JB&N Harrison & Sons. 276 RD Musgrave.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2044 £1968 £1872 AC Simpson & Son. £2014 £1822 JB&N Harrison & Sons. £2005 S&JE Andrew. £1967 £1690 £1682 RO Gilson. £1817 £1796 £1743 £1702 £1695 £1664 JV&JA Hodgson. £1813 £1626 J Layfield. £1736 £1708 £1707 £1701 £1675 £1670 R Hirst. £1725 £1704 W Swinbank & Sons. £1705 £1668 £1662 £1644 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1659 G&JY Marshall. £1637 D Robson & Sons.
Cast Cows – Top prices ppk 188 176 163 159 A Clark.
Lead Grossing Cast Cows £1541 £1226 £1186 £1103 A Clark.
Prime Lambs (1768) – The lamb trade has followed the beef and eased this week, once again the single most important thing is flesh, absolutely nobody is keen to buy lean. This week’s weighed straight sale average of 217ppk and just under £100 is much lower than the same time last year, the eclectic show today however was again a tale of two halves, put out the hoppers or sell to store lamb shoppers. Top price per kilo at 302 pence was a beautiful 39kg Beltex from regular sellers AWSM Farms, Dalton which sold to Vivers Scotlamb, top gross value at £129 went to a great heavyweight lamb from a rather rare autumnal appearance made by the ‘Caldwell Cavalier’ J C Simpson, close behind were a superb pair of clipped Texel lambs from W A Wardman, Yearby at £127.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 302 255 247 245 242 228 AWSM Farms. 276 G Williamson. 274 265 258 245 TH Richardson & Son. 265 246 242×2 JV&JA Hodgson. 257 JG Walton & Son. 256 M Johnstone. 256 JA&A Herbert. 251 P Cockburn. 250 I Burn & Sons. 250 C Everitt. 247 237 WA Wardman Ltd. 247 C&E Gaskin. 246 244 JC Simpson. 246 K Hall. 246 237×2 F Johnson. 245 241 JE Suddes & Son. 245 P Foster. 236 M&A Gaskin.
Lead Grossing Lambs £129 £121 £120 £116 JC Simpson. £127 £120 £114 WA Wardman Ltd. £126 £125 £115 Pear Tree Projects. £123 P Cockburn. £123 F Johnson. £123 JE Suddes & Son. £122 M&A Gaskin. £121 R White. £120 £116 JG Walton & Son. £118 £115 £112 AWSM Farms. £118 £114 £111 TH Richardson & Son. £117 D&J Hunnam. £117 S Suddes. £116 £114.50 M&A Gaskin. £115.50 J Gilson. £115 £112 I Burn & Sons. £114×2 £110 JV&JA Hodgson.
Cast Ewes & Rams – Top price of the day went to a Texel ewe from D&J Hunnam & Son, Rise Slowly Farm at £150. Following was TH Richardson & Son, Low Moor Hill also with a Texel ewe at £130. Whilst it was Texel and Beltex ewes primarily leading the trade, medium fleshed Mules often made prices of £80 to £90 with the fittest selling for over £100. Suffolk ewes made a top price of £110 and a greatly increased number of Swaledale’s headed down from the hills and peaked at £49 although the leaner ladies were tricky to trade.
Ewes & Rams Leading Prices – £150 £118 £85 D&J Hunnam & Son. £130 £110 £88 TH Richardson & Son. £130 £109 JV&JA Hodgson. £130 £118 JC&A Hutchinson. £130 £108 £90 B Lowson. £130 £120 £110 £87 WL Robinson & Partners. £128 £120 JK&CE Farming. £124 D Chapman. £120 £92 JW&J Collin. £118 £105 £95 £85 x2 K Tallentire. £116 JG Walton & Son. £116 £110 G Williamson. £116 £100 £90 x2 WR Thompson. £116 £100 R&G Rutter. £114 £108 £100 G Thompson & Sons. £112 £90 £85 D&PH Brown. £106 R White. £105 LE Harrison. £102 £88 J Rutter. £100 JC Simpson. £100 WM Reed & Sons. £97 F Hare & Sons. £85 Pear Tree Project.
Prime Pigs (11) – Let’s talk pork, with lamb and beef harder work we can today take solace in the improving fortunes of our bacon flavoured buddies. It almost feels like the pig world has made a fresh start, like they have a new pig minister with a new pig cabinet overflowing with apple sauce scented optimism. It is however very likely, no matter how crunchy the crackling is over coming years that blue pig will be ultimately be replaced by the red swine.
Leading PPK – 140(x2) 120 110 J Mitchell & Son
Leading Gross – £114(x2) £86 £85
