Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 1st September 2022. Forward were 164 Cattle, 2005 Sheep and 15 Pigs.
72 Prime Bulls sold to 295ppk or £2545
10 Prime Steers sold to 300ppk or £2227
82 Prime Heifers sold to 324ppk or £2385
1741 Prime Lambs sold to 325ppk or £166
264 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £150
15 Prime Pigs sold to 115ppk or £99
Prime Bulls (72) – A good show of quality resulted in a soaring sale average of 255 pence per kilo and over £1800, despite these monumental averages trade would only be adjacent to, no better than, last week’s absolute humdinger. The recent domination of the Renton’s of Morpeth in our pence per kilo race ended today as our winner and top priced bull at 295ppk came from A S & S M Kemp, Sherburn with a superb 784kg British Blue. Top gross value went for the umpteenth time to the remarkable breeding and feeding of A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear; a terrific trio of homebred Limousin’s all sold over £2300 and the biggest at 936kg reached a massive £2545. Fewer of them but a fine Friesian trade indeed occurred this week; topped by J K & C E Farming, Piercebridge at £1514 and R Hall & Son, Brotton at 219ppk. Below are some of the stand out averages.
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 3 to average 276ppk and £2457
W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Great Stainton sold 2 to average 276ppk and £2235
A S & S M Kemp, Sherburn sold 10 to average 273ppk and £2043
Renton Highlaws, Morpeth sold 8 to average 273ppk and £1885
American Squeeze Crush, Bedale sold 2 to average 264ppk and £2235
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 4 to average 264ppk and £1843
J Layfield, Willington sold 6 to average 263ppk and £1821
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 295 283×2 280 273 270 267 265 264 256 AS&SM Kemp. 289 281 280 278 271 270 268 Renton Highlaws Ltd. 286 272×2 AC Simpson & Son. 282 270 J Layfield. 280 269 259 AG Watson & Sons. 278 274 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 270 260 American Squeeze Crush. 265 251 250 LW Martin. 260 256×2 A Tunstall. 260 JJ Kemp & Son. 259 255 JJ Horn. 253 JH&M&NW Brown.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2545 £2502 £2325 AC Simpson & Son. £2312 £2176 £2077 £2074 £2046 £2020 £2010 £1943 £1914 £1860 AS&SM Kemp. £2254 £2216 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £2250 AG Watson & Sons. £2249 £2222 American Squeeze Crush. £2118 £1998 D Richardson & Co Ltd. £2066 £1973 £1952 £1945 £1934 Renton Highlaws Ltd. £2047 J Layfield. £1997 £1965 JH&M&NW Brown. £1978 £1890 £1822 JJ Kemp & Son.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 219 207 204 R Hall & Son. 216 JK&CE Farming.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1514 JK&CE Farming. £1357 £1302 £1262 R HYall & Son.
Native Breed Bulls – Top prices ppk 268 262 250 J Layfield. 237 JK&CE Farming. 226 JK Gregory. 210 R Leiper & Co.
Lead Grossing Native Breed Bulls £1852 £1778 £1672 J Layfield. £1606 JK&CE Farming. £1472 R Leiper & Co. £1202 JK Gregory.
Clean Cattle (92) – Dearer by comparison, best end butcher’s cattle in massive demand whilst an increased selection of R and O grades also found great enthusiasm from the wholesale traders at ringside. Heifers averaged 273ppk with steers a whopping 267ppk, the whole show of varying quality levelled very close to £1600. Some 30% of the clean cattle today sold for 300 pence or more, close to the top end again came the excellent feeding of R Hirst, Neasham however this week’s winner at 324ppk with a superb 581kg Limousin was Coxhoe based W A Armstrong. Top steer per kilo at a wonderful 300 pence were W J Smith & Partners, Richmond with his closest rival another lovely Limousin from the same yard just a penny behind. Some great gross values were again available to the heavyweight beast, with no weight caps or age discrimination the live ring continues to make the deadweight look a dead loss; look at the patient and professional feeding of Barker Farming Partnership, Scorton whose quartet (3 Heifers, 1 Steer) all sold over £2200 and their best, a magnificent 29-month-old 837kg Limousin heifer selling for £2385. Below are some of the eye-catching averages of the day.
W A Armstrong, Coxhoe sold 10 heifers to average 311ppk and £1785
R Hirst, Neasham sold 15 heifers to average 307ppk and £1713
J R & B Anderson & Son, Manfield sold 3 heifers to average 298ppk and £1673
M Robinson & Sons, Staindrop sold 3 heifers to average 297ppk and £1612
W J Smith & Partners, Richmond sold 4 steers to average 291ppk and £1610
N White, Marrick sold 12 heifers to average 290ppk and £1639
J B & N Harrison & Son, Manfield sold 2 heifers to average 288ppk and £2002
Barker Farming, Scorton sold 4 clean to average 276ppk and £2271
Steers – Top prices ppk 300 299 289 277 WJ Smith & Partners. 284 269 A Crowder. 276 WA Armstrong. 274 Barker Farming Partnership. 213 M Ord & Sons. 201 RD Musgrave.
