Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 20th January 2022. Forward were 226 Cattle, 1539 Sheep and 6 Pigs.
61 Prime Bulls sold to 250ppk or £2319
33 Prime Steers sold to 261ppk or £1795
132 Prime Heifers sold to 317ppk or £1879
1269 Prime Hoggets sold to 347ppk or £154
270 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £150
6 Prime Pigs sold to 100ppk or £76
Prime Bulls (61) – Less forward and on the whole much less quality throughout, trade marginally easier however plenty of life remains in the better bred and better fed with an overall average of 213ppk. Top price per kilo went to a 32-month-old pure British Blue down from Cupar, Fife and regular consignor M I Wainwright of Todhall Farm; a photo finish was required today as a further half dozen all followed within tuppence. A quintet of quality joined the £2000 plus club today, twice from the superb Fife Blue’s plus one each for I R Appleton, Elwick and L S Staley, Marwood; top of the class however went to a huge 1084kg Limousin from A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear when he reached an impressive £2319. Pick of the native breed bulls this week went to expert feeders A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford who’s tremendous Aberdeen Angus sold for 236ppk and £1793. Local producers S H Watson & Son, Winston led the Friesian trade at £1341 with the prolific R Hall & Son, Brotton top of the black and whites per kilo at 196.
M I Waiwright, Cupar sold 3 Bulls to average 247ppk and £2070
L S Staley, Marwood sold 2 Bulls to average 244ppk and £1997
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 3 Bulls to average 235ppk and £2086
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 8 Bulls to average 233ppk and £1698
R J & R J Airey, Otterburn sold 2 Bulls to average 233ppk and £1615
R W & R Henry, Worsall sold 4 Bulls to average 230ppk and £1812
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 250 248 244 MI Wainwright. 249 238 214 AC Simpson & Son. 248 242 LS Staley. 248×2 244 230 227 218×2 AG Watson & Sons. 248 204 IR Appleton. 246 S Gill. 241 225 RJ&RJ Airey. 235 228 215TN Hodgson & Sons. 230×4 RW&R Henry. 230 220 JC Tallentire. 228 R Hall & Son. 226 214 JA&A Herbert. 226 M Hutchinson. 209 203 TF Bothroyd.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2391 £1989 £1949 AC Simpson & Son. £2171 £2090 £1949 MI Wainwright. £2046 IR Appleton. £2040 £1954 LS Staley. £1913 S Gill. £1887 M Hutchinson. £1879 £1790 £1731 £1638 £1610 AG Watson & sons. £1870 £1649 £1865 £1817 £1784×2 RW&R Henry. £1689 R Hall & Son.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 196 181 R Hall & Son. 188 JK&CE Farming. 180 SH Watson & Son. 150 140 GW Dobson.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1341 SH Watson & Son. £1319 JK&CE Farming. £1274 £1207 R Hall & Son. £1161 £1044 GW Dobson & Son.
Native Breed Bulls – Top prices ppk 236 AG Watson & Sons. 217 TN Hodgson & Sons. 208 JK&CE Farming. 207 JR&AE Airey. 205 198 D Lupton.
Lead Grossing Native Breed Bulls £1793 AG Watson & Sons. £1479 TN Hodgson & Sons. £1291 JR&AE Airey.
Clean Cattle (165) – The buyers are largely it seems on weightwatchers, they are watching it very closely indeed; the lighter weight cattle remain a great trade however the heavies are certainly less money, reinforcing this statistic is the knowledge that the top 19 prices per kilo were all achieved by beast weighing under 600kg. The heifers this week averaged 259ppk with 13 in total achieving at least 300 pence per kilo; J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 3 of the top 7 whilst M F Hall, Ponteland could be credited with 4 of the top 9, it was however a brilliant home bred British Blue cross from W J Scott Ltd, Low Leam Farm, West Woodburn which topped the sale at 317 pence per kilo. More success for the British Blue’s in the steer race per kilo as Georgina Laws, Leyburn led the way at 261 pence with a homebred weighing 626kg. The team from Low Leam led the gross value race with their brilliant aforementioned heifer reaching £1879, others with heifers beyond £1800 were J V & J A Hodgson (x2), M F Hall and Aberdeenshire’s Hollowdyke Farms. Top grossing steer was another from North of the border as M I Wainwright followed a successful bull sale with a Charolais selling for £1795, hot on his heels came more superstars from Low Leam as they placed 2nd to 5th on the list.
M F Hall, Ponteland sold 8 Heifers & 1 Steer to average 289ppk and £1621
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 Heifers to average 285ppk and £1646
P J & M P Gilhespy, Ponteland sold 6 Heifers to average 283ppk and £1599
W A Armstrong, Coxhoe sold 8 Heifers to average 278ppk and £1618
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 12 Heifers to average 277ppk and £1658
Steers – Top prices ppk 261 LD Laws. 254 242 230 226 MI Wainwright. 252 235 Askwiths. 249 248×2 247 245 240 231 R Neil & Partners. 247 244 240 238 WJ Scott Ltd. 241 240 MF Hall. 230 Hollowdyke Farms. 220 214 202 RO Gilson. 220 Mossburnford Farm. 214 JR&B Anderson & Son.
