Prime Bulls (82) – A light show again met a super-fast trade, six bulls over 240ppk and a further 18 selling 230-239ppk helped the overall average up to 212ppk. The gold medal today was won by a tremendous 2 year old Limousin from Foxton Livestock, Abbey Farm, Barnard Castle when the terrific 826kg bull sold for 248 pence per kilo and £2048. Some great gross values were gained by several vendors today, aside from our sale topper 5 more sold beyond £1800, 13 sold £1700-£1800 and another dozen £1600-£1700. Black and white bulls were infinitely dearer this week peaking at £1348 from D & C A Henry, Deighton and 206ppk from the ultra-consistent R Hall & Son, Brotton. The 27 black and whites today averaged a pleasing £1068 and 182ppk. Some of the days big hitters are listed below.
J H & M & N W Brown, Middleton-St-George sold 3 Bulls to average 240ppk and £1574
E Wilson, Scorton sold 3 Bulls to average 238ppk and £1814
W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Great Stainton sold 4 Bulls to average 237ppk and £1666
J E Jordon & Son, Longhirst sold 2 Bulls to average 235ppk and £1687
R W & R Henry, Worsall sold 3 Bulls to average 234ppk and £1706
A G Watson & Sons, Rushyford sold 6 Bulls to average 232ppk and £1698
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 4 Bulls to average 230ppk and £1646
Prime Bulls Leading PPK – 248 Foxton Livestock. 244 242 234 230 W J & A S Bowes & Sons. 243 242 236 J H & M & N W Brown. 240 238 237 E Wilson. 238 229 228 L R Welsh & Co. 237 233(x2) R W & R Henry. 236 228(x2) A S & S M Kemp. 235(x2) J E Jordon & Son. 234(x4) 230 227 A G Watson & Sons. 230 S H Watson & Son. 229 M & J Cheesbrough & Sons. 228 J K & C E Farming. 227 J Allison & Sons.
Prime Bulls Leading Gross – £2048 Foxton Livestock. £1877 £1654 R W & R Henry. £1851 £1817 £1773 E Wilson. £1824 £1817 £1739 £1673 £1610 A S & S M Kemp. £1766 £1759 £1708 W J & A S Bowes & Sons. £1750 £1733 £1708 £1687(x2) £1623 A G Watson & Sons. £1748 £1729 J J Horn. £1720 £1621 L R Welsh & Co. £1719 Ouston Farms Ltd. £1687(x2) J E Jordon & Son. £1668 £1626 J H & M & N W Brown. £1628 J Richmond.
Friesian Bulls Leading PPK – 206 184 180 R Hall & Son. 195 188 187 184 D & C A Henry. 191 189 187 172 J & J H Musgrave. 189 180 178 East Newbiggin Farm. 188 184 S H Watson & Son. 188 187 178 A S & S M Kemp. 189 178 172 C & M Atkinson.
Friesian Bulls Leading Gross – £1348 £1242 £1161 £1113 D & C A Henry. £1319 £1164 S H Watson & Son. £1240 £1162 £1108 R Hall & Son. £1182 £1059 £1052 East Newbiggin Farm. £1135 £1084 £1064 J & J H Musgrave. £1094 £994 A S & S M Kemp. £1014 C & M Atkinson & Sons.
