Breeding Sheep Sales Reports

Sale report – Friday 9th October 2015

Store and breeding Sheep sale – 9,230 Sold – Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901 and John Rossiter 07557 392903.

Report on trade: A large entry of store lambs met a cracking trade throughout to average around £54 per head with away buyers, mainly from the West Country, competing with the local buyers for all on offer. The abundance of keep throughout the country is helping to maintain strong demand and more could be sold at very favourable prices. The best of the crossbred stores sold readily from £57 to £60 with a pen of meat lambs topping at £66.50 from Southfield Farms. Medium stores attracted prices around £55 and only very small, long term sorts made below £50. A relatively large entry of Romney wethers averaged in excess of £50 and made up to £56.20 from M A & F W Owen.
Several pens of Crossbred and Romney ewe lambs were on offer and these were well received with strong prices available particularly for the best on offer. Suffolk x Mules topped at £74.50 from R Walker & Son, Texel crosses made to £68.50 from Priors Byne Farm and Romney ewe lambs to £60 from G L Boulden & Sons.
Reasonable numbers of ewe tegs are still coming forward but quality this week was more variable than last sale with noticeably fewer of the best forward in both the Mule and Suffolk x Mule sections. Buyers are keen for the best but will discount heavily, or ignore completely, the lesser sorts. Whatever the breed or cross producers looking to run ewe lambs must be assured that they have the quality to attract customers in the long term.
Good North Country Mules made £120 to £130 and then £110 to £120 for smaller or less attractive types and then only a few pens made under £100. Best pens made Whiligh Farms £131; Swallow Mills £130, £127; T&E Gribble £130, £125 (2); F B & C L Hobbs £127; Little Boarzell Farms £123. 504 Head averaged £117.59.
A strong trade for quality amongst the Suffolk x Mules but numbers were short and buyers were reluctant to take lesser sheep. Best sheep £110-£125 but soon dropping away below £100 and poor types £70-85. E W & R E Hanks £126, £123, £122, £120; T H Guy £124; F B & C L Hobbs £118; R Rogers & Son £114. 692 Head averaged £99.52
Other breeds followed the same trends with quality attracting customers at good prices but little interest in the also rans. Suffolk x Romney tegs from Torry Hill Farms stood out selling to £121; Lleyn to £105 Wintershall Ptrs.
A smaller entry of breeding ewes were penned this week but customers to both breed and graze made a large audience for the auctioneer to draw bids from and a good trade resulted. Suffolk x Mule 3 & 4 lamb ewes made to £74.50 from P J & P B Wade and Mule 4 & 5 lambers £67 from J & M Carr while a pen of flock aged Vendeen flock age ewes made £75.
Our third and final ring sale of breeding rams saw all breeds still meeting good demand and another 135 out of 164 penned sold. Demand for good bodied sheep across the principal terminal sire breeds was good and Messrs A & A Barr Farms, B C Ginger and N Balcomb and Sons sold a further 20 Romney tegs.
Texels made to £385 from M J R Mallows whose 11 averaged £305, Suffolks to £570 from R Partridge and Son with 8 averaging £287 while N Balcomb and Sons run of 15 averaged £362, J & C Maxwell sold their Charollais to £310 and averaged £285 and Balcombs again sold 11 to average £354. Messrs Barr Farms and N Balcomb and Sons both sold Romneys to £300 and B C Ginger to £280. J A Cox sold 2 Beltex tegs for £350 and £330 while Gaynes Park Farms finished their Texels for the season with 7 averaging £282 while Mr J M A Long sold a Blue Texel x Texel teg for £300. Principal averages – £ per head
Store Lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Suffolk Cross – 1594 – 60.80 – 36.00 – 54.39
Suffolk x Mule ewe – 683 – 74.50 – 53.00 – 64.54
Charollais Cross – 835 – 57.80 – 46.20 – 53.87
Texel Cross – 1940 – 61.80 – 30.00 – 54.57
Texel Cross ewe – 46 – 68.50 – 63.00 – 65.99
Crossbred – 477 – 66.50 – 25.00 – 51.80
Romney wethers – 1395 – 56.20 – 10.00 – 50.26
Romney ewe – 346 – 60.00 – 30.50 – 46.25
Ewe Tegs – – – –
Lleyn – 110 – 105.00 – 60.00 – 80.20
Texel Cross – 67 – 93.00 – 75.50 – 80.30
Mule – 504 – 131.00 – 95.00 – 117.59
Suffolk x Mule – 692 – 126.00 – 63.50 – 99.52
Suffolk x Romney – 75 – 121.00 – 90.00 – 98.87
Romney – 25 – 90.00 – 90.00 – 90.00
Ewes – – – –
Crossbred – 34 – 75.00 – 15.00 – 53.65
Suffolk x Mule – 80 – 74.50 – 62.00 – 67.88
Mule – 152 – 67.00 – 45.00 – 59.23
Breeding Rams – – – –
Beltex & Beltex Cross – 5 – 350.00 – 280.00 – 316.00
Charollais – 25 – 370.00 – 200.00 – 293.00
Romney – 20 – 300.00 – 34.00 – 225.70
Suffolk – 42 – 570.00 – 150.00 – 298.81

