Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 15th June 2022. Forward were 219 Cattle, 1762 Sheep and 5 Pigs.
87 Prime Bulls sold to 273ppk or £2301
33 Prime Steers sold to 294ppk or £1968
100 Prime Heifers sold to 322ppk or £1945
1319 New Season Lambs sold to 377ppk or £175
97 Prime Hoggs sold to 289ppk or £140
346 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £200
Prime Bulls (87) – Numbers similar however best quality bulls very scarce, trade easier on the week, unusually today more native breeds than continentals and also a higher percentage of dairy breeds on offer. The best end then still demanded a premium, two local Limousin breeders shared the top seven places per kilo as A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm, Witton-le-Wear battled it out with S & J Dent & Son, Great Burdon Farm, Darlington with the Great Burdon bulls victorious at 273ppk. Top gross value went to the McNeil Farm Limousin’s with a cracker weighing 885kg and selling for £2301, a further half dozen bulls sold over £2000 including another pair from McNeil plus two Limousins from W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Great Stainton and a pair of huge Salers from Rigel Pedigree, Middleton-on-Leven. Friesian bulls peaked at 213ppk from R Hall & Son, Brotton and £1454 from J M Stuart & Son who made the cross Pennine trip from Preston worthwhile. As is customary some of the top performers are listed below.
S & J Dent & Son, Darlington sold 4 Bulls to average 266ppk and £1801
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 3 Bulls to average 263ppk and £2213
W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Great Stainton sold 3 Bulls to average 241ppk and £1876
Rigel Pedigree, Middleton-on-Leven sold 2 Bulls to average £2270
Continental Bulls Leading PPK – 273 270 261 260 S & J Dent & Son. 270 262 260 A C Simpson & Son. 255 246 W J & A S Bowes & Sons. 248 237 P M Bradley & Bros. 247 228 S H Watson & Son. 242 229 J K Gregory. 235 229 T F Bothroyd & Son. 235 232 231 230 227 E W Jolly.
Native Breed Bulls Leading PPK – 228 226 J K & C E Farming. 224(x2) 221 217 216(x2) 215 E W Jolly. 224 C & M Atkinson & Sons. 219 W & R Kemp & Son.
Dairy Bulls Leading PPK – 213 196 R Hall & Son. 211 G W Dobson & Son. 201 200 J M Stuart & Son. 200 J E & B Morgan & Sons. 195 194 C & M Atkinson & Sons. 191 R W Raper & Sons.
Continental Bulls Leading Gross – £2301 £2221 £2116 A C Simpson & Son. £2284 £2257 Rigel Pedigree. £2049 £2009 W J & A S Bowes & Sons. £1927 £1755 £1580 S H Watson & Sons. £1911 £1772 £1771 £1749 S & J Dent & Son. £1635 £1599 P M Bradley & Bros. £1619 £1578 E W Jolly. £1609 J K Gregory.
Native Breed Bulls Leading Gross – £1630 £1606 J K & C E Farming. £1565 C & M Atkinson & Sons. £1546 R Hall & Son. £1501 £1473 £1449 £1433 £1429 £1427 E W Jolly.
Dairy Bulls Leading Gross – £1454 £1439 £1295 £1261 £1156 J M Stuart & Son. £1418 £1258 R Hall & Son. £1365 R W Raper & Sons. £1316 G W Dobson & Son. £1162 J E & B Morgan & Sons. £1156 £1103 C & M Atkinson & Sons. £1108 P Prudom & Son.
Clean Cattle (133) – A flying trade, some undoubted superstars were joined by a varied offering of quality, the steers in particular were a very eclectic mixture but worry ye not as all shapes and sizes thoroughly enjoyed proceedings today. The hot heifers averaged a massive 277ppk with the steers absolutely extraordinary at 250ppk given the show presented, warts and all the average per head for clean cattle returned at £1585. A stunning 34 heifers today sold in the 300’s, of these 19 sold over 310ppk with just the top pair in the 320 club; silver medal went to W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell with an excellent 575kg Limousin at 320ppk however the gold medal winner again a Limousin came from regular visitors to our top price columns W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge with a superb 500kg example. An excellent run of steers today from I Marshall & Sons, Hope House went close but fell just short of the top price per kilo when they produced a trio in the 280’s, the winner though was a sensational 621kg Limousin from K & J Heslop, Fishburn which sold for 294 pence. In total seven clean cattle sold today over £1900 with a score more in the £1800’s, it certainly was quite some achievement then by J M Smith, Westfields Farm, Mickleby to top both heifers and steers at £1945 and £1968 respectively. The list below of our top contenders is both long and impressive, it could certainly have included many, many more names this week.
