Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of Prime Stock on Thursday 6th January 2022. Forward were 236 Cattle, 1844 Sheep and 13 Pigs.
63 Prime Bulls sold to 314ppk or £2351
32 Prime Steers sold to 292ppk or £1937
141 Prime Heifers sold to 313ppk 1991
1519 Prime Hoggs sold to 347ppk or £164
325 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £200
13 Prime Pigs sold to 95ppk or £95
Prime Bulls (63) – The new year began in style; at the first sale of 2021 we reported an average of 217ppk and frankly all wondered how long these superb prices could continue, today then as the sale levelled at 226ppk as we begin the year with great optimism as to where the beef trade could lead us in 2022. Twice bulls from regular sellers A G Watson & Sons of Nunstainton Grange sold over 300 pence per kilo with the pick of them an absolute world beater of a 749kg Limousin selling for 314ppk and a massive £2351. A magical nine bulls topped £2000 as four beauties from Nunstainton Grange were joined by a trio of superb homebred Limousin’s from A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm and a pair of brilliant British Blondes from F & J S Gargett, Westwick Farm. The expert feeding of the aforementioned Watson’s was again apparent with our top native breed bulls as they sold a Hereford at 240 pence and £1617. Friesian bulls were led by J M & S Walton, Brettanby Farm at 199 pence per kilo whilst the pick of the pen from the ever-dependable R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall Farm led the black and white gross values at £1341.
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 9 Bulls to average 269ppk and £1915
J J Horn, Richmond sold 2 Bulls to average 251ppk and £1792
F & J S Gargett, Barnard Castle sold 3 Bulls to average 249ppk and £2042
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 4 Bulls to average 248ppk and £2181
D Richardson & Co, Melsonby sold 5 Bulls to average 246ppk and £1932
Prime Bulls Leading PPK – 314 306 295 263(x2) 250(x2) 242 240 A G Watson & Sons. 265 M I Wainwright. 258 250 248 239 D Richardson & Co. 258 248 246 244 A C Simpson & Son. 257 252 239 F & J S Gargett. 251(x2) J J Horn. 250 J R Knox. 247 238 J M & S Walton. 243 J K Gregory.
Prime Bulls Leading Gross – £2351 £2194 £2154 £1907 £1875 £1834 £1693 A G Watson & Sons. £2296 £2167 £2164 £2097 A C Simpson & Son. £2105 £2091 £1930 F & J S Gargett. £1984 £1951 £1950£1912 £1864 D Richardson & Co. £1829 £1754 J J Horn. £1808 £1713 £1699 J M & S Walton. £1783 J K & C E Farming. £1711 M I Wainwright.
Friesian Bulls Leading PPK – 199 188 184 168 164 J M & S Walton. 195 J K & C E Farming. 193(x2) 179 R Hall & Son. 184 180 J A & A Herbert. 179 178 R W Raper & Sons. 175 J E & B Morgan & Sons.
Friesian Bulls Leading Gross – £1341 £1288 £1248 R Hall & Son. £1336 £1256 R W Raper & Sons. £1273 £1203 £1182 £1088 £928 J M & S Walton. £1205 J K & C E Farming. £1086 J E & B Morgan & Sons. £1072 £1021 J A & A Herbert.
Clean Cattle (173) – The year starts with the drivers of the beef juggernaut keeping their foot well and truly on the accelerator, no question the Darlington faithful enjoyed a superb trade to kick off 2022; proof in the pudding can be seen by our excellent averages with steers at 250ppk and heifers 274ppk, amazingly these averages are some 39ppk higher than our opening sale last year. With a strong showing from far and wide no less than 19 heifers sold at 300 pence or beyond, twice the bridesmaid at 310ppk were Limousin heifers from Ponteland based M F Hall however the sale topper was produced by the magicians from Morpeth Messrs Renton of High Highlaws with a sublime homebred 596kg British Blue which sold for 313 pence. Despite a valiant effort from Jedburgh’s Robert Neill & Partners our undisputed king of the steers per kilo was regular Cumbrian challenger A Barnett of Brinns Farm, Shap as his terrific trio sold twice to 292 pence with the other just tuppence behind. Some impressive gross values were achieved throughout, the top half a dozen steers all sold over £1800; challengers from Nottinghamshire, Roxburghshire, Cumbria and Northumberland all tried but failed to catch the leader from our home county as I W Cairns of Haswell sold a 707kg Limousin for an impressive £1937. No less than 14 heifers managed to cross the £1800 line, a tremendous three of these sold beyond £1900, all of which hailed from North of the border as a beautiful Limousin (£1904) from M I Wainwright, Cupar, Fife placed behind two outstanding British Blues (£1905 & £1991) from first time vendors Mossburn Ford Patnership, Jedburgh.
M F Hall, Ponteland sold 4 Heifers to average 298ppk and £1690
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 Heifers to average 297ppk and £1720
W A Armstrong, Coxhoe sold 6 Heifers to average 292ppk and £1690
A Barnett, Shap sold 3 Steers to average 291ppk and £1802
F & J S Gargett, Barnard Castle sold 4 Heifers to average 288ppk and £1598
Renton Highlaws, Morpeth sold 3 Heifers & 3 Steers to average 286ppk and £1748
M I Wainwright, Fife sold 11 Heifers & 1 Steer to average 286ppk and £1656
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 14 Heifers to average 282ppk and £1740
W M Fleming, Kelso sold 8 Heifers to average 282ppk and £1641
Steers – Top prices ppk 292×2 290 A Barnett. 284 275 274 267 260 252 250 Robert Neill & Partners. 279 270 267 Renton Highlaws Ltd. 274 IW Cairns. 270 267 TN Callender. 265 249 WR Thompson. 262 250 232 224 TW&PT Moss. 260 Mossburnford Farm. 244 MI Wainwright. 220 IW Cairns. 214 TN Hodgson & Sons.