Lead Grossing Steers £2227 Barker Farming Partnership. £1840 £1726 A Crowder. £1799 WA Armstrong. £1677 £1655 £1623 £1484 WJ Smith & Partners. £1358 M Ord & Sons. £1266 RD Musgrave.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 324 323 315 314 309×3 308 305 WA Armstrong. 323 322 319 318 317 309×2 306 305 304 302 R Hirst. 320 289×2 M Robinson & Sons. 319 308 307 298 296 295 N White. 317 301 278 JR&B Anderson & Son. 305 TW Clark & Son. 290 287 JB&N Harrison & Sons. 285 282 Barker Farming Partnership. 285 284 277 PJ&ES Rogerson.
Lead Grossing Heifers £2385 £2256 £2216 Barker Farming Partnership. £2152 £1853 JB&N Harrison & Sons. £1889 £1882 £1835 £1810 £1802 £1795 £1770 £1711 WA Armstrong. £1834 £1827 £1802 £1798 £1796 £1787 £1769 £1762 £1730 R Hirst. £1832 PJ&ES Rogerson. £1832 M Robinson & Sons. £1810 JR&B Anderson. £1764 £1757 £1690 £1683 £1675 £1646 N White.
Prime Lambs (1741) – Much dearer, as is the current fashion heavy lambs and the best fleshed very easy to sell indeed, still some resistance to the lean meat but they too proved a better trade. As always weighed 100% straight the sale averaged a healthy 253ppk and £113.57. A tremendous 40kg Texel lamb from Ben Taylor, Greta Bridge topped the sale per kilo at 325 pence, a host of vendors chased close behind and nicely in the 300’s. Top gross value of £166 was another feather in the Texel cap, on this occasion the successful vendor was J Gilson Agricultural Contractors, Quebec; ten other vendors filled the chasing pack selling beyond £150 on the day.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 325 286 B Taylor. 315 298 289 284 278 F&JS Gargett. 306 298 292 289 285 281 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 306 293 JE Suddes & Son. 304 302 290 285 280 277 AS&G Donaldson. 302 S&S Davies. 302 287 280 JG Atkinson. 300 HT Davies & Partners. 300 LD Laws. 298 294 290 284 J Hird. 291 281 JA&A Herbert. 290 BR&R Routledge. 290 285 I&A Holmes. 287 285 IM Maughan. 282 T&DI Allen. 282 JR Knox & Son. 280 JD Sanderson. 279 K&PM Lough. 278 FW Hodgson & Son. 278 D&J Hunnam.
Lead Grossing Lambs £166 £138.50 J Gilson Agriculture. £164 £154 LK Hewitt. £160 £150 JJ Horn. £158 £148 £147 £145 J Hird. £156 LD Laws. £156 C Taylor. £156 £136 H Thompson. £155 £142 £140 JG Atkinson. £152 £130.50 £130 AS&G Donaldson. £152 £134 IM Maughan. £150 JR Raine & Sons. £149 £129 Forster Hall & Son. £143.50 R Tookey & Son. £142 £134.50 F&JS Gargett. £142 £139 £135 D&J Hunnam & Son. £141 £132 JE Suddes & Son. £140 F Shield. £139 £135 £128.50 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £136 K Mowbray. £135 JA&A Herbert. £134.50 £130 B Taylor.
Cast Sheep (264) – Who knew Snow White had so many sisters? Less forward and one of the worst shows of quality in recent memory. Trade dearer on the week and in fairness to the few which bucked the trend of mediocrity we reached some nice values; top of the sale a Texel tup from C Taylor, Trimdon Grange selling for £150, the good continental ewes although sparce sold over £100 and the biggest Mules reached £85 to £90. Swaledale ewes now selling £20 to £40 with only the downtrodden and decrepit less than that.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £150 £120 C Taylor. £140 £120 £80 AWSM Farms. £135 £115 JJ Horn. £130 £110 H Emerson. £128 £100 £90 D&M Lowes. £120 £114 £106 HT Dvies & Partners. £120 S&S Davies. £120 £100 LD Laws. £120 £106 C Orton. £108 S&D Ferrie. £100 William swinbank. £100 GF Whitfield. £100×2 JG Atkinson. £100 G Thompson & Sons. £95 T&DI Allen. £94 GW Maw. £90×2 RA Patterson & Son.
Pigs (15) – Two weeks ago the pig trade was flying and for the first time in years it looked positively rosy for the long-suffering purveyors of pork; alas, today with three buyers for just fifteen pigs we somehow still managed prices best described as pedestrian. Little wonder we do not sell many.
Pigs – Top prices ppk 115 110 100 85 C Weightman. 115 100 J Mitchell & Son.
Lead Grossing Pigs £99 £90 £80 £78 C Weightman. £90 £80 J Mitchell & Son.