Texel – 36 – 385.00 – 200.00 – 287.64
Principal store lamb prices not already reported above included:
Breed – Price – Vendor
Texel Cross – £61.80 – Dr S W C Winchester
– £60.00 – S Hayden
– £59.80 – R T, J B & I Lockwood
– £59.50 – A G Gaze & Son
– £58.80 – S W Batch
– £58.50 – S M Scott
– £58.00 – P D Denne
Charollais Cross – £57.80 – J H & A H Godden
Suffolk x Romney – £60.80 – D H Ford & Son
– £59.00 – Torry Hill Farm
Suffolk x Mule wether – £59.50 – D Howard Farms
– £59.00 – E W & R E Hanks
Suffolk x Mule ewe – £68.50 – D Howard Farms
– £68.00 – E Morris & Son, E & M E Brundrett
– £67.50 – C S Wills Trust

Sale report – Friday 2nd October 2015

Store and Breeding Sheep – 5603 Sold – Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901, John Rossiter 07557 392903 and Mark Cleverdon 07748 202688

** This day in Ashford was kindly sponsored by Elanco Animal Health and the Farmers Guardian **

Report on trade: The special sale for Romney breeding sheep attracted a much improved entry with numbers up by some 45% on last year. The trade was very much as expected with overall averages back by some £10 to £15 per head and in line with price deduction for other breeds this season. The difference between lambs and tegs this year levelled at £35 compared to £40 difference last year.
The best of the ewe lambs made around £75 with medium sorts generally £60 to £65 and the bottom runs selling at prices reflecting store value.
The best of the ewe tegs sold for around £110 and medium types £85 to £95.
Female competition results – Judged by Mr Dick Mickleburgh (Norwich) –

Ewe lambs 1st Prize – Torry Hill Farms, Sittingbourne £81.50 purchased by D J Cole, Horsmonden. 2nd prize – W T Kemp, Brook purchased by Swallow Mill Farms, Charing; 3rd prize – G B Richards and Son, Westwell £75 purchased by Swallow Mill Farms; 4th prize – C R Apps, Brookland £60.50 purchased by K Loveridge, Cliffe.

Ewe Tegs – 1st Prize – N Balcomb and Son, Lydd £116 purchased by D J Cole, Horsmonden. 2nd prize – G Homewood, Kingsnorth £111 purchased by B R & S A Brooks, Norwich. 3rd prize – R Mair and Son, Udimore £108 purchased by the Brooks again. 4th prize – A M Millen, Bethersden £107 purchased again by the Brooks.
There was plenty of interest in the breeding ewes with the 1 lambers making up to £84 from D J Cole, J Saunders & Sons and E W Homewood and the top 3 and 4 lambers around £75 with second quality sorts around £65 per head.

Top prices included: – £ per head – Vendor

Romney ewe lambs – 81.50 – Langrish Farmers and Torry Hill Farms
– 79.00 – W T Kemp
– 75.00 – Les Ramsden and G B Richards & Son
– 73.00 – W Cooke & Son (Farmers)
– 72.00 – Mrs H V Link
Romney ewe tegs – 116.00 – N A Balcomb & Sons
– 114.00 – Les Ramsden
– 111.00 – G Homewood
– 110.00 – R G & J E Wood
– 107.00 – A M Millen
Romney 3 & 4 lamb – 78.00 – Les Ramsden
– 75.00 – Langrish Farmers
– 73.00 – W Cooke & Son (Farmers) x 3
The Romney Sheepbreeder’s Show and Sale of ram tegs saw A & A Barr Farms, Lenham take the top prize in the show ring, where Trevor Richards was judge, and their champion was also the best woolled ram. Reserve champion ram came from G Wimble, Bilsington who also produced the best group of 3 tegs and A & A Barr Farms won the Hobbs Parker “Best pen of five” prize.
In the sale ring 40 out of 46 sold to an average of £402 (the highest since 2004) with the best tegs regularly making over £400 from A & A Barr Farms and G Wimble. The Champion made £875 to N Balcomb & Son, Lydd and reserve £670 to H & J Noakes, Brookland. The 3 principle breeders runs were G Wimble’s whose 11 averaged £468, A & A Barr Farms whose 15 averaged £453 and P H & P E Skinners whose 8 averaged £352 with their top ram selling for £500 to G Wimble.
In the unregistered section the annual consignment from N Balcomb and Sons saw 25 out of 25 sold to average £388 with 11 making £400 or more and the top call £460 purchased by L Wheeler and Sons, Udimore.

