Ashford Market Report – Tuesday 27th January 2026

Sheep Sales Reports

Finished Hoggets – 734 sold.

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

Top price per kilo – 426p – C Saunders, Kent.
Top price per head – £162.00 P Bates, East Sussex.

Less on offer, no doubt as a result of the dreadful weather conditions we have seen in the previous 24 hours, helped the trade to lift with all types selling to a stronger demand.
The feeling that we are nearing pay day, and, therefore, the end of the “January Blues” was very evident and has helped the wholesale trade over the weekend, creating the spark in the trade. Handy weighted lambs, which made up the majority of the sheep on offer today, were often in excess of 350p kg and topped today with some superb Beltex crosses from Charlie Saunders. Heavy weights are still the hardest sheep to sell at the prices that vendors have set their sights on, but unfortunately the trade is what it is and what the wholesaler prices dictate it to be.

27 – £115.00 (426p kg) – C Saunders
34 – £102.00 (300p kg) – R T & R S Davis
36 – £129.00 (358p kg) – G Dallaway
37 – £127.00 (343p kg) – A J Skinner & Son
38 – £137.00 (361p kg) – I Lucas
39 – £131.00 (336p kg) – W G Watkins & Sons
40 – £139.00 (348p kg) – A J Skinner & Son
41 – £138.50 (338p kg) – R T & R S Davis
42 – £150.00 (357p kg) – I Lucas
43 – £151.00 (351p kg) – D Barnwell
44 – £153.50 (349p kg) – W Pynn Contractors
45 – £148.00 (329p kg) – R F& E A Simmons
46 – £150.00 (326p kg) – W G Watkins & Sons
47 – £161.00 (343p kg) – I Lucas
48 – £159.00 (331p kg) – P Bates
49 – £160.00 (327p kg) – R F& E A Simmons
50 – £161.50 (323p kg) – R F& E A Simmons
51 – £159.00 (312p kg) – D Barnwell
52 – £152.50 (293p kg) – W G Watkins & Sons
53 – £162.00 (306p kg) – P Bates

Averages (p/kg)

Light 25.6 to 32 – 14 – Top 426, Ave. 426.0
Standard 32.1 to 39 kgs – 92 – Top 361, Ave. 345.9
Medium 39.1 to 45.5 kgs – 437 – Top 357, Ave. 326.0
Heavy 45.6 to 52 kgs – 179   – Top 343, Ave. 318.5

Store Hoggets  683 – Sold

Auctioneers: John Rossiter 07557 392903.

Not quite as many stores on offer today as last week and again, prices in this section exceeded expectations.
Best stores are in excess of £120 to a top of £134 form Leconfield Estates, and the overall average was returned again at £111 head, the same as we have seen for the past two weeks. Most lambs selling in excess of £100 head with only very few longer term types selling below.

Cull Sheep – 302 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

Top price ewes: £229.00 – N C & C G Hedges, East Sussex. – Ave. £136.81
A strong trade for all grades with plenty of well fleshed sorts penned and a large percentage of these scanned empty.
The best regularly £140 – £170 and to a top price of £229 for a pen of Texel and Beltex ewes from N C & C G Hedges. Medium sorts looking well sold at £110 – £140 on most occasions with leaner grazing types £70 – £100 throughout and short in the pens as to be expected for this time of year.
Please inform me of any large consignments of ewes you have to sell with customers present for all grades every week.

Top prices included:
Texel to £229 – N C & C G Hedges, Beltex to £229 – N C & C G Hedges, Charollais to £222 – N C & C G Hedges, Texel cross to £180 – C Hardwick, Suffolk cross to £168 – A A Palmar & Son, Texel cross to £165 – R & S L M Smith, Mules to £145 – Leconfield Farms, Romneys to £143 – R L Goodman & Son.

In Lamb Ewes 280 sold.

Auctioneer James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678.
The breeding sheep section was on fire with In – Lamb ewes from 3 different vendors and a 100% clearance rate. Top call went to Ms Catherine Cox with flock aged Texel x Mule In – Lamb ewes to Texel x Beltex rams scanned at 161% topping at £235 per head and every pen in the run sold in excess of £210 per head. Continental cross flock aged ewes from R Woods scanned at 143% topped at £195 per head with majority of the run £170 – £190 per head. Also a complete reduction from Kaiapoi Consulting Ltd of NZ Romney flock aged ewes scanned at 181% to NZ Romney rams topped at £205 per head with the run averaging just short of a respectable £160 per head.
Please do inform me of any breeding sheep you have to sell going forward with more customers still looking for breeding sheep.