Cattle (102) – Unbelievable demand at the DFAM ringside, have we EVER seen them dearer??? For the 4th week in a row the Darlington purveyors of clean beef enjoyed a sensational trade, the top end producers are certainly bringing forward some expertly finished beast of late, due to this they are truly relishing the benefits which the live ring can bring. The heifers this week averaged an amazing 268 pence per kilo and the steers 245ppk, absolutely nowhere else in Britain taking them either live or dead can challenge our trade today. Congratulations must go to regular supporter Nick Hodgson of J V & J A Hodgson, The Grange, Summerhouse who climbed all the way to 299 pence per kilo with a super smart 576kg Limousin heifer, realistically too many vendors deserve mention to individualise them as tremendously 10 heifers today sold for 290ppk and above, a further 15 sold 280ppk to 289ppk. Top steer per kilo went to another familiar face as W Swinbank & Sons, Greystones, Caldwell also with a Limousin sold for 283ppk, the same good yard also produced the day’s leading gross valued heifer at £1743. The feeding prowess of Barker Farming Partnership, Tancred Grange was again on display and in top form and as usual totally embarrassed those selling heavy steers via the deadweight Dick Turpin’s. All four bullocks today from Tancred Grange sold over £2000 with the best of them a heavyweight Limousin realising £2110. Special mention must go to Robin and Imogen Hirst who were joined on centre court by Gerard ‘The Mighty’ Quinn of J E Suddes & Son as both parties showed remarkable runs which averaged over 280ppk; also mention goes to first time vendors T H Harrison & Sons of Shap who made their maiden voyage across the Pennines a very successful raid as they pushed the regular sale toppers all the way. Naturally after a trade like todays the list of the top players is plentiful below as from far and wide the rewards were massive in DFAM.
R Hirst, Neasham sold 10 Heifers to average 281ppk and £1510
J E Suddes & Son, Cornsay sold 5 Heifers to average 280ppk and £1556
Askwiths, Crook sold 1 Steer, 3 Heifers to average 279ppk and £1567
J V & J A Hodgson, Summerhouse sold 11 Heifers to average 278ppk and £1623
W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell sold 1 Steer, 3 Heifers to average 277ppk and £1667
M Robinson & Sons, Staindrop sold 2 Steers, 2 Heifers to average 277ppk and £1593
B Walker, Dalton-on-Tees sold 3 Heifers to average 272ppk and £1488
Barker Farming Partnership, Scorton sold 4 Steers to average 246ppk and £2060
G Carins & Partners, Black Callerton sold 5 Steers to average 244ppk and £1724
Prime Steers Leading PPK – 283 W Swinbank & Sons. 279 234 K & J Heslop. 277 258 M Robinson & Sons. 276 S E Chapman. 275 240 238 T H Harrison & Sons. 264 240 W J Scott Ltd. 262 Askwiths. 258 254 248 244 G Carins & Partners. 258 250 246 234 Barker Farming Partnership. 232 I R Appleton.
Prime Steers Leading Gross – £2110 £2054 £2052 £2025 Barker Farming Partnership. £1835 £1824 £1722 £1639 £1600 G Carins & Partners. £1771 Askwiths. £1731 W Swinbank & Sons. £1703 £1475 M Robinson & Sons. £1687 K & J Heslop. £1611 T H Harrison & Sons. £1603 S E Chapman. £1496 W J Scott Ltd. £1482 I R Appleton.
Prime Heifers Leading PPK – 299 290 286(x3) 278 276 275 J V & J A Hodgson. 296 287 280 J E Suddes & Son. 296 M F Hall. 296 T H Harrison & Sons. 294 286 280 Askwiths. 293 291 290 286 281 279(x2) 277 R Hirst. 290 284 M Robinson & Sons. 288 278 W J Scott Ltd. 285 K & J Heslop. 282 280 W Swinbank & Sons. 280 279 B Walker. 278 276 J B Luck. 277 J M Ramsay & Son.
Prime Heifers Leading Gross – £1743 £1610 £1584 W Swinbank & Sons. £1725 £1722 £1693 £1693 £1661 £1650 £1630 £1601 £1590 J V & J A Hodgson. £1716 £1673 £1626 J E Suddes & Son. £1705 Askwiths. £1701 K & J Heslop. £1679 £1598 W J Scott Ltd. £1665 £1655 £1645 £1531 T H Harrison & Sons. £1615 £1579 M Robinson & Sons. £1570 £1548(x2) £1534 £1526 £1517 R Hirst. £1566 M & J Cheesbrough & Sons. £1551 J B Luck. £1540 £1520 B Walker.
Cast Cows Leading PPK – 202 182 M Shaw.
