Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 4TH April 2024. Forward were 165 cattle and 1911 sheep.
27 Prime Bulls sold to 351ppk or £2593
18 Prime Steers sold to 318ppk or £2475
118 Prime Heifers sold to 351ppk or £2140
2 OTM sold to 208ppk and £1745
11 New Season Lambs sold to 455ppk or £230
1629 Prime Hoggs sold to 502ppk or £250
271 Cast Ewes & Rams sold to £296
Prime Bulls (27) – Numbers disappointing, trade anything but as a very varied show of quality all improved again to average 286ppk and £1925. Making their own luck with three superb homebred Limousin bulls were J B Luck & Son, Milestone House, Bowes as they topped twice at 351 pence per kilo and sold thrice over £2500 with a best of £2593. Following the brilliant Luck’s over the line were a couple of classy Limousins from Messrs Hird of Meadow View as they peaked at 350ppk with one and £2517 with their other. Black and white bulls were also easily sold, this week’s leaders were J M & S Walton, Brettanby Farm at £1641 and R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall at 270 pence per kilo. See the top prices and averages below.
J B Luck & Son, Bowes sold 3 to average 345ppk and £2560
GK, KN & GJ Hird, Richmond sold 2 to average 339ppk and £2433
C Binks & Son, Walworth sold 2 to average 310ppk and £2098
Continental Bulls – Top prices ppk 351×2 336 JB Luck & Son. 350 330 GK KN & GJ Hird. 320 R Hall & Son. 313 308 C Binks & Son. 308 279 239 JC&P Tallentire. 299 296 291 285 283 SH Watson & Son. 286 268 JA&A Herbert. 254 JM&S Walton.
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £2593 £2563 £2523 JB Luck & Son. £2517 £2348 GK KN & GJ Hird. £2332 £2226 £2193 £2166 £2158 SH Watson & Son. £2291 R Hall & Son. £2103 £2094 C Binks & Son. £1968 £1729 JC&P Tallentire. £1753 £1634 JA&A Herbert.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 270 258 R hall & Son. 240 JM&S Walton. 224 208 D Walker.222 M Ord & Sons.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £1641 JM&S Walton. £1580 M Ord & Sons. £1549 £1524 R Hall & Son. £1167 £1064 D Walker.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 242×2 JA&A Herbert.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £1684 £1575 JA&A Herbert.
OTM – Top prices ppk 208 191 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons.
Lead Grossing OTM £1745 £1356 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons.
Clean Cattle (136) – The best end remained good to sell, the R grade cattle were still in good form but did not quite match last week’s flyer; heifers averaged 303ppk and the steers 297ppk. A double success in the pence per kilo race tis week for Ponteland based P J & M P Gilhespy, Low House winning both the steers and the heifers with cattle bought at our Monday store sales. Top heifer bought today at 351ppk by Taylors Butchers, Darlington was acquired from J Wilkinson, West Side Farm and the Gilhespy pens leading steer at 318ppk had previously resided with a Monday regular J H Johnson, White Lea Farm. F J Young & Partners, Sedgefield followed closest in the heifer prices per kilo selling at 349ppk and 347ppk with seventeen others between 330ppk and 345ppk. More success for Sedgefield followed in the gross value standings as A F Hall, Redcar House Farm claimed the top three places with superbly fed steers selling between £2353 and £2475, the eighteen steers in attendance today weighed between 532kg and 818kg and averaged over £2000. Top gross valued heifer this week came from W J & A S Bowes & Sons, Great Stainton with an excellent Limousin reaching £2140, the same good home followed at £2108 ahead of a Charolais from Ouston Farms Ltd at £2059 whilst the familiar names of Suddes, Hodgson and Hirst all found themselves in close attendance. See below some of the days top pen averages.