Averages – £ per head – No – Top – Bottom – Average

Romney ewe – 2101 – 81.50 – 36.00 – 60.64
Romney ewe tegs – 1579 – 116.00 – 55.00 – 94.10
Romney ewes – 1856 – 84.00 – 40.00 – 64.28
Romney Rams
Society registered rams – 40 – 875.00 – 200.00 – 402.88
Penned purebred rams – 27 – 460.00 – 45.00 – 363.15

Sale report – Friday 25th September 2015

Store and breeding Sheep sale – 9,629 Sold – Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901 and John Rossiter 07557 392903.
Report on trade: This week saw another large entry of store lambs which met a strong trade to average £54 throughout with the crossbred lambs firming by some £1 to £2 a head on the week. A relatively large entry of over 2,000 Romney wethers saw prices easing by some £1 per head on the week.
A few pens of Suffolk x Mule ewe lambs attracted a good premium above store value selling at £69 from Mrs P M Walker and £66 from D Howard Farms while fleshed lambs sold well up to £64.50 from H Crump & Son and £63 from Mrs J Hope. Best stores sold readily either side of £60 with medium sorts £54 to £57 and the majority of long term stores sold to £50 to £53. The best of the Romney wethers sold around £55 with an overall average of £49.40 slightly back on last weeks returns.
A large show of generally good quality ewe tegs met a better trade than many had expected. Quality always stands up and it was only the smaller, less impressive tegs that found resistance from a decent company of buyers. With the cull ewes having been a good trade throughout this must be the season in which to reinvest in some ewe tegs and keep your flock young.
Some good runs of North Country Mules met buyers looking for size, length and good heads. The very best made up over £125 with good working tegs generally £115-125. Smaller, slighter or lighter headed sheep were a little less but nothing under £110. A quality run from R M Whitehead made £134, £133, £130 and £125; R & S Payton Farms £127, £123, £120; Swallow Mills £125, £124, £123; R Horsman £125 and £123 and Little Boarzell Farms £120, £118, £115.
There was more variation amongst the runs of Suffolk x Mules and whilst the best readily find customers the lesser types have more difficulty in common with trends nationally this autumn. Good sheep made up over £110 with the very best pushing past £120. Plenty of sheep however made £90-£100, with smaller types £70-£90. Top drawer types from C S Hall made £121 (2), £117 and £110; J Trumper £113 and £107; E W & R E Hanks £112 and £108 and Fairlawne Estates £110 and £106.
Other breeds were represented and following the trend with buyers selective over size and quality. Charollais from Mrs J Rosato made £99, Charollais x Romney £82; Texel x Mule to £95 and £90 from C M Cock and medium sized Lleyn tegs £89.
Our largest entry of breeding ewes were penned this week with genuine flock dispersals and reductions from both Godden & Readman and Peter Wickham Ltd. There was a very large crowd of buyers present to bid for the ewes in the pens and the vast majority of the ewes, regardless of ages, traded between £60 and £80. The older ewes looked the best sold as is usually the case, with only a coupe of pounds difference in price with ewes that were a year older.
Suffolk x Romneys from Godden & Readman topped at £80.50 and averaged £75.50, Texel and Texel cross ewes from Peter Wickham made to £70 and averaged £65.50, Suffolk x Mules from S G Barten made to £81.50 while crossbred ewes made to £82 from R A C & P M Southall. Texel ewes from Lovejoy Farm Partners made to £79.
Beltex rams in the pens made to £260 from J Bowen and Texels to £255 from P Wheatley.
Our second ring sale of breeding rams saw all breeds meeting good demand and good Suffolk tegs in particular finding plenty of customers. 131 sold out of 177 penned is a good clearance rate. Our final sale is on Friday October 9th with similar numbers expected forward.
Texels made to £610 for an exceptional teg from R W Mickleburgh, Norfolk (7 averaged £366) and then £470 from M J R Mallows and £430 from P H & P E Skinner. In the Suffolk lines N Balcomb and Son sold 12 to £560 and averaged £470 and J Hills 11 to £480 and average £374. J A Cox sold a 2 shear pedigree Beltex rams for £500 and N Balcomb & Son a Beltex x Charollais at £370.