Ear Tags in Sheep
Please be aware of your responsibilities with regard to the tagging of sheep of all ages and in all sections of the market.

Cattle Reports

Finished Cattle –  55 Sold
Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357.

A good show of cattle and the buyers around the ring, but all wanting to buy cattle at less money as retail and catering pressures continue. If anything, the best cattle suffering more with the more commercial types holding up.
Good cattle touching 380p but more generally 360-370p with top Limousin heifer from W Alexander to 380p, £1860, top Limousin steer from Leggatt Farming at 370p, £2108. Charolais heifers from J Berryman to 373p, £2104, Blonde heifers 367p, £2162 G L Boulden & Sons. A good Limousin steer and heifer pair from P W & P Sim & Son at 368p, £2407 and 364p, £2108.
Rates easier amongst the dairy bred types with more Holstein bred types forward this week. Limousin x Friesian steers from A J Down still selling to 362p, £2324 but generally 350-360p. Hereford x steer 354p, £2174 and a British Blue x Holstein Friesian steer 343p, £2637 both P W & P Sim. Several Black & Whites forward but selling well towards 320p.
Best Angus steers to 370p, £2032 W Alexander with stock generally in the 340-360p range. Sussex to 358p, £2270 AB Jones & Ptrs; Beef Shorthorn steers 355p, £2322 C R Cook. Angus heifers to 364p, £2108 W S Furnival.

Top Steers

Leggat Farming Ltd – Limousin cross – 370p (£2180)
W Alexander (Shoreham) – Aberdeen Angus cross – 370p (£2032)
P W & P Sim – Limousin cross – 368p (£2407)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 362p (£2187)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 360p (£2085)

Top Heifers

W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 380p (£1860)
J Berryman – Charolais cross – 373p (£2105)
G L Boulden & Sons – Blonde D’Aquitaine cross – 367p (£2162)
J Tapley – Limousin cross – 364p (£2126)
W S Furnival Ltd – Aberdeen Angus cross – 364p (£2108)

Average prices

Steers 200 to 550 kg – 3 – Top 370p – Ave. 352p
Steers 551 to 650 kg – 23 – Top 370p – Ave. 346p
Steers 651 kg + – 9 – Top 368p – Ave. 345p
Heifers 300 to 500 kg – 2 – Top 380p – Ave. 322p
Heifers 501 to 590 kg – 10 – Top 373p – Ave. 346p
Heifers 591 kg + – 7 – Top 359p – Ave. 345p

OTM Cattle and Cull Cows – 77 Sold
Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357.

Another good entry of cull cattle from across the South East, and well done to all producers and hauliers for beating the appalling weather and road conditions. An entry with, perhaps, a few more feeders than meat cows this week but with plenty of customers around the ring competing strongly to secure stock. Best meat and feeding cows pushing well past 300p topping at 334p, £2501 for a Limousin x cow from Dr R J & Mrs C S Wratten whilst a huge Saler cow from Messrs Gardners sold to £2872, (306p).
Meat regularly 270-310p with some fed cows now coming through the pipeline. No stopping demand for the feeders of all ages with even a few older plain types being taken to meet a new grazing season. Age does make a difference so with 31 cows over 10 years old the results are all the more impressive. Minority breeds in strong demand.
Limousin 334p, £2501 Dr R J Wratten, 315p, 308p, £2183, £2029 A J Thompson & Sons, 308p, 300p, £2516, £2291 H J Emery & Son, 294p, £1921 E W & R E Hanks; Saler 306p, £2872 Gardners; South Devon 302p, £2035 J Hodson, 274p, £2092 Gardners; British Blue 290p, £2070 E W & R E Hanks, 285p, £1949 D G & J W Gore; Simmental 290p, £2012 M G Izard, 278p, £2026 J Berryman; Angus 288p, 263p, £1926 A J Thompson & Sons, 272p, £1561 G D George; Hereford 284p, £1800 A G Dodd, 273p, £1635 A J Thompson & Sons, 264p, £2245 E W & R E Hanks;  Irish Moiled 282p, 254p, £1939, £1928 Coles Agricultural; Sussex 270p, £1765 A J Thompson & Sons; Dexter 218p, £859 J Leach.
A small show of dairy cows but nicely fleshed and selling well.
Holstein Friesian 260p, 258p, 256p, £1980, £1906, £1713; British Friesian 232p, £1644 V & C Smith
Stock Bulls (2) A nicely fleshed traditional Hereford just under 4 year 270p, £1482; plain Beef Shorthorn 238p, £1817.
Overage (10) Some nice meat about today and though a little less holding better than the prime types.
OTM Charolais heifers 245p, 330p, £2323 J Berryman; OTM Charolais heifer 334p, 330p, £2026 Leggat Farming; Sussex OTM heifers 341p, 340p, £1788 J Young; Sussex OTM steer 328p, £2145 Wright Farm Ptnrs.