Heifers
J, W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge sold 3 to average 314ppk and £1677
R Hirst, Neasham sold 5 to average 312ppk and £1691
K & J Heslop, Fishburn sold 2 to average 306ppk and £1653
W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell sold 4 to average 305ppk and £1868
I Marshall & Sons, Bishop Middleham sold 4 to average 303ppk and £1786
J J Kemp & Son, Stillington sold 5 to average 298ppk and £1762
Askwiths, Crook sold 5 to average 297ppk and £1654
W A Armstrong, Coxhoe sold 8 Heifers to average 296ppk and £1724
Steers
I Marshall & Sons, Bishop Middleham sold 4 to average 282ppk and £1804
K & J Heslop, Fishburn sold 2 to average 272ppk and £1866
T N Callender, Whinney Hill sold 2 to average 266ppk and £1892
J M Smith, Saltburn sold 3 to average 261ppk and £1915
Steers – Top prices ppk 294 255 K&J Heslop. 289 284×2 273 I Marshall & Sons. 275 A Crowder. 275 C Orton. 275 266 245 JM Smith. 272 M Robinson & Sons. 267 266 TN Callender. 261 W.K M.M Lamb. 251 249 244 238 236×2 230 229 Thoresby Livestock. 239 I Newton & Son. 237 228×2 227 JE&B Morgan & Sons.
Lead Grossing Steers £1968 £1891 £1886 JM Smith. £1966 C Orton. £1909 £1874 TN Callender. £1907 £1825 K&J Heslop. £1878 A Crowder. £1843 £1840 £1769 £1763 I Marshall & Sons. £1800 M Robinson & Sons. £1531 £1438 £1393 JE&B Morgan & Sons. £1425 W.K M.M Lamb. £1376 £1360 £1344 Thoresby Livestock.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 322 309 W&M Knaggs & Son. 320 315 305 W Swinbank & Sons. 319 313 307 Askwiths. 318 309 308 302 WA Armstrong. 317 316 314 312 296 JV&JA Hodgson. 317 297 K&J Heslop. 315 314 313 312 310 R Hirst. 312 Joshua Knaggs. 314 304 297 296 JJ Kemp & Son. 310 300 295 I Marshall & Sons. 309 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 309 306 B Walker. 304 Foxton Livestock. 304 JM Smith. 300 296 WF Hustwit.
Lead Grossing Heifers £1945 JM Smith. £1925 £1759 £1749 £1713 I Marshall & Sons. £1900 £1899 £1840 £1833 W Swinbank & Sons. £1877 £1858 £1851 JJ Kemp & Son. £1874 £1794 £1747 £1730 £1715 JV&JA Hodgson. £1860 A Crowder. £1810 WL Robinson. £1840 Askwiths. £1805 £1804 £1745 £1721 WA Armstrong. £1786 R Hirst. £1778 £1717 £1713 WF Hustwit. £1727 W&M Knaggs & Son. £1711 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1706 C Binks & Son. £1704 C Orton.