** John Hills of Heel Farm Stalisfield has been selling rams in Ashford since 1965 and this is his final crop – well done John **

Principal Averages – £ per head
Store Lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Suffolk Cross – 990 – 61.50 – 49.00 – 55.79
Charollais Cross – – 1060 – 59.20 – 35.00 – 54.54
Texel Cross – 2452 – 64.50 – 5.00 – 56.11
Crossbred – 297 – 58.20 – 40.00 – 55.17
Romney wether – 2208 – 56.20 – 17.00 – 49.42
Ewe Tegs
Charollais Cross – 72 – 100.00 – 61.00 – 82.45
Texel Cross – 204 – 95.00 – 79.00 – 84.88
North Country Mule – 538 – 134.00 – 110.00 – 121.63
Suffolk x Mule – 686 – 121.00 – 17.00 – 98.70
Ewes
Crossbred – 63 – 82.00 – 58.00 – 65.75
Suffolk Cross – 352 – 81.50 – 50.00 – 72.80
Romney – 81 – 67.50 – 16.00 – 56.19
Texel Cross – 161 – 79.00 – 50.00 – 64.62
Breeding Rams
Beltex & Beltex Cross – 6 – 500.00 – 220.00 – 320.00
Charollais – 30 – 390.00 – 160.00 – 264.67
Southdown – 2 – 200.00 – 200.00 – 200.00
Suffolk – 36 – 560.00 – 260.00 – 383.89
Texel – 57 – 610.00 – 110.00 – 316.84

ther principal prices include:
Breed – Price – Vendor
Texel Cross – £61.20 – A & A Barr Farm
Texel Cross – £61.00 – G J Duncanson
Texel Cross – £59.80 – A G Gaze & Son
Texel Cross – £58.20 – E J Stanford & Son, T Carr
Texel Cross – £58.00 – E Morris & Son, J K W Alexander Ltd
Charollais Cross – £60.00 – R T, J B & I Lockwood
Charollais Cross – £59.20 – R A C & P M Southall
Charollais Cross – £58.50 – N Hacking
Suffolk Cross – £61.50 – Mrs P M Walker
Suffolk Cross – £58.00 – Jane Hope
Romney wether – £56.20 – Torry Hill Farm
Romney wether – £55.20 – T D Bird, L Ramsden
Romney wether – £55.00 – H Metcalfe, R S Body & Sons

Sale report – Friday 18th September 2015

Store and breeding sheep sale – 7,782 Sold – Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901 and John Rossiter 07557 392903.

Report on trade: The largest entry of store lambs for the season with just short of 8,000 penned sold to average £54.15 throughout. A good show of Suffolk x Mule wethers mainly from the same vendors who sold ewe lambs last week, sold exceptionally well to average £55.79 with a pen of fleshed meat lambs topping to £68.80 from D Howard Farms. Top pens again of Suffolk x Mules sold well at £62.80 from M Gammons, £62 from E W & R E Hanks, £61.80 from C S Wills Trust and D Howard Farms, £61.20 from M A & F W Owen and £60.80 from W J Hurley. Fleshed Charollais crosses topped at £63.50 from J H Jury & Son with similar bred stores to £58.80 from Mrs E Ford and £57.80 from R S Body & Sons while the best Texel crosses topped at £60.50 from A K F Dod, £59.80 from G & H Bates, £58.80 from ALMN Ltd and G Lawrence & Son, £58.50 from S Weeks & Sons and £58 from P J & P B Wade. Several pens of Suffolk x Romneys were offered with the best making to £57.20 from R P Mair & Son and £57 from S G & G T Orpin. Generally the best crossbred store lambs sold readily from £57 up to £60, medium sorts around £55 and only very small long keeping lambs below £50.
A large entry of Romney wethers met an improved trade on recent weeks to average £50.72 with the best making around £55 and up to £57.80 from G L Boulden & Sons.
A small entry of breeding sheep was mainly purebred Lleyns which attracted lots of interest with the best tegs making up to £115 from T Telling and young ewes to £83.50 from Wintershall Partnership.

