Ashford Market Report – Tuesday 1st August 2023

Sheep Sales Reports

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

New Season Lambs – 1,606

Top price per kg: 327p – Mrs Katie Tucker
Top price per head: £166 – Mrs Katie Tucker

Less on offer this Tuesday with the commencement of the Friday store sales pulling some of the numbers away. Trade was on a par with last week throughout, with the best finished and heaviest types in strongest demand. Some very smart offerings which made up the final draw from “Tuckers Charollais” topping the charts on both sides at £166 and 327p kg. A big Thank You to Katie and Lee for their support over the years. Other heavy sheep from G H Dean & Co and Mr Tom Husk sold to £155 and £145, respectively. Smaller weights are harder to sell if they are not in the export grade and many of the leaner types may benefit from selling on a Friday.

36kg – £90.00 (250p/kg) – W F Kirk
37kg – £101.00 (273p/kg) – G P King
38kg – £115.00 (303p/kg) – C A Worley Farming Ltd
39kg – £110.50 (283p/kg) – G H Dean & Co
40kg – £122.00 (305p/kg) – C A Worley Farming Ltd
41kg – £134.00 (327p/kg) – Mrs Katie Tucker
42kg – £116.50 (277p/kg) – S King
43kg – £125.00 (291p/kg) – T Husk
44kg – £130.00 (295p/kg) – T Husk
45kg – £133.00 (296p/kg) – Mrs Katie Tucker
46kg – £134.00 (291p/kg) – Mrs Katie Tucker
47kg – £140.00 (298p/kg) – T Husk
48kg – £133.50 (278p/kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
50kg – £145.00 (290p/kg) – T Husk
51kg – £144.00 (282p/kg) – T Masters
53kg – £118.00 (223p/kg) – R H Kingston
54kg – £120.00 (222p/kg) – T Masters
55kg – £155.00 (282p/kg) – G H Dean & Co
56kg – £140.00 (250p/kg) – T Masters
66kg – £166.00 (252p/kg) – Mrs K Tucker

Averages (p/kg)

Standard 32.1 to 39 kgs – 371 – Top 303, Average 257.9
Medium 39.1 to 45.5 kgs – 964 – Top 327, Average 257.5
Heavy 45.6 to 52 kgs – 243 – Top 298, Average 273.0
Other 52.1+ kgs – 27 – Top 282, Average 261.7

Cull Sheep – 603 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07712 246474

Ewe: Top £152 – A J Down, Average £91
Ram: Top £215 – Mrs Katie Tucker, Average £175.75

The trade was fierce for all grades this week with a larger number of well finished ewes in the pens. The best ewes regularly £110 – £125 to a top price of £152 from A J Down for well fleshed Charollais ewes. Medium sorts generally £80 – £100. Demand for the leaner grazing types is strong and will remain so with plentiful grazing. Generally, £50 – £70 with very little being sold below these figures. Please let me know of any ewes expected for next Tuesday so I can inform regular buyers.

Top prices included

Charollais to £152 – A J Down, Texel to £145 – S W Batch, Texel cross to £144 – T Husk, Suffolk cross to £136 (twice) – T Masters, Mules to £107 – North Kent College, Romney to £110 – K Head

Store & Breeding sheep – 4,094 Sold

Auctioneers: John Rossiter 07557 392903 & James Cook-O’Connell 07712 246474

Top price per head – £123 – S W Mount & Sons

The first sale for the year is always a tough one to judge, in advance, as many buyers do not wish to show their hand in the run up to the sale. The trade is dictated by the finished prices, to an extent, but many of the runs of first drawn lambs are considerably stronger than the leaner types on Tuesdays. This must be kept in mind when deciding which day to market them on.
This year’s sale of over 4,000 lambs met an absolute flying trade with lambs up by well over £15 head on average in comparison to the corresponding sale last year with some runs of lambs up by even more than that. We must, however, remember the ground conditions nationally last year which had a major impact on prices.  The stronger the sheep, the dearer they got, which without pointing out the obvious, showed us there was considerably more buyers for lambs to turn around quickly, certainly pre-Christmas and many in the short term on creep, as opposed to the long term lambs for the spring time.
Overall, the average was £93 head, with a top of £123 for some strong Texel cross lambs from S W Mount & Sons. Other runs of note from Bowley Farm, J A Biddle and W G Vant & Sons also sold over £110 head for genuine stores.
Our first Friday sale saw a flock dispersal of tremendous breeding sheep sold on behalf of the Tucker family, also known as Tuckers Charollais. The Charollais were the highlight, topping out at £405 for one crop ewes with some of the older ewes reaching £300 and the tegs up to £280. The Beltex and Beltex cross ewes topped at £190 with the Beltex tegs also to £190. The remainder of the Texel cross ewes saw plenty of interest reaching £180 on three occasions with majority of the others £155 – £165.
A great trade which was well deserved considering the amount of hard work that has gone into producing such a quality flock of sheep.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any breeding sheep that you intend on selling over the coming weeks and months.

Our next sale is on August 11^th and the deadline for entries is 5pm on Friday 4^th August. Entries received after this time will not be included in the catalogue.

