Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 3rd February 2022. Forward were 169 Cattle, 2273 Sheep and 9 Pigs.
63 Prime Bulls sold to 266ppk or £2135
8 Prime Steers sold to 249ppk or £1782
98 Prime Heifers sold to 306ppk or £1822
1756 Prime Hoggs sold to £160 or 340ppk
517 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £200
9 Prime Pigs sold to 90ppk or £84
Charitable Donation
Following the recent passing of our good friend Ali Shan we received a kind donation today of a Texel ewe from The Burton Family, West Common Top Farm, Ettersgill. Many kind offerings and bids ensued as is customary in these situations, the ewe was sold several times and we are delighted to report a cheque for £5000 will make its way to the British Heart Foundation. DFAM would like to make a heartfelt thankyou to all, customers and staff who bought and donated today; we are aware other marts and their customers have also showed great generosity in these tragic circumstances. These wonderful acts of kindness are certainly testament to the tremendous support the Shan Family have shown to the live auctions in our region for many years.
Prime Bulls (63) – Numbers tighter, certainly not the price holding them off as trade remains very good; 12 sold at 250ppk and beyond, twice bidding surpassed 260ppk with a duo of our regulars fighting it out for the top spot. Taking the silver medal at 263ppk was a tremendous British Blonde from A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford however the winner at 266pk was a superb British Blue from J A & M Boyes, Cleatlam. Nine bulls sold above £1900 with the top four joining the £2000 plus club, all four were Limousin bulls as one each for A S & S M Kemp, Sherburn and J F Hartley & Sons, Hamsterley proved to be our nearly men as it transpired to be the usual power from A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear leading the line at £2135. A higher percentage of dairy bulls forward met an improved trade, topping the sale were the reliable R Hall & Son, Brotton at 198ppk whilst the top grossing Friesian came from G W Dobson & Son, South Wingate at £1262, plenty of black and whites in the £1200’s today.
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 3 Bulls to average 250ppk and £2059
J A & M Boyes Ltd, Cleatlam sold 5 Bulls to average 244ppk and £1672
G Younger, Morpeth sold 4 Bulls to average 243ppk and £1589
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 6 Bulls to average 237ppk and £1630
J & F Hartley & Sons, Hamsterley sold 2 Bulls to average 217ppk and £2000
Prime Bulls Leading PPK – 266 256 248 231 227 J A & M Boyes Ltd. 263 256 255 242 A G Watson & Sons. 256 253 247 G Younger. 253 249 244 239 236 230 A S & S M Kemp. 251 J J Kemp & Son. 250(x3) A C Simpson & Son. 248 J Leiper & Son. 248 Tallentire. 247 J J Horn.
Prime Bulls Leading Gross – £2135 £2055 £1987 A C Simpson & Son. £2110 £1921 £1907 £1755 £1705 £1702 £1693 £1692 £1667 £1661 £1654 £1621 A S & S M Kemp. £2042 £1958 J F Hartley & Sons. £1909 £1868 £1767 A G Watson & Sons. £1785 £1733 £1633 £1614 J A & M Boyes Ltd. £1784 J J Kemp & Son. £1723 J Leiper & Son. £1706 G Younger. £1640 R Hall & Son. £1637 J J Horn.
Friesian Bulls Leading PPK – 198 182 R Hall & Son. 192 J K & C E Farming. 188 186 J M & S Walton. 188 184 180 171 170 D Walker.
Friesian Bulls Leading Gross – £1262 £1104 G W Dobson & Son. £1223 £1183 £1135 D Walker. £1223 J K & C E Farming. £1207 £1204 R Hall & Son. £1194 £1169 J M & S Walton.
Prime Clean Cattle (106) – February begins with the in-spec cattle a fine trade, heavyweights the harder to move however with the heifers levelling at 260ppk few can complain at the current beef returns in DFAM. Half a dozen hot heifers sold at £3 per kilo or more as the Hirst’s of Neasham joined three from Coxhoe’s Wayne Armstrong however sneaking top spot at 306ppk was a superb 522kg Limousin from Ponteland feeder M F Hall, Woodhill Farm. A further 19 heifers today sold between 290ppk and 299ppk as once again the females proved dominant, 21 sold beyond £1700 with the top quartet of these breaking £1800, twice (£1806 & £1816) from the good pen of Wayne Armstrong. For the second week running however the heavyweight Limousin’s of A C Simpson & Son (£1807 & £1822) followed a successful bull sale by also topping the gross chart for heifers. Just a handful of steers were offered, the pick of these hailed all the way from Aberdeenshire and another welcome first-time vendor A J Dickie, Slamptonhill who’s quality quartet included a smart 716kg Limousin which sold for 249ppk and £1782. As usual some of the leaders are listed below.