Principal Averages – £ per head

Store Lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Suffolk Cross – 3397 – 68.80 – 33.00 – 55.79
Charollais Cross – – 1640 – 58.80 – 40.50 – 52.79
Texel Cross – 1249 – 60.50 – 28.50 – 54.95
Crossbred – 446 – 63.50 – 17.00 – 52.99
Romney wether – 1050 – 57.80 – 33.50 – 50.72
Store Tegs – – – –
Lleyn – 125 – 115.00 – 75.00 – 100.24
Texel Cross – 12 – 96.00 – 96.00 – 96.00
Crossbred – 25 – 111.00 – 111.00 – 111.00
Ewes – – – – Lleyn – 100 – 83.50 – 59.50 – 74.39
Suffolk Cross – 42 – 75.50 – 68.00 – 71.75<br< p=””>

Sale report – Friday 11th September 2015

Store and breeding sheep sale – 7,322 Sold – Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901, John Rossiter 07557 392903, Peter Kingwill 07795 200357 and Mark Cleverdon 07748 202688

Report on trade: We penned an increased entry (plus 10%) of Suffolk x Mule ewe lambs for the annual show and sale which was kindly judged by Andrew Foulds, Norfolk. The general trade was very much as expected with the best making around £75, middle of the runs £60 to £70 and the majority of small lambs at the end of the runs attracting a price some £2 to £3 above the store value.
Undoubtedly, the run of the day was 400 well bred and grown lambs consigned by D Howard Farms with the top pens of exceptional quality purchased by G H Dean & Co at £92 and £81 per head. Other top prices included £79.50 from H J Hecks & Son, £78 from W J Hurley, £77 from E & M E Brundrett, £74.20 from R Price & Son and £72 from C S Wills Trust. The overall average of £65.50 was some £14.50 per head back of the exceptional price achieved last year.
Show results were 1st D Howard Farms, Brede making £92 and bought by G H Dean & Co, Sittingbourne; 2nd H J Hecks & Sons, Ringmer making £79.50 and purchased by Andrew Foulds & Ptnrs, Thetford; 3rd W J Hurley, Hythe making £78 and purchased by Stone Farms Ltd, Hythe.
The store lambs offered sold at similar trade to recent weeks at an overall average of £51.40. Texel crosses topped at £59.50 from S Weeks & Sons and Charollais crosses made to £55.20 from T Mitchell.
It is pleasing to report a little more trade for the ewe tegs than of late even though values are still well down on 2014 but Ashford trade was much better than reported from many centres during the last month. Quality overall was variable with an average show of North Country Mules but a decent offering of Suffolk x Mule tegs. Mules sold to £133 from Chilham Castle Estate, with their others £130 and £129 twice. Generally good tidy well marked Mules made £120 to £130 but the lesser sorts soon slipping away towards £100 and less Suffolk x Mules sold to £117 from Andrew Foulds & Ptnrs with the good strong, clean headed tegs generally £105 to £115 though again the lesser sorts soon falling below £100 and several pens of small tegs made £70 to £85. Pedigree and purebred Texels sold to £142 from The North School, Ashford; Suffolks to £120 from J Hills and Charollais crossbreds £108 from J H Jury & Son.

Principal averages – £ per head

Store lambs
Breed – Number – Top Price – Bottom Price – Average Price

Charollais Cross – 414 – 55.00 – 44.00 – 50.12
Crossbred – 202 – 55.20 – 44.50 – 51.12
Romney – 88 – 46.80 – 32.00 – 43.78
Suffolk Cross – 72 – 52.50 – 46.50 – 51.33
Suffolk x Mule ewe – 2838 – 92.00 – 52.00 – 65.49
Texel Cross – 696 – 60.00 – 34.00 – 53.16

Breeding ewe tegs
Charollais Cross – 40 – 108.00 – 91.00 – 101.63
Mule – 276 – 133.00 – 92.00 – 118.41
Suffolk – 27 – 120.00 – 80.00 – 105.93
Suffolk x Mule – 961 – 117.00 – 63.00 – 103.27
Texel – 12 – 142.00 – 130.00 – 137.00
Texel Cross – 45 – 100.00 – 88.00 – 94.67

Breeding ewes
Suffolk – 23 – 96.00 – 55.00 – 88.87
Suffolk x Mule – 116 – 75.50 – 55.00 – 66.39

Pedigree Females
Vendeen – 9 – 115.00 – 95.00 – 105.00
Texel – 7 – 420.00 – 150.00 – 277.14
Our first ram sale of the season produced some very good prices for well bred rams produced principally by the breeders of Texels supporting the South East Texels Groups annual show and sale. Sponsored by Duffields and judged by Edward Langrish, Brede the members penned 29 rams and 12 females. In the show ring Blackmore Farm Ptnrs, Ditchling (Bill and Sarah Baldock) produced the open champion and P H & P E Skinner, Sissinghurst the recorded champion and show reserve champion. Second prizes went to ram tegs from Mrs K V P Potter and Gaynes Park Farm
In the sale ring the champion made £590 and reserve £540 to North School YFC and L Stevens and Sons. All Texels sold on the day averaged a very good £401. Mr and Mrs R J Warnocks ewe tegs were really well grown and caught buyer’s eyes selling to £420.
Away from the show and sale M Wilkins sold a strong pen of Texels to £450, N Balcomb and Son Suffolks made to £470, Beltex x Charollais £410 and Suffolks to £390. J & C Maxwell’s Charollais made to £450 and a Beltex teg £290 from Mrs E A Matthews.

