Ashford Market Report – Tuesday 18th August 2026

Sheep Sales Reports

New Season Lambs –839 sold.

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

Top Price Per Kilo – 388p – C & J Georgetti & Sons, Kent.
Top Price Per Head – £200.00 – P N & C Burden, Kent.

A smaller entry of lambs, dropping below 1,000 for the first time in a while, with many of the larger, heavy feeding finishers now not finding the bigger numbers like they were. Trade has now improved somewhat in the last two weeks and the best meat lambs are in demand as their numbers decrease. Averages have lifted to about 340p/kg which is warmly received by those who are feeding lambs at some expense. Best sheep approaching £200/hd and topping at £200/hd from P N & C Burden with many over £185/hd from C Watkins, P N & C Burden and C & J Georgetti & Sons. Smart lambs in the 42-48kg weight bracket were most in demand with these topping at 388p/kg form C & J Georgetti & Sons, closely followed by C Watkins at 383p/kg. Numbers in this section are beginning to come under pressure with nothing now available off grass and the numbers of fed lambs nationally are not out there in any abundance.

36 – £116.00 (322p kg) – Mrs C Wimble
37 – £120.00 (324p kg) – P J Gilbert Ltd
38 – £125.00 (329p kg) – K T D Axell
39 – £136.00 (349p kg) – K T D Axell
40 – £129.00 (323p kg) – P J Gilbert Ltd
41 – £127.00 (310p kg) – M J Ashworth
42 – £144.00 (343p kg) – E H Holdstock & Sons & R G Stevens
43 – £152.00 (353p kg) – Skye Lindsay
44 – £160.50 (365p kg) – C R & G Daws
45 – £174.00 (387p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
46 – £178.50 (388p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
47 – £180.00 (383p kg) – C Watkins
48 – £178.00 (371p kg) – P N & C Burden
49 – £175.00 (357p kg) – W G Watkins & Sons
50 – £183.00 (366p kg) – W G Watkins & Sons
51 – £194.50 (381p kg) – C Watkins
52 – £192.00 (369p kg) – P N & C Burden
53 – £190.00 (358p kg) – P N & C Burden
54 – £175.00 (324p kg) – C Watkins
55 – £187.00 (340p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons
58 – £192.00 (331p kg) – C Watkins
59 – £200.00 (339p kg) – P N & C Burden

Averages (p/kg)

Prime NSL SQQ – 320.62

Light 32.1 to 39kgs – 92 – Top 329, Ave. 297.8
Medium 39.1 to 45.5 kgs – 226 – Top 365, Ave. 325.7
Heavy 45.6 to 52 kgs – 308 – Top 388, Ave. 354.4
Over 52.1 kgs – 55 – Top 358, Ave. 344.4

Cull Sheep – 220 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

Top Price Ewes: £182.00 – J Metianu & S Aspital & C A Worley (Farming) Ltd – Ave. £112.70

Trade on par with previous weeks with less numbers penned and a large percentage of leaner sorts, as to be expected.
The best regularly £150 – £170 to a top price of £182 from C A Worley (Farming) Ltd for Beltex ewes and a smart Rouge ewe also to £182 from J Metianu & S Aspital. Medium sorts £120 – £140 on most occasions with leaner grazing types £80 – £100 throughout with only 6 lots sold under £80 per head.
We are seeing a very respectable level of trade for all grades of ewes with the grazing ewes holding up remarkably well.
More ewes are wanted on a weekly basis in order to satisfy buyer demands.

Top prices included:

Beltex cross – to £182 – C A Worley Farming
Rouge – to £182 – J Metianu & S Aspital
Texel cross – to £176 – G Worsley
Suffolk cross – to £170 – L E Humphreys & Sons
Charollais cross – to £150 – Ross Farms
Romneys – to £146 – H J Brown & Son
Mules – to £146 – M A & F W Owen

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 –  43 Sold

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903.

A few less on offer on a generally quieter week for trading, with some smart cattle with quite a bit of weight topping out at £2,535 from Leggat Farming and 362p/kg from Dan Mackleden Ltd. The beef trade seems at a constant level in recent weeks with little change in the averages, suggesting that retail demand is doing the same but a cooler change in the weather may spark some demand. Some feeders in the beef ring today topped out at 375p/kg from R J Husk.