M F Hall, Ponteland sold 4 Heifers to average 290ppk and £1572
W A Armstrong, Coxhoe sold 10 Heifers to average 285ppk and £1677
R Hirst, Neasham sold 15 Heifers to average 284ppk and £1680
P J & E S Rogerson, Cumbria sold 3 Heifers to average 280ppk and £1556
Prime Heifers Leading PPK – 306 301 290 M F Hall. 305 300(x2) 293(x2) W A Armstrong. 301 294(x2) 292(x2) 290 R Hirst. 299 F & J S Gargett. 298 291(x2) 290 J V & J A Hodgson. 297 P J & E S Rogerson. 296 J E Suddes & Son. 295 290 J H & M & N W Brown. 294 293 W R Thompson.
Prime Heifers Leading Gross – £1822 £1807 A C Simpson & Son. £1816 £1806 £1723 £1713 W A Armstrong. £1799 £1781 £1749 £1713 £1697 £1693 R Hirst. £1792 £1786 £1758 £1746 £1705 J V & J A Hodgson. £1791 £1752 £1742 F & J S Gargett. £1738 J J Kemp & Son. £1737(x2) J E Suddes & Son. £1696 W J & A S Bowes & Sons.
Prime Steers Leading PPK – 249 239 236 A J Dickie. 244 188 I Newton & Son. 228 J J Kemp & Son. 212 G W & L Marsay. 190 G S Dowson.
Prime Steers Leading Gross – £1782 £1727 £1704 A J Dickie. £1611 J J Kemp & Son. £1603 £1235 I Newton & Son. £1267 G S Dowson.
Prime Hoggs (1756) – With the hogg trade around the region fluctuating this week we welcomed an improved sale average of 261ppk with an SQQ average of 274ppk. As we often see (and certainly need to fill demand) the quality root hoggs are beginning to migrate North at this time of year, couple this with the knowledge that the hill sheep are drying up (we were down to only 100 Swaledale’s and 100 Mule’s) and as always we weighed everything straight the slight rise in trade leaves us feeling optimistic for things to come. Signing off for the season were our Christmas Champion’s Messrs Askwith of Low Mown Meadows, Crook; fittingly after an exceptional run over the past months they led the way with their quartet of 47kg Beltex selling at 340ppk and £160. The heavyweight trade remains static, very similar on the week however the 38 to 46kg hoggs certainly appeared to be on the most wanted list today.
Prime Hoggs Leading PPK – 340 333 Askwiths. 335 323 317 314 300 294 C S & V Whitfield. 333 319 303 298 G W Dent. 328 M F Hall. 326 312 304 303 J D Brannen. 325 295 W Denham. 322 311(x2) 310 309 300 295 Railway View Farm. 315 309 302 A Tindale. 308 293(x2) C K & D Muir Ltd. 304 R Errington & Son. 302 W A Wardman Ltd. 296 T N Callender. 293 I M Maughan.
Prime Hoggs Leading Gross – £160 £147 £140(x2) Askwiths. £158 £149 £147 G W Dent. £156 £148.50 J D Brannen. £153 W Denham. £152 £151 £144 £143 C S & V Whitfield. £150 £148.50 £147.50 £147 £146.50 £146 £144(x3) £143.50 £140 A C Simpson & Son. £148 T N Callender. £147.50 £146 £140(x3) Railway View Farm. £146 J & A Layfield. £145 J G Atkinson. £141 A Wilson. £141 I Newton & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (517) – Ewe trade stays very strong, increased numbers with plenty of weight this week however mostly Mule’s, not including the aforementioned charitable donation a pleasing sale average of £97 was achieved. Twice the top price stretched to £200 as terrific Texel’s from both J G Atkinson, Hornby and W Denheam, Langleydale impressed. Mules sold regularly £100 to £115 whilst the horned ewe trade peaked at a healthy £78.
Leading Prices – £200 £150 J G Atkinson. £200 £122 W Denham. £180 £120(x3) W & V Burton. £165 £150 M Dent. £162 £135 £134 W A Wardman. £156(x2) £118 F Ward. £150 G W Dent. £140 J D Brannen. £138 £130 C K & D Muir Ltd. £134 Anna Herbert. £132 £124(x2) £118 AWSM Farms. £130 D Alderson. £128 A J & K M Foster & Son. £121 W Robson. £120 £118 T W Clark & Son. £120 T N Callender. £120 W Kirk & Sons. £118 A & P A Jopling. £118 S Keenan. £118 J K & C E Farming.
Prime Pigs (9) – The pig trade remains depressing, the only good news for pig farmers is that as things are just now, they are much more likely to holiday in Jarrow than Jamaica; rest assured I can guarantee this week and next that Jarrow will be far more peaceful.
Leading Prices –
90ppk 80ppk 70ppk C Weightman
£84 £64 £61 C Weightman