Breeding Rams
Breed – Number – Top Price – Bottom Price – Average Price
Beltex – 1 – 290.00 – 290.00 – 290.00
Charollais – 19 – 470.00 – 240.00 – 338.42
Beltex x Charollais – 4 – 410.00 – 360.00 – 378.75
Lleyn – 2 – 200.00 – 200.00 – 200.00
Suffolk – 11 – 390.00 – 240.00 – 362.73
Texel – 37 – 590.00 – 250.00 – 401.35

Sale report – Friday 4th September 2015

Store Lamb Sale – 5,732 Sold – Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710803901 and John Rossiter 07557 392903

Report on trade: This weeks sale saw another strong trade for a similar entry of store lambs with prices firming by some £1 to £2 per head on the week. The majority of stores sold in the £50 to £60 bracket with the best £57 plus, medium sorts around £55 and only very small long term sorts below £50.
A few pens of meat lambs topped the market with Suffolk x Mules to £64.80 from D Howard Farms and Texel x Romneys making up to £66.50 from G J Duncanson Ltd while purebred Charollais lambs sold at £63.50 from D J Morphett. An increased entry of Romney wether lambs sold well up to £53.80 and averaged £46 overall.

Top prices – £ per head

Breed – Price – Vendor
Beltex Cross – 60.00 – S Weeks & Sons
Suffolk x Mule – 60.80 – R Price & Sons
Suffolk x Mule – 60.20 – D Howard Farms
Suffolk x Mule – 58.20 – Whelan Farms
Suffolk x Mule – 57.50 – E & M E Brundrett
Charollais Cross – 60.50 – R Price & Sons
Charollais Cross – 58.50 – L E Humphreys & Sons
Charollais Cross – 57.50 – Mr W J Hurley
Charollais Cross – 57.00 – Mr M Wenham
Texel Cross – 59.00 – G J Duncanson Ltd
Texel Cross – 57.80 – G Lawrence & Sons
Texel Cross – 57.70 – M A & F W Owen
Texel Cross – 57.20 – K Wheeler & Son
Suffolk x Romney – 58.00 – Mr G Homewood
Suffolk x Romney – 57.00 – K Wheeler & Son
Suffolk x Romney – 57.00 – W Cooke & Son
Suffolk x Romney – 56.80 – L Wheeler & Son

Averages – £ per head
Store lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Suffolk Cross – 1735 – 64.80 – 44.50 – 55.47
Charollais Cross – 1609 – 63.50 – 12.00 – 52.35
Texel Cross – 1543 – 66.50 – 21.00 – 53.73
Romney wether – 461 – 53.80 – 11.00 – 46.09
Crossbred – 384 – 57.50 – 27.50 – 49.72

Sale report – Friday 28th August 2015

Store Lamb Sale – 5,761 Sold – Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710803901

Report on trade: This third sale saw an improved trade for store lambs with price firmer by some £2 per head on the previous sales with a few fresh faces around the ring adding to the competition for stock. A couple of pens of meat lambs topped the market at £62.20 for Texel crosses from G J Duncanson Ltd and Charollais crosses to £60 from J Seward.
Strong stores sold readily from £56 to £59, medium sorts £52 to £55 and majority of smaller, long keeping stores made from £47 to £51. A small entry of Romney wether lambs sold at slightly lower levels than the crossbreds with the best making up to £53.80 from Shenley Farms Ltd and £53 from A & A Barr Farms while small stores generally sold at around £45.
A few pens of ewe lambs offered attracted a premium over store value with Suffolk x Mules making up to £62.50 from Hollington Farms and Texel crosses to £57.50 from Whelan Farms.
While not great prices and slightly less on the year this trade is very acceptable relative to the returns available in the finished market. The abundance of keep throughout the country means a good attendance around the ring producing healthy competition for all stock offered.