Lead Grossing Steers £1937 IW Cairns. £1881 £1752 £1682 Renton Highlaws Ltd. £1843 £1823 £1786 £1721 £1665 £1643 Robert Neill & Partners. £1836 £1789 £1781 A Barnett. £1815 £1552 TW&PT Moss Ltd. £1726 Mossburnford Farm. £1722 £1558 WR Thompson. £1639 MI Wainwright. £1606 £1585 TN Callender. £1569 £1563 TN Hodgson & Sons.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 313 300 296 Renton Highlaws Ltd. 310×2 306 MF Hall. 309 298 295 WF Hustwit. 306 JE Suddes & Son. 305 J Layfield. 305 300 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 304 301 297 295 293 290×2 289 MI Wainwright. 304 301 300 JV&JA Hodgson. 301 300 292 290 WA Armstrong. 301 290 289 288 WM Fleming. 300 293 F&JS Gargett. 298 295×2 287×2 R Hirst. 298×2 297 B Walker. 291 K&J Heslop. 287 286 G&JY Marshall.
Lead Grossing Heifers £1991 £1905 £1866 £1776 Mossburnford Farm. £1904 £1804 £1796 MI Wainwright. £1867 £1848 £1841 £1837 £1832 £1830 £1749 £1733£1730 £1727 £1724 JV&JA Hodgson. £1808 £1802 £1725 £1716 R Hirst. £1796 £1704 B Walker. £1794 Robert Neill & Partners. £1775 WM Fleming. £1765 £1734 £1716 £1705 WF Hustwit. £1750 £1714×2 MF Hall. £1740 £1725 WA Armstrong. £1724 £1709 JE Suddes & Son. £1718 J Layfield.
Prime Lambs (1519) – The tremendous sheep trade keeps on giving, as we did throughout 2021, we started as we will continue for the whole of 2022 with the weighbridge firmly set on zero, with this in mind surely few can complain at an all-in sale average of 270 pence per kilo and over £120. Top price per kilo were a quintet of beautiful Beltex from W A Wardman, Thrushwood Farm, Yearby when the super 40kg hoggs sold for 347 pence (£139), great runs from Northfield Farms, Askwiths and C S & V Whitfield all pressed the leaders all the way to the finish line. The gross value race saw bidding surpass £150 on 14 occasions; top of the tree however was our recently crowned Christmas Champions the Askwith Family of Crook with a trio of 55kg Beltex hoggs selling for £164.
Lambs – Top prices ppk 347 315 294×2 291 289 287 286 WA Wardman Ltd. 328 321 317 310 302 300 292 291 289 287 285 Northfield Farm. 321 317 313 298 294 Askwiths. 318 307 300 286 CS&V Whitfield. 317 JG Hall. 315 299 287 IM Maughan. 307 289 SC Brown. 303 J Clark. 302 299 298 288 JC Simpson. 300 292 289 J&A Layfield. 298 295 JG Walton & Son. 292 RW&R Henry. 289 M Smith. 289 285 TW Brown. 288 GF Whitfield. 285 F Johnson.
Lead Grossing Lambs £164 £163 £155.50 £150 Askwiths. £159 £147.50 £143 £139 £134.50 WA Wardman Ltd. £157.50 £151 £134.50 RW&R Henry. £155.50 £142.50 J Clark. £155 £145 £143.50 £141 £140 £135.50 JC Simpson. £155 RE Dickson. £154 £151 £147 £143 3142 £141.50 £139.50 J&A Layfield. £151.50 JJ Horn. £148 £140 £138 Northfield Farm. £146.50 £143.50 £143 £142.50 CS&V Whitfield. £145 £140 FR&AL Lyth. £143 TH Richardson & Son. £141 S Thompson & Son.
Cast Ewes & Rams (325) – Last weeks flying trade was remarkably matched and possibly even bettered today, the ewes levelled over £100 apiece and for the first time in a while we reached £200, the vendor in the clouds was Whitby based F R & A L Lyth of Mount Pleasant Farm who produced some outstanding pure Texel’s. The biggest and best Mule ewes again sold in the £115 to £125 area whilst horned ewes peaked at £82 from Commondale’s D & B Harding, Thornhill Farm.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £200 £195 £172 FR&AL Lyth. £168 £132 C Binks & Son. £168 £134 £132 I Spedding. £144 Askwiths. £142 £129 S Ayre. £136 £127 JG Walton & Son. £129 JJ Horn. £128 J&A Layfield. £126 RL Carter. £126 £123 £119 MF Hall. £125 £124 MJ Blacklidge. £121 J&B Stanwix & Son. £120 JC Simpson. £120 P&J Martin. £120 S Thompson & Son. £119 £114 WA Wardman Ltd. £118 £112 C Moralee & Sons. £118 HS Petch & Sons. £118 RE Dickson.
Prime Pigs (13) – Put some pork on your fork, the desperate pig crisis continues; so bad in fact is the pig trade that one of the two DFAM members of staff responsible for the sale reports appears to have abandoned any mention of our bacon flavoured buddies altogether.
Leading PPK – 95 90 C Weightman. 90(x3) J Mitchell & Son.
Leading Gross – £95 £69 C Weightman. £74 £71 £69 C Mitchell & Son.