Prime Lambs (1319) – Nothing like new faces in the buyer’s den to ensure a fine trade, despite a national slide this week our weighed straight sale average of £134.23 and 322ppk was back just £2.74 per head on what was considered a fast trade seven days ago. Heavy lambs look the easiest to sell along as always with the better fed and better bred, leaner grass-fed lambs still remained a solid trade. Top of the pence per kilo twice reaching 377 pence was Caldwell based J C Simpson of Hill Top East Farm; knocking on the door were two vendors who had already enjoyed success with heifers this morning, J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse and W & M Knaggs & Son, Sadberge. Three vendors sold at £170 or more all weighing at least 50kg as Whitby based J P Floyd and Sedgefield’s R Lawson & Son couldn’t quite catch H M & J S Hutchinson of Newton Bewley with a magical trio of Texel cross Suffolks selling to J Loughlin & Sons Butchers, Chester-le-Street for £175 apiece.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 377×2 362 347 346 342×3 339 338 336 334 JC Simpson. 375 366 357 JV&JA Hodgson. 367 362×2 W&M Knaggs & Son. 363 JJ Horn. 362 350 345 342 AWSM Farms. 360 W Kirk & Sons. 360 352 W Simpson. 355 331 330 HM&JS Hutchinson. 355 JA&B Nappey. 351 Rebecca Appleton. 347 JA&A Herbert. 342 I Burn & Sons. 341 SM Donaldson. 341 MW Cook & Son. 340 331 JP Floyd. 339 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 339 BR&R Routledge. 339 334 RA Patterson & Son. 337 IR Appleton.
Lead Grossing Lambs £175 £163.50 £154.50 HM&JS Hutchinson. £172 £160 £147 R Lawson & Son. £170 JP Floyd. £168 £162 £147.50 I Burn & Sons. £166.50 £159.50 £156.50 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £166 £158.50 £158 £156×3 £146 £144×3 JC Simpson. £163.50 £151.50 £151 £149 JJ Horn. £161 M&A Gaskin. £160 £147 SM Donaldson. £156.50 £148 D&PH Brown. £155 W Kirk & Sons. £154.50 Rebecca Appleton. £154.50 RA Patterson & Son. £154 £148.50 AWSM Farms. £150×2 JV&JA Hodgson. £148.50 Wytherstone Farm. £148 £144 W Simpson. £147 £145×2 W&M Knaggs & Son.
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 289 JA&B Nappey. 265 255 192 176 RE&L Frank. 244 William Tindale. 242 181 K Raine. 234 230 179 AJ Lawson. 226 196 C Dawson. 222 204 JM Bainbridge. 220 215 G Te-Lintelo. 213 211 200 IR Appleton. 209 AW Gray. 204 RA Patterson & Son. 200 GS Bainbridge. 193 JC Smith.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £140 £115×2 AJ Lawson. £134 3120 AW Gray. £130 £110 £104 IR Appleton. £124 £120 JC Smith. £120 £111 £103.50 RE&L Frank. £120 William Tindale. £120 £114 C Dawson. £118 £110 GS Bainbridge. £110×2 G Te-Lintelo. £107 JA&B Nappey. £102 £100 K Raine. £100 JM Bainbridge. £100 RA Patterson & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (346) – Some weight amongst the ewes today left the sale averaging a stunning £122, with numbers tight and the EID Qurbani celebration approaching the next 2 or 3 weeks look set to keep the ewe fire burning brightly. Top price went to a sublime single Texel from M Moralee, Blackburn Farm which was followed closely by a hefty trio from J C Simpson, Caldwell. Mule ewes sold regularly over £100 with the biggest and best typically £120 to £130 whilst fewer hill ewes this week peaked at £90.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £200 £181 M Moralee. £195 £186 £180 JC Simpson. £186 £160 JP Floyd. £182 D&PH Brown. £180 £168 EW Grieves. £170 £163 £150×2 £143 RA&J Blyth. £170 £150 Wytherstone Farm. £170 £160 K Buckle. £170 LD Laws. £168 £158 Dromonby Bridge. £166 £164 £162 £160 P Tindale. £165 £152 K Stephenson. £155 J Weighell. £154 GP&A Carter. £150 £140 C Binks & Son. £150×2 M Radford. £150 JA&A Herbert. £148 £140 MW Cook & Son. £146 £140 RA Patterson & Son.
Prime Pigs & Sows (6) – Despite concerns that trade would dip this week (due to the region’s single biggest bacon and sausage consumer holidaying abroad) we are pleased to report that prices continue to rise. God bless the summer hog roasts and barbecues.
Pigs Leading PPK – 150 115 100 C Weightman
Sows PPK – 25 C Weightman
Pigs Leading Gross – £133 £101 £86 C Weightman
Sows Gross – £59 C Weightman