Top store prices include:
Top prices – £ per head
Breed – Price – Vendor
Suffolk x Mule – 59.00 – Sir R Halstead
Suffolk x Mule – 57.00 – Hollington Farms
Texel Cross – 57.00 – GJ Duncanson Ltd
Texel Cross – 56.80 – K Wheeler & Sons
Texel Cross – 56.50 – T Mitchell
Charollais Cross – 58.80 – I T Henshaw & Son
Charollais Cross – 58.50 – M Wenham
Charollais Cross – 58.00 – D & J Murray
Charollais Cross – 57.00 – Hollington Farms
Charollais Cross – 56.80 – Collick & Sons
Charollais Cross – 56.20 – D Wade, Harbourne Farm
Suffolk x Romney – 55.20 – S G & G T Orpin
Suffiolk x Romney – 55.00 – F & L Reeve

Averages – £ per head
Store lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Suffolk Cross – 1162 – 59.00 – 42.00 – 52.55
Charollais Cross – 1421 – 60.00 – 20.00 – 51.94
Texel Cross – 2232 – 62.20 – 17.00 – 52.38
Romney wether – 315 – 53.80 – 35.00 – 46.75
Crossbred – 571 – 56.80 – 40.00 – 49.01

Sale report – Friday 3rd October 2014 – Romney Day

Store and Breeding Sheep – 3844 sold – Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901, Peter Kingwill 07795 200357 and Mark Cleverdon 07748 202688

Report on trade: An improved quality show of Romney ewe lambs met a much better trade this year with overall averages up by some £15 per head on the year. Almost every pen attracted a good premium above store values and exceptional prices were available for the best, particularly those sired by high index rams which ranged from £97 up to £99 for the 2nd prize winners from Langrish Farmers bought by Mr P Reed, Horham, Other top prices included 1st prize winners at £88 from Les Ramsden bought by J W Hammond and Sons, Powys; 3rd prize winners at £91 from W Cooke & Son bought by Swallow Mill Farms, Charing and 4th prize winners at £80 from the Wright Farm Partnership also bought by Swallow Mill Farms. The majority of the medium sized lambs were around the £70 mark with only very small sorts below £60.
A strong solid trade and 100% clearance for the Romney ewe tegs with customers for all grades. Demand probably firmest for the medium sorts at £110 to £120 with the quality pens of strong tegs £120 – £130. Rates well up on 2013 with producers having taken advantage of strong cull prices earlier this season.
First prize pen from N A Balcomb & Son made £130 bought by B E & S A Brooks, Norwich with their others to £131 and £127 to £122. M F Brignall sold to £130.50 and P T Wratten to £130. There was good competition from far and wide with Romney tegs travelling to Devon, Norfolk and Powys.
Charles Georgetti kindly judged the competitions and Novartis represented by Lynn Gollup on the day were sponsors.
There were several customers in attendance for the flock aged Romney ewes with 1 lambers from flock dispersals topping the market notably at £108 from L Andreozzi, £89 from Ashby Brothers and £88 from M F Brignall.
There was also a good level trade throughout for the draft ewes with the majority of 3 and 4 lambers making in the £70 to £80 bracket. A pen of 3 lambers topped at £84 from R W Mickleburgh and £80.50 from G Homewood while 3 and 4 lambers sold to £79 from W Cooke & Son, £76.50 from H J Noakes and £76 from Les Ramsden with 4 lambers to £75 from J Saunders & Son.
The rams offered included the registered stock entered for the 115th show and sale. Hugh and Pauline Skinner had success again in the show ring taking 2nd (reserve champion) and 3rd in the single ram class, best group of 3 and pen of 5 prizes and best wooled ram. Gordon Wimble however produced the champion from his run of 12. A & A Barr Farms and G Wimble were 2nd and third respectively in the 3’s and 5’s and then positions were reversed in the wool class. Mick Cutting was judge.
In the sale ring demand was stronger than last year and a good clearance of the stronger rams was effected. A & A Barr sold to a top call of £700 and P H & P E Skinner £500 while G Wimbles champion made £560.

Averages – £ per head

Store lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Romney ewe – 1501 – 99.00 – 33.00 – 71.43
Ewe tegs
Romney – 1066 – 131.00 – 84.00 – 111.52
Ewes
Romney – 1112 – 108.00 – 40.00 – 76.14
Breeding Rams
Registered Romney – 42 – 700.00 – 200.00 – 346.67
Unregistered and older Romney – 23 – 400.00 – 100.00 – 306.96

