Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 9th June 2022. Forward were 219 Cattle, 1516 Sheep and 13 Pigs.
95 Prime Bulls sold to 289ppk or £2508
25 Prime Steers sold to 289ppk or £1946
99 Prime Heifers sold to 312ppk or £1954
1004 New Season Lambs sold to 408ppk or £170
231 Prime Hoggs sold to 291ppk or £166
281 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £275
13 Prime Pigs sold to 120ppk or £92
Prime Bulls (95) – Bull trade was bouncing as the wholesalers set about the business of restocking their Jubilee raided fridges, a scintillating sale average of 243 pence per kilo was achieved with a delightful dozen reaching at least 270ppk and a tremendous ten North of £2000. A pair of perfect British Blue’s across from Carlisle raiders T N & J Hall, Ainstable Hall led the prices per kilo when they each sold for 289 pence, a duo of local Limousin breeders W & M Knaggs & Son and S & J Dent & Son headed those in hot pursuit of the Cumbrian firm. Despite a fabulous showing producing 5 of the top 6 gross values with a worst of £2166 and best of £2463 the aforementioned Ainstable Hall bulls had to yield top spot to a phenomenal British Blonde from P Weightman & Sons, Hallfield Farm, Easington which reached a massive £2508. A remarkable run of 25 fifteen-month-old Charolais bulls all the way from Angus and the good home of G A Mackie, Drimmie Farm certainly put the cherry on top of the wedding cake for the Scottish vendors when averaging a whisker short of 250 pence. Friesian bulls also took a notable lift, the pick this week coming from J E & B Morgan & Sons, Bishop Middleham and also W E & C A Anderson whom both reached 226ppk whilst the top gross valued Friesian came from G W Dobson & Son, South Wingate at a wonderful £1586. As is customary some of the top averages are listed below.
T N & J Hall, Carlisle sold 5 Bulls to average 278ppk and £2350
W M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge sold 2 Bulls to average 273ppk and £1716
S & J Dent & Son, Great Burdon sold 5 Bulls to average 272ppk and £1786
P Weightman & Sons, Easington sold 2 Bulls to average 263ppk and £2326
J Layfield, Willington sold 5 Bulls to average 256ppk and £1951
Bulls Leading PPK – 289(x2) 279 273 261 T N & J Hall. 285 261 W & M Knaggs & Son. 283 277 276 274 255 S & J Dent & Son. 280 265 261 248 J Layfield. 270 256 P Weightman & Sons. 270 269 267(x2) 266 265 263 255(x3) 254(x3) 249(x2) G A Mackie. 262 R M Adam & Son. 260 J J Horn. 259 L W Martin. 253 P M Bradley & Bros.
Bulls Leading Gross – £2508 £2145 P Weightman & Sons. £2463 £2439 £2372 £2309 £2166 T N & J Hall. £2115 £2056 £1990 £1848 £1749 J Layfield. £2001 R M Adam & Son. £1951 £1871 £1711 £1706 S & J Dent & Son. £1893 £1854 £1844 £1803 £1782 £1744 £1739 £1730 G A Mackie. £1893 L W Martin. £1839 John W Millar. £1830 J J Horn. £1829 W & M Knaggs & Son. £1823 £1815 J K Metcalf. £1757 S Jackson. £1731 R Hall & Son. £1715 P M Bradley & Bros.
Friesian Bulls Leading PPK – 226(x2) 224 220 210 J E & B Morgan & Sons. 226 219 208 W E & C A Anderson. 225 222 R Hall & Son. 220 209 G W Dobson & Son. 219 J A & A Herbert. 219 J K Metcalf. 204 200 D Walker.
Friesian Bulls Leading Gross – £1586 £1525 G W Dobson & Son. £1453 £1446 £1372 £1281 £1245 J E & B Morgan & Sons. £1421 J K Metcalf. £1390 £1367 R Hall & Son. £1317 £1305 £1096 W E & C A Anderson. £1234 £1106 £1067 £1029 D Walker.