Leading Steer Prices
R J Husk – Limousin cross – 376p (£1784)
R J Husk – Limousin cross – 370p (£1958)
R J Husk – Limousin cross – 368p (£1746)
R J Husk – Limousin cross – 364p (£1618)
Dan Mackleden Ltd – Limousin – 362p (£2187)

Leading Heifer Prices
W Alexander (Shoreham) Ltd – Limousin cross – 356p (£1849)
W G Vant & Sons – Limousin cross – 350p (£2149)
J C & P C Dallaway – Limousin cross – 338p (£1637)
R F & E A Simmons – Limousin cross – 335p (£2291)
J C & P C Dallaway – Limousin cross – 332p (£1740)

Average prices
Steers 200 to 550 kgs – 7 – Top 376p, Ave. 353p
Steers 551 to 650 kgs – 12 – Top 362p, Ave. 339p
Steers 651 kgs + – 15 – Top 358p, Ave. 330p
Heifers 300 to 500 kgs – 1 – Top 338p, Ave. 338p
Heifers 501 to 590 kgs – 3 – Top 356p, Ave. 339p
Heifers 591+ kgs – 5 – Top 350p, Ave. 325p

OTM Cattle & Cull Cows – 32 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357.

A decent show, in quality terms, met another strong trade with the meat cows in keen demand as supplies in the drought stricken country obviously tighten.
Nothing particularly smart but the covered cows 250-275p with heavier types up over £2000. Demand for feeding cows, already on the move, strong and likely to continue so whilst plain older grazing cows have a little or no grazing to go to!
Sussex 274p, 265p (2), 263p, £2195, £1942, £1858, £1798 Montreal Estate, 270p, 262p, £1428 H W Richards, 258p, £2034 Farrant Bros; Limousin 274p, £1956 R F & E A Simmons; Aberdeen Angus 270p, 239p, £2318, £1860 Boty Farms, 255p, 248p, £1972, £1844 F Sole & Sons.
Only a handful of dairy culls this week with, again, meat very much wanted. Plainer types a little less.
British Friesian 249p, £1566 Debden Court; 225p (2), £1594, £1515 R & J Ledger Ltd.
Stock bulls (3) Meat wanted.
Charolais 228p, £2480, Sussex 210p (2), £1917, £1844.
Overage (7) A mixture of meat and feeders – all wanted.
OTM British Blue x Friesian steer 330p, £2504 Leggat Farming; OTM Aberdeen Angus steer 317p, £1772 C Kearl.

Beef Cows – 16 Sold – Top 274, Average 254.0
Dairy Cows – 6 Sold – Top 249, Average 186.7

Calves – 46 sold

Auctioneer: Tristan Howell 07917024340.

Yet another flyer in the calf ring with all grades of calves selling well and plenty of customers forward for each type.
The first calf in the ring was a good British Blue calf from J W Boyd & Sons, setting the tone of the sale by selling to £705 and hitting top mark of the day. Just behind in the heifers at £700, was a British Blue from T Castle & Son. P J Forknall had a superb trade with his Charolais bull calves, all under 20 days old, and averaging £585. A registered sire Aberdeen Angus heifer from the same home at the same age finding a very respectable £520. G R Edgar & Son had crossbred British Blue heifer calves to £300, bulls to £290 and their Aberdeen Angus x Jersey calves at 10-17 days old selling to £300, with the majority £150 – £200. Just one calf from S E Lane & Partners, a thick, British Blue x Jersey selling to £635, rendering the trip with one calf worth it! Parrett & Son also only needing to sell the one to have a good day, a 6-week Aberdeen Angus bull calf to £630. R & J Ledger Ltd rounded off the day, with British Blue bulls and heifers both making £545, and British Friesians to £320. Also with British Friesians was T Castle & Son to £415 and £390.
Three stirks, all from A J Thompson & Sons, with a 6-month Limousin cross heifer once again breaking the thousand-pound mark in the weanling ring, this time dead on. The others included a 3-month old Limousin cross heifer to £795 and the last one just a bit older at £760.

Bull Calves
British Blue cross – 7 – Ave. £556.43 – Top £705.00 – J W Boyd & Sons.
British Blue x Jersey – 3 – Ave, £361.67 – Top £635.00 – S E Lane & Ptnrs.
Limousin cross – 2 – Ave. £555.00 – Top £580.00 – T Castle & Son.
Charolais cross – 3 – Ave. £585.00 – Top £605.00 – P J Forknall.
Aberdeen Angus cross – 5 – Ave. £267.00 – Top £630.00 – Parrett & Son.
British Friesian – 4 – Ave. £353.75 – Top £415.00 – T Castle & Son.
Heifer Calves
British Blue cross – 3 – Ave. £608.33 – Top £700.00 – T Castle & Son.
British Blue x Jersey – 1 – Ave. £300.00 – Top £300.00 – G R Edgar & Son.
Limousin cross – 2 – Ave. £555.00 – Top £580.00 – T Castle & Son.
Aberdeen Angus cross – 7 – Ave. £423.57 – Top £520.00 – P J Forknall.
Aberdeen Angus x Jersey – 6 – Ave. £174.17 – Top £300.00 – G R Edgar & Son.
Heifer Weanlings
Limousin cross – 3 – Ave. £851.67 – Top £1000.00 – A J Thompson & Sons.

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.

For our Auction Calendar and Catalogues click here