Sale report – Friday 13th September 2013

Store and Breeding Sheep – 8,065 Sold

Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901 and John Rossiter

The first large breeding sheep sale here in Ashford for this autumn, kindly sponsored by the Farmers Guardian, saw over 8,000 sheep penned. A good attendance of both buyers and sellers put a big buzz around the premises and the auctions in the various sections all produced satisfactory results.
Best Suffolk cross ewe lambs were judged by Roland Frampton of G H Dean and Co, Sittingbourne and from 50 pens consigned by 11 vendors D Howard Farms, Brede were considered best and their best pen made £90 to G H Dean and Co. Second best pen was from H J Hecks and Son, Lewes which made £91.50 to G H Dean and Co again while 3rd best were E & M E Brundrett’s which made £90 to G Husk, Dover.
In the rams the South East Texel Groups show and sale was judged by Tony Hale, Steyning and Robert and Nicki Warnock presented the champion ram teg which sold for £600 to North School (Ashford) YFC. Best Signet recorded ram teg was from the Aragon flock shown by Hugh and Pauline Skinner which made £580 to L Stevens and Sons. Duffilelds Feeds sponsored this show. In the ram pens T W Gore (Farms) Ltd were judged best and J & C Maxwell, Ely reserve with N Balcomb & Sons 3rd and 4th with their Charollais and Suffolk rams

Trade for the lambs saw Suffolk x Mule ewe lamb purchasers being selective in their choices. There was strong competition for the smart headed better bred lambs which attracted prices in the £75 to £85 bracket to at top of £91.50 (see earlier) but generally the smaller second quality lambs were making their store value, or maybe with a small premium, ie from £60 to £70. With ewe tegs certainly less money this autumn than the last two years it was perhaps not surprising that the trade overall was more selective. More accurately the gap between the best and the rest has widened.
Top runs included D Howard Farms 400 averaging £80.93, H J Hecks and Son 401 averaging £69.53 and E & M E Brundretts 300 £76.91 Demand for the feeding lambs was very similar this week despite the finished trade remaining in the doldrums. A few pens of meat lambs made to £74.50 for Texels from H Crump & Son with other quality pens of Texels made to £70 from S Weeks & Son. Strong stores made in excess of £60 but strongest competition coming for the long term crossbred lambs selling at £45 to £55. Romney lambs were another strong trade with good types to £59.80 K Wheeler & Sons. In the ewe tegs section trade reflected national trends which have been less money than recent years right from the onset of the breeding sales throughout the country and it was no different at Ashford where all tegs were less but most obviously with the second and third quality types which fell significantly. Quality Mules able to command £130-140, topping at £143 from R M S Whitehead, Norfolk. Other good runs from Little Boarzell Farms, Chilham Castle Estate and G A & H Vicary & Son all exceeded £130. Second quality were soon back below £120 with lesser sorts below £100. It was a similar story with the Suffolk x Mule tegs where the best were wanted at £110-120 but lesser types soon down well below £100. E W Homewood sold to £120; E W & R E Hanks to £118 and C S Hall to £117. There was little interest in other crossbreds but tidy Romneys (New Zealand breeding) made to £96.
A small selection of older breeding ewes were offered with Suffolk x Romney 1 lamb ewes making £70 and 3 & 4 lambers £60.
In the ram section the premier day sale saw trade slightly back on 2012 levels but still satisfactory with buyers focusing on the best stock to produce lambs in the seasons to come. Texels sold to a 75% clearance and all £350 to £600. Largest run were Trindad Investments 7 selling to £520 (aver £432). J & C Maxwell sold his 8 Charollais to £600 (average £500) and N Balcomb and Sons pens saw 10 Charollais and Suffolks sold to average £417. T W Gore (Farms) Ltd sold 4 Charollais at £450 to £490.

Principle averages – £ per head

Store Lambs – No – Top – Bottom – Average
Suffolk x Mule Ewe – 2497 – 91.50 – 41.00 – 72.31
Suffolk Cross – 307 – 59.80 – 37.00 – 52.22
Charollais Cross – – 720 – 60.00 – 35.00 – 52.30
Texel Cross – 1329 – 74.50 – 30.00 – 53.80
Crossbred – 284 – 56.00 – 25.00 – 47.36
Romney – 1060 – 59.80 – 24.00 – 47.65
Ewe Tegs
Mule – 875 – 143.00 – 88.00 – 118.33
Suffolk x Mule – 616 – 118.00 – 77.00 – 102.60
Romney – 62 – 96.00 – 86.00 – 90.84
Suffolk – 11 – 109.00 – 95.00 – 102.54
Breeding Ewes – 209 – 70.00 – 25.00 – 49.65
Breeding Rams
Texel – 27 – 600.00 – 340.00 – 430.00
Charollais – 18 – 600.00 – 280.00 – 456.11
Suffolk – 7 – 450.00 – 400.00 – 422.86
Pedigree Females
Texel ewe tegs – 4 – 200.00 – 180.00 – 193.75