Beef Cows – 58 Sold – Top 334, Average 255.1
Dairy Cows – 8 Sold – Top 260, Average 232.0

Store & Breeding Cattle – 371 Sold
Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

An absolute flyer for our first decent show of Store & Breeding cattle in 2026.
To kick off we had a herd dispersal on behalf of the late A G Dodd with his 9 year old Hereford bull to £1900 followed by mainly Aberdeen Angus cross In-calf cows, with plenty of age, to £2020, the majority £1600 – £2000 per head.
On with the stores and we had Limousin x Sussex steers 4 mths from J Young to £780, smart Aberdeen Angus cross steers 11 mths from Llewellyn Farms to £1320, both lots East Sussex. The Stickland family, West Sussex, saw their Sussex steers 11 mths to £1100 and heifers £960. Last year’s calves 6-9m from A G Dodd saw Hereford cross steers sell to £1350, heifers to £1180. Strong Aberdeen Angus cross steers 11 mths from F Pearce & Sons topped at £1590 with the heifers to £1300. A run of Organic Angus crosses 11-12 mths from G H Strivens Farm Partnership, West Sussex had their steers to £1540 and heifers to £1150 (twice). A uniform run from E J & T H Gribble of homebred Angus x Friesian 15 – 18 mths topped at £1780 for the steers and £1740 for the heifers, their Holstein Friesian steers to £1430. Simmental cross steers 14 months from N A Vincent to £1380. Strong out wintered Limousin steers 19 months from E W & R E Hanks to £2000, £1950 and £1850 and smart Limousin steers 18 mths from P M Langridge to £1920. G Gregory had his Simmental steers 21 mths to £1900 and heifers to £1720 whilst D M Brown saw £2090 for his Charolais cross steers 18 mths – both of these lots hard farmed but making them very attractive to many customers. A super run of well-done sorts from B Sutton 18 – 21 mths took top spot topping at £2100 for British Blue x Friesian steers and £1880 for British Blue x Friesian heifers and out wintered Aberdeen Angus cross steers 18 – 21 mths from D Mackelden Ltd in close attendance topping at £2050. Outwintered hard Angus steers from D Ward sharing top honours at £2100.
A great result for all involved so if you have any store and breeding cattle to sell do not hesitate to get in contact for the next date.

Principal prices:

Continental:

British Blue x Friesian steers 21 mths – £2100 – B Sutton
Limousin cross steers 20 mths – £2000 – E W & R E Hanks
Limousin cross steers 18 mths – £1920 – P M Langridge
British Blue x Friesian heifers 22 mths – £1880 – B Sutton
Limousin cross heifers 20 mths – £1750 – E W & R E Hanks
Charolais cross heifers 21 mths – £1730 – D M Brown

Native:

Aberdeen Angus x Friesian steers 25 mths – £2100 – D Ward
Beef Shorthorn cross steers 19 mths – £2090 – D M Brown
Aberdeen Angus steers 21 mths – £2050 – Dan Mackelden Ltd
Aberdeen Angus x Friesian heifers 19 mths – £1790 – B Sutton
Aberdeen Angus x Friesian heifers 17 mths – £1740 – E J & T H Gribble
Beef Shorthorn cross heifers 18 mths – £1590 – D M Brown

Ear Tags

Producers are reminded that all cattle require two ear tags with at least one large distance readable tag. Please inspect stock in good time to order replacement tags as, regrettably, any stock that are incorrectly tagged may not be offered for sale. Local authority inspectors will be taking note as stock comes to market.

Store & finished Pigs – 47 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

A larger number forward this week with a big variation in quality.
Despite the difficult trade conditions in the pork market the best finished continental types remain selling well with top call going to D.J Finch to £137.50 per head, followed by C K Guest with similar types to £131.10 per head.
Well finished native types from East Sutton Park Prison sold just shy of £100 per head for their best, with the majority of the other native types remaining hard work.
The best results are achieved with continental types that are well fleshed and weigh 80 – 100kg.
Please inform me of any pigs you have to sell in the next sale on Tuesday 10^th February.   

 

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