Clean Cattle (124) – As with the bulls the trade today proved excellent, thick loins were plentiful and that’s perfect during barbecue season creating fine averages of heifers 270ppk and the steers 252ppk. Notably no less than nineteen heifers sold in the 300’s this week, the top half dozen all between 310ppk to 312ppk were then separated by just tuppence as one each for J L Marks, Bishopton and R Hirst, Neasham joined a trio from J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse in the silver and bronze medal positions; our winner though at 312 pence was a cracking 545kg Limousin from regular Sedgefield based seller W F Hustwit, Southside Farm. Five super steers sold today in the 280’s, four of these came from the Askwith Family, Crook including our leader a terrific 664kg Limousin which sold for 289ppk. It was indeed another cracker from Crook which led the gross value steer race when reaching £1946, chasing hardest and worthy of mention throughout the steers were some well-fed sorts from I Marshall & Sons, Hope House. The top valued heifer was a hefty homebred Limousin from D W Humphrey, Capon Hall, Upleatham which tipped the scales to 698kg and realised £1954, behind her no less than 10 other heifers checked in beyond £1800 as the DFAM net cast itself in all directions, no matter where it landed some expert feeding was very apparent. Below as usual are some of this week’s high flyers.
T N & J Hall, Carlisle sold 5 Heifers to average 301ppk and £1669
W Swinbank & Sons sold 4 Heifers to average 297ppk and £1773
J L Marks, Bishopton sold 4 Heifers to average 296ppk and £1531
K & J Heslop, Fishburn sold 4 Heifers & 1 Steer to average 290ppk and £1589
R Hirst Neasham sold 4 Heifers to average 287ppk and £1548
Askwiths, Crook sold 5 Steers to average 280ppk and £1886
I Marshall & Sons, Bishop Middleham sold 4 Steers to average 274ppk and £1828
Steers Leading PPK – 289 285(x2) 284 261 Askwiths. 288 273 270 268 I Marshall & Sons. 268 P & J H Davison. 263 Cheesbrough & Son Ltd. 256 J Pallister. 250 I Bosworth.
Heifers Leading PPK – 312 288 286 W F Hustwit. 311 310(x2) 297 296 J V & J A Hodgson. 311 308 295 J L Marks. 310 308 290 R Hirst. 308 Cheesbrough & Son Ltd. 307 F & J S Gargett. 307 294 K & J Heslop. 307 306 302 298 296 T N & J Hall. 307 305 302 W Swinbank & Sons. 305 S H Watson & Son. 301 K & J Heslop. 290 D W Humphrey. 290 I R Appleton. 289 287 E W Grieves.
Steers Leading Gross – £1946 £1918 £1885 £1884 £1795 Askwiths. ££1874 £1865 £1788 £1784 I Marshall & Sons. £1661 £1609 F J Young & Partners. £1656 P & J H Davison. £1609 Cheesbrough & Son Ltd.
Heifers Leading Gross – £1954 £1856 D W Humphrey. £1865 £1820 £1703 T N & J Hall. £1863 £1859 £1837 £1808 £1769 £1762 £1742 £1741 £1739 £1735 £1726 £1680 £1665 J V & J A Hodgson. £1857 £1787 £1753 £1694 W Swinbank & Sons. £1854 Cheesbrough & Son Ltd. £1814 £1731 £1700 W F Hustwit. £1701 P & J H Davison. £1686 £1666 R Hirst. £1676 F & J S Gargett.
Prime Lambs (1004) – Marginally easier with the best lambs and the heavyweights proving easiest to sell, as always, no jiggery pokery on the bridge the weighed straight sale averaged 325 pence per kilo and £136.97. A first draw of the year for South Yorkshire based Tim Duckitt, Sunniside Farm, Balne and a top price per kilo to head home with at an impressive 408 pence, closest challenge came from I & A Holmes, Middle Stotfold Farm, Elwick at 404ppk. A top price per head of £170 was twice paid and resulted in more bragging rights for the good folk of Elwick village, the superstar lamb from the aforementioned Messrs Holmes was matched late in the sale by a cracking pen of 10 heavyweight Texel’s from Richard Bailes of Cole Hill Farm, Elwick. Scores of other lambs sold in the £150’s and £160’s as usual suspects J C Simpson and also W & M Knaggs & Son were right in the mix alongside Duell Partners and an excellent run from Nottinghamshire’s P R & V Barlow & Son.