Cast Cows Leading Gross – £1422 £1173 M Shaw.
New Season Lambs (1231) – Trade of the day in the North East, despite the downward trend nationally this week some resistance was certainly apparent with vendors again leaving Darlington satisfied, lest we forget that 12 months ago we were practically rejoicing as the lambs averaged 237ppk with tops of 264ppk and £125, todays average then of 242ppk with tops of £142.50 and 300ppk is a fall from recent grace however certainly no disaster. Top of the tree today were some corkers from the first draw this season for W B Mitchell & Sons, Howlett Hall as they sold to £142.50. Both William and John Simpson of Caldwell led the pence per kilo at 300; plenty of the better bred and better fed could sell comfortably at 270ppk and beyond. The sale average of over £101 was particularly pleasing given the large proportion of solely grass fed lambs and pet lambs this week.
Prime Lambs Leading PPK – 300(x2) 296 293 290 286 285 J C Simpson. 300 290 W Simpson. 291 277 273(x2) 270 W B Mitchell & Sons. 290(x2) 285 K Hall. 290 P Tindale. 280 277 276 Cole Hill Farms. 279 276 271 H T Davies & Partners. 278 N White. 271 270 R G Richardson & Son. 270 M Radford.
Prime Lambs Leading Gross – £142.50 £140 £133 £126 W B Mitchell & Sons. £134.50 S M Donaldson. £132 £130.50 £127 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £129(x2) £125 £123 £121.50 £120(x2) J C Simpson. £128.50 £125 I R Appleton. £128 T W & P T Moss Ltd. £128 K Hall. £127.50 £124.50 R G Richardson. £126 W Simpson. £125 £120 High Harbour Farms. £125 M & A Gaskin. £125 £121 W Denham. £125 P Tindale. £125 F Myers & Son. £124 R Appleton.
Prime Hoggs (203) – Still the over year sheep meat is in demand as the forthcoming Qurbani celebrations look set to hold the hogg meat in demand for at least a further 3 weeks. No stopping the good feeding and patience of R H Thompson & Son, Whins Farm, Newfield as they led the way again peaking at £145. Finally…black and white sheep matter, after 9 years at DFAM this particular writer is delighted to today report that the top price per kilo went to a pen of Jacobs, well done to the Bolton family of Chester-le-Street.
Prime Hoggs Leading PPK – 247 G Bolton. 233 P Tindale. 232 226 222 219 218 F M Martindale. 223 219 215 214 211 R H Thompson & Son. 222 C Beard. 213 J Walshaw & Son. 211 G M T Foljambe.
Prime Hoggs Leading Gross – £145 £143 £140 £136 £135 £129 £125 £110 R H Thompson & Son. £143 £130 £127 £110 G M T Foljambe. £117 J P Coatsworth & Son. £105 F M Martindale. £98 P Tindale.
Cast Ewes & Rams (438) – As with the hoggs the older sheep which have gone against their instincts and not died a natural death before they arrive at market are very much in demand, lean meat in particular is a terrific trade, the bigger ewes may be a touch easier but the plain types dearer on the week. Top price of £139 went to Paradise Farm and the Tindale boys with a superb Beltex ewe, any amount of strong ewes £110 and beyond with Mules topping at £115.
Cast Ewes & Rams – £139 P Tindale. £137 £135(x2) £134 £130 J C Simpson. £132 £124 Railway View Farm. £131 J Norman. £130 £124 J Curry. £130 J Walshaw & Son. £130 R G & G Rutter. £129 £128 £124 G C & J C Pullan. £127 D Coupland. £124 W R Thompson. £124 G F Whitfield. £123 K O Stones.
Prime Pigs (10) – The pig trade stays good, not flying but healthy enough. You can put wings on a pig but it doesn’t make it an eagle.
Prime Pigs Leading PPK – 110(x2) 100(x5) C Weightman.
Prime Pigs Leading Gross – £111 £110 £104 £94 £83 £65 £62 C Weightman.