Heifers
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 337ppk and £1710
A Swinbank & Son, Sedgefield sold 2 to average 334ppk and £1804
F J Young & Partners, Sedgefield sold 3 to average 328ppk and £1798
W Swinbank & Sons, Caldwell sold 4 to average 325ppk and £1895
L R Welsh & Co, Spennymoor sold 2 to average 324ppk and £1952
R Hirst, Neasham sold 15 to average 320ppk and £1898
Steers
P J & M P Gilhespy, Ponteland sold 2 to average 306ppk and £1901
A F Hall, Sedgefield sold 3 to average 302ppk and £2405
Askwiths, Crook sold 2 to average 300ppk and £1964
Steers – Top prices ppk 318 295 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 312 JE Suddes & Son. 311 306 292 AF Hall. 308 292 Askwiths. 308 JV&JA Hodgson. 307 277 JR&B Anderson & Son. 295×2 JK&CE Farming. 295 285 AJ Marr & Son. 294 276 LR Welsh & Co. 288 A Swinbank & Son.
Lead Grossing Steers £2475 £2388 £2353 AF Hall. £2246 £1827 LR Welsh & Co. £2153 £2094 JK&CE Farming. £2072 £1857 Askwiths. £2062 JE Suddes & Son. £2023 £1761 JR&B Anderson & Son. £2008 JV&JA Hodgson. £1993 £1808 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £1755 £1672 AJ Marr & Son. £1532 A Swinbank & Son.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 351 338 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 349 347 FJ Young & Partners. 345 W Barron. 344 341 337 336 335 332 WA Armstrong. 340 339 329×2 325 324 322 321 320 R Hirst. 339 335 Askwiths. 339 335 W Swinbank & Sons. 338 329 321 JV&JA Hodgson. 336 333 A Swinbank & Son. 330 319 LR Welsh & Co. 329 319 B Walker. 327 323 JE Suddes & Son. 321 320 WF Hustwit. 320 318 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. 320 S&J Dent & Son.
Lead Grossing Heifers- £2140 £2108 WJ&AS Bowes & Sons. £2059 Ouston Farms LTD. £2038 £1999 £1973 £1857 JE Suddes & Son. £2038 £1984 £1983 £1973 £1956 £1924 £1915 £1909 £1900 £1828 JV&JA Hodgson. £2026 £1990 £1966 £1961 £1959 £1956 £1938 £1931 £1927 R Hirst. £1974 £1930 LR Welsh & Co. £1974 S&J Dent & Son. £1974 £1967 £1962 £1953 £1925 x2 £1888 £1843 WA Armstrong. £1962 £1897 W Barron. £1942 £1934 £1861 £1845 W Swinbank & Sons. £1930 £1900 £1842 WF Hustwit. £1930 £1892 PJ&MP Gilhespy.
New Season Lambs (11) – Just a handful of spring lambs at this early stage in our area, an excellent eleven Charollais from D Whitcher, Foulrice Farm, Whenby topped at 455ppk and £230 and returned an average of 440ppk and £214.91 per head.
Spring Lambs – Top prices ppk 455 441×2 434 430 425 D Whitcher.
Lead Grossing Spring Lambs £230 £226 £224 £214 £212 £190 D Whitcher.
Prime Hoggs (1629) – The hogg trade goes up again, long may it last, many more could have sold to vendors advantage as the local sheep numbers dwindle naturally at this time of year those who travelled to see us left more than delighted. As always, every hogg weighed straight throughout and today’s sale averaged a very pleasing 421 pence per kilo with a remarkable SQQ average of 439ppk. Top price per kilo at 502 pence were seventeen super clipped 44kg Texel hoggs from R Atkinson, Scorton; behind these a quintet of 46kg Beltex from G & R Dawson, Crayke followed at 495ppk before a further six pens from Robert Atkinson all sold over 470ppk; drawn in to in pens containing between sixteen and twenty-three. The whole sale averaged nicely over £200, the heavy weights averaged over £220, top of the pile was the super feeding of A C Simpson & Son, McNeil Farm, Witton-le-Wear who twice reached £250 and had several other pens £230 to £240. Behind the magic from McNeil came a single black Beltex from W & M Reed & Sons, Weardale and a lovely run of Texel and Beltex hoggs from first time vendors A P & R Dunn, York. Away from the mainstream meat breeds all creeds and colours were in demand; Blackface hoggs sold to £210 from L W Martin, Commondale, Mule hoggs sold to £218 from C S Robinson, Old Byland, Cheviot hoggs sold to £218 from G & R Dawson, Crayke and Hampshire Dow hoggs to £205 from R E & L Frank, Stokesley. Some terrific averages are listed below.