Lead Grossing Steers £1795 £1637 £1620 £1531 MI Wainwright. £1725 £1701×2 £1656 MI Wainwright. £1634 £1620 £1602 £1597 £1583 £1533 R Neill & Partners. £1633 LD Laws. £1603 Hollowdyke Farms. £1584 £1587 RO Gilson. £1562 £1539 Askwiths. £1540 Mossburnford Farm Partnership. £1490 MF Hall.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 317 306 297 WJ Scott Ltd. 316 313 309 296 JV&JA Hodgson. 316 314 308 307 299 291 289 MF Hall. 309 300 291 290 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 306 295 Askwiths. 300 TW Clark & Son. 298 289 B Walker. 297 P&JH Davison. 296 Hollowdyke Farms. 295 288×2 WA Armstrong. 292 WF Hustwit. 292 J Layfield. 291 289 288 R Hirst.
Lead Grossing Heifers £1879 £1780 £1755 £1700 WJ Scott Ltd. £1832 £1758 £1711 MF Hall. £1828 £1754 Hollowdyke Farms. £1826 £1802 £1767 £1696 £1695 JV&JA Hodgson. £1786 Mossburnford Farm Partnership. £1780 LD Laws. £1780 £1716 £1711 £1703 £1693 R Hirst. £1778 £1765 WA Armstrong. £1776 £1706 AC Simpson & Son. £1770 Askwiths. £1725 J Layfield. £1694 R Neil & Partners. £1689 £1677 £1667 PJ&MP Gilhespy.
Prime Hoggs (1269) – Some and some, the best bred and the best fed remain a fine trade however a high number of horned hoggs and Mule’s on the week pulled the average back to 260ppk; undoubtably some resistance from the buyers in the hogg trade this week in places. Top price per kilo this week 347 pence for a sweet trio of Beltex from S M Donaldson, Bridge Grange which sold to Turknaz Restaurant, Whitley Bay. Lucky were the pens of 7 it seemed as all 3 of our pens over £150 contained seven hoggs, 52kg Beltex from Messrs Askwith, Crook sold to Roots Farm Shop, East Rounton for £153 only to later find themselves sandwiched between the mighty Texel’s of A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear 63kg £150 and 59kg £154. As always, played straight and weighed straight; for the prosperity of the nation’s live auctions, we wholeheartedly extol our counterparts and competitors who have the integrity to do the same.
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 347 270 SM Donaldson. 311 295 293 291 JC Simpson. 307 273 M&A Gaskin. 306 295 286 285 279 276×2 D&M Lowes. 302 284 273 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 300 x2 295 294 Askwiths. 300 271 270 A Newton. 295 Anthony Tindale. 287 272 270 S Thompson & Son. 287 284 TW Clark & Son. 282 P&J Martin. 282 281 276 IM Maughan. 280 JK&CE farming. 276 271 P Wilks. 275 FP&IM Jefferson. 275 GC&JC Pullan. 275 GP&A Carter. 273 RO Gilson.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £154 £150 £149 £148 £145 £144×2 £141 £135 AC Simpson & Son. £153 £147 £138 Askwiths. £145.50 £140 £139.50 M&A Gaskin. £145 £140 £136.50 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £142 £140 £138 £137 £136.50 JC Simpson. £140 £133.50 GC&JC Pullan. £139.50 £135 £134.50 JK&CE Farming. £139 Anthony Tindale. £139 W Denham. £135 £134 £130×2 D&M Lowes. £135 FP&IM Jefferson. £135 RO Gilson. £133.50 S Thompson & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (270) – Another sublime ewe trade, what seemed like more different breeds than the RBST have on their website averaged a huge £95. Top price of £150 was shared between Texel ewes of C & E Gaskin, Marwood and also Richard Bailes, Elwick. Mule ewes sold to £128, Swaledale’s £84 and Blackface to £80, the red X from the scanner is currently not the absolute disaster it once was.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £150 £145 C&E Gaskin. £150 Richard Bailes. £148 £127 G Hodgson. £144 £140 £116 Alex Wilson. £140 D Coupland. £137 £130 £122 £119 James Gilson. £133 WH Smith & Sons. £132 £120 C&M Burnett. £132 JE Stobbs. £132 LW Martin. £132 AC Simpson & Son. £130 £126 £114 LD Laws. £130 £128 T Lawson & Son. £126 M Stobbs. £125 M Weighell. £124 JC&A Hutchinson.
Prime Pigs (6) – More of the same for the poor purveyors of pork as the trade remains very much down in the dumps. Nobody looks like making their fortune pig farming, frankly there is more chance of Novak Djokovic winning the Australian Sports Personality of the year.
Pigs – Top prices ppk 100×2 J Mitchell & Son.
Lead Grossing Pigs £76×2 J Mitchell & Son.