New Season Lambs Leading PPK – 408 340 T Duckitt. 404 I & A Holmes. 400 369(x3) 362(x2) 358 348(x2) 345 340 J C Simpson. 384 I Burn & Sons. 379 378(x2) 363 361 355 346 341 W & M Knaggs & Son. 369 G Bolton. 362 M J Hutchinson. 365 360 346 341 J A & A Herbert. 355 353 348 P R & V Barlow. 347 340 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 345 T Grix. 341 I Hedley.
New Season Lambs Leading Gross – £170 £156 £148 I & A Holmes. £170 £169 £166.50 £163.50 £160 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £167 £155(x2) £149 £148 W & M Knaggs & Son. £165(x2) £150 Duell Partners. £164 £160 £155.50 £155(x2) £154 £152 £151.50 £150(x2) £148.50(x2) J C Simpson. £163.50 £154.50 £146.50 P R & V Barlow. £150(x2) I Burn & Sons. £150 T W Clark. £150 J A & A Herbert. £150 W O Grix & Partners. £147 T Duckitt. £147 R A Patterson & Son. £147 T Grix. £147 G C & J C Pullan.
Prime Hoggs (231) – Still the hoggs drift in and if we take out the plainer types trade remains very good, even with the hopeless and hapless included the sale averaged £105. Top price per kilo went to K & P M Lough of Redgate House Farm, Wolsingham with a bright 48kg Beltex selling for 291 pence, leading the gross values were a wonderful pair of 76kg Texel crossed tup hoggs from C S & V Whitfield, High Castledene, Knitsley which sold for £166 apiece.
Prime Hoggs Leading PPK – 291 K & P M Lough. 289 269 261 L Fowler. 287 T Stafford. 285 P R & V Barlow. 283 W E Frank & Son. 270 H Emerson. 270 T W Clark & Son. 269 William Tindale. 263 P Turnbull. 262 W & M Knaggs & Son. 261 C Orton. 261 W H Brown. 260 A J Craggs. 260 M Gallon.
Prime Hoggs Leading Gross – £166 £164 £150 C S & V Whitfield. £160 £145 £138 T Stafford. £150 R Errington. £140 K & P M Lough. £140 W Kirk & Sons. £140 R A Patterson & Son. £139 W & M Knaggs & Son. £134 P R & V Barlow. £133 P Cockburn. £130 M Gallon. £130 M Hogg. £128 G Thompson & Sons. £125 F Myers & Sons. £125 T B Hunter. £125 G C & J C Pullan.
Cast Ewes & Rams (281) – Mayhem in the mutton department as the sale averaged a sublime £125; take this as your 1-month warning, act smart and wean them early, be aware that Eid al-Adha (Qurbani) falls in early July and therefore selling ewes in late July could be like selling Turkey’s on Boxing Day. At this rate Richard Bailes (Cole Hill Farm Ltd) could well be made the Earl of Elwick as he scored his second top slot of the day, an absolute world beater of a Texel ewe sold for £275. A pen of sixteen strong ewes led the Mules at £135 from B & S M Rutherford, Old Cassop whilst horned sheep sold to £98 for a pair of Herdwick tups from M Rumble, Primrose Hill.
Cast Sheep Leading Prices – £275 £240 £188 £150 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £200 £192 £188 £160(x2) £148 C S & V Whitfield. £186 £184 £155 J C Simpson. £186 £165 £148 T Stafford. £178 D & P Heppell. £170(x2) R A Patterson & Son. £170 W Kirk & Sons. £170 £167 £152 W & M Knaggs & Son. £160 C H Tindale. £160 I & A Holmes. £160 M Gallon. £150 A Wilson. £150 A Naisbitt.
Prime Pigs & Sows & Boars (13) – One could feel the pig trade rallying with every sausage lost unmercifully through the bars of the barbecue over the Jubilee weekend. It is no secret that many a good man has lost his thin sausage in this devastating way, it is unavoidable, but then are the food poisoning fatties any safer? Want my advice, don’t worry, be careless with your sausage this summer and consider yourselves the saviours of the Great British pig farmers.
Prime Pigs Leading PPK – 120 110 100 J Mitchell & Son.
Prime Pigs Leading Gross – £92 £85 £78 J Mitchell & Son.
Sows & Boars Leading PPK – 25 J Mitchell & Son. 20 R M Johnson.
Sows & Boars Leading Gross – £63 R M Johnson. £53 J Mitchell & Son.