R Atkinson, Scorton sold 215 to average 473ppk (45kg)
C S Robinson, Old Byland sold 53 to average 452ppk (44kg)
AP & RA Dunn, York sold 21 to average 448ppk (51kg)
Ritchie Bland Estates, Aldbrough sold 19 to average 447ppk (43kg)
G W Whittington, Nottingham sold 144 to average 439ppk (45kg)
T N Callender, Whinney Hill sold 31 to average 434ppk (47kg)
G & R Dawson, Crayke sold 338 to average 417ppk (51kg)
A C Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear sold 48 to average £229 (55kg)
M W Barker & Son, Ketton sold 35 to average £222 (59kg)
Wytherstone Farms, Pockley sold 158 to average £216 (53kg)
Hoggs – Top prices ppk 502 491×2 488 481×2 471 462 460×2 R Atkinson. 495 464 462 459 457 452 444×2 442 G&R Dawson. 465 450 TN Callender. 462 443 J Pallister. 461 460 457 450 CS Robinson. 460 Ritchie Bland Estates. 457 451×3 AP&R Dunn. 454 451 W.K M.M Lamb. 454 MW&M Skidmore. 453×2 447 445 443 Whittington. 451 W Kirk & Sons. 450 447 AC Simpson & Sons. 450 P&CM Graham. 448 JE Lockey & Son. 447 Kirklington Farms. 446 MW Barker & Son. 444 JC&A Hutchinson. 443 Wytherstone Farm.
Lead Grossing Hoggs £250×2 £240 £239 £237 £231 £230×2 £229 £226×2 £225 £224 £220 AC Simpson & Son. £236 WM Reed & Sons. £230×4 £224 AP&R Dunn. £230 3228 £226×2 £225 £224 £223 £222 £221 G&R Dawson. £227 £222 £220 D&PH Brown. £226 £220 TN Callender. £225 £224×2 £222 Wytherstone Farm. £225 £223×2 £220 MW Barker & Son. £221×3 £220 R Atkinson. £220×2 I Spedding. £220 RE&L Frank. £220 WH Smith & Sons.
Cast Ewes & Rams (271) – Dearer again as the end of Ramadan beckons, a few superstars at the top with some geriatrics at the bottom all sold easily to see the ewes average £139 and the rams £152. Top of the pile were pure Texel’s with P Dawson, Nunstainton in first and third at £296 and £260 with K O Stones, Nun Cote Nook in the sandwich at £274. Cheviot ewes to £166, Mule ewes sold to £176, Swaledales to £114, Blackface to £92 and tups to a top of £240.
Lead Grossing Ewes- £296 £260 P Dawson. £274 £220 £196 £168 £166 £150 KO Stones. £240 £216 DK Barker. £228 £200 £178 £170 £162 £152 JA&A Herbert. £226 £184 £184 DR&RL Burns. £220 £160 P&CM Graham. £212 I Spedding. £208 £190 x2 £178 £160 £152 Bridge House Farm. £200 x2 William Tindale. £198 £184 Rose A Farms LTD. £196 I Hedley. £186 £160 JR Mann. £184 £180 WM Reed & Sons. £178 J Curry. £176 JC&A Hutchinson. £178 W Kirk & Sons. £176 S Pybourne. £168 £156 J Wigham. £164 GW Whittington Livestock. £160 £154 M&A Gaskin. £156 Kirklington Farms LTD. £154 HT Davies & Partners. £154 EA Martin & Son. £150 T Watson.