Principal prices include

Store Lambs
Texel cross – 1868 – Top £123 – Ave £97.32
Charollais cross – 1041 sold – Top £116 – Ave £89.88
Crossbred – 577 – Top £104 – Ave £85.07
Suffolk cross – 485 – Top £99 – Ave £90.24

Breeding Ewes
Charollais 72 – Top £405 – Ave £226.39
Beltex – 21 – Top £190 – Ave £184.76
Texel cross – 30 – Top £180 – Ave £163.67

Cattle Sales Reports

Finished Cattle –  22 Sold

Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901

A very decent trade for a reduced entry with the best of the Continental cross beef bred cattle attracting prices in excess of 260p and topping at £1660 (282p) for Limousin cross steer from W Alexander (Shoreham) while top gross was £1862 for British Blue cross steer from K & P M Sinden & Son.
Dairy bred cattle dearer on the week notably Aberdeen Angus x Friesian steer £1602 (259p), Limousin x Friesian steer £1610 (254p) and Hereford x Friesian steer £1441 (249p) all from A J Down.
Other native bred cattle to sell well included Aberdeen Angus cross steer at £1540 (253p) from R C & J L Pickering and £1496 (252p) from W S Furnival Ltd.

Top Steers

W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 282p/kg (£1660)
W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 275p/kg (£1564)
K & P M Sinden – British Blue cross – 261p/kg (£1862)
W G Vant & Sons – Limousin – 261pkg (£1549)
A J Down – Aberdeen Angus cross – 259p/kg (£1602)

Top Heifers

W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 275p/kg – (£1454)
R F & E A Simmons – Limousin cross – 267p/kg – (£1559)
W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 264p/kg – (£1409)
W S Furnival Ltd – Aberdeen Angus cross – 259p/kg – (£1382)
Leggat Farming Ltd – British Blue cross – 234p/kg – (£1552)

Average Prices

Steers up to 650kg – 15 sold – Top 282p – Ave 252p
Steers over 651kg – 2 sold – Top 261p – Ave 255p
Heifers up to 590kg – 4 sold – Top 275p – Ave 266p
Heifers over 591kg – 1 sold – Top 234p

OTM Cattle and Cull Cows – 50 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357

More cows, and more overage forward today and though at slightly lower levels good competition throughout. Very little flesh, at all, amongst the dairy culls but against historical rates still selling at excellent levels. Fleshed beef cows have eased from the dizzy heights of the Spring and early Summer but youngsters today still to 220p and strong cows 170-190p kg. Whether it is political pressure on retailers to bring prices down or simply August doldrums I cannot see any reason to panic with a lack of overall supply in the pipeline likely to have the most bearing on prices this Autumn.
British Blue x 220p, £1141 R C & J L Pickering; Simmental x 189p, £1179 R C & J L Pickering; Limousin x 178p, 172p (2), £1198, £1063, £1003 R F & E A Simmons, 177p, 173p, £1156, £1103 J Berryman; Beef Shorthorn x 176p, £1106 (Non FA) M Britton; Sussex 176p, £1176 Tory Hills Farms, 175p, £1056 J Berryman, 165p (2), 163p, ££1160, £1053, £1050 A Barr & Son.
Amongst the dairy culls a few stronger steakers 150-175p but mostly plain steakers and boners at 120-140p.
Holstien Friesian 174, £1319 Falconhurst Estate; Holstein 170p, £1144 J E Scutt & Sons, Montbeliarde 166p, £1156 Falconhurst Estate.
Overage (9) Fleshed cattle still wanted, with leaner feeders possibly a little less.
OTM Charolais x heifer 225p, £1336; OTM British Blue x heifers 220p, 218p, £1370, £1284.
3 Year old + British Blue x heifer 236p, £1272; OTM Sussex steer 216p, £1271.

Beef Cows – 22 Sold – Top 220, Average 165.0
Dairy Cows – 19 Sold – Top 174, Average 136.6

Store Cattle – 37 Sold

Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901

Despite a small and very mixed quality entry of stores there was the regular attendees competing well for all on offer. 18 mths British Blue x Friesian heifers topped the market at £990 from P & G & J Carden with 16 mths Continental cross steer and heifer sold at £870 and £805 respectively from Westlands School.
In the native section British Beef Shorthorn steers topped at £730 from D R Thompson, while purebred Sussex heifers looked well sold for their size at £665 from P & A Butler.
A mixed selection of Friesian bulls topped at £680 for 20 mths old sorts from Burnt Oak Farm & Kennels.

Calves – 70 Sold

Auctioneer: Tom Hamplett 07966 104532

Calves – 58
A stronger trade for the better calves today although overall averages would look less exciting with a large entry of smaller less well done calves in the mix.
Bulls to £300 for strong Blues from J E Scutt & Sons, J W Boyd & Sons Ltd worthy of a mention with younger calves to £260. Angus bulls topping at £250 for a nice run from J C & S K Williams with J E Scutt & Sons selling them to £240 and J W Boyd & Sons Ltd hitting £220. Herefords a very mixed bag with strong calves from Goddard & Son to £160 (x2), smaller harder done types significantly less.
Strongest heifers attracting a premium today with Blues to £280 and £230 from J C & S K Williams, younger heifers a little harder work but still looking comparative. Angus heifers a little harder to place with price points not quite as strong as the continentals with tops of £165 (x2) from J W Boyd & Sons Ltd. Herefords offering value with tops of £75 from Goddard and Son but a limited entry proving hard to really judge against.
Dairy calves overall made up of hard done calves which are difficult to place meaning price is reflective of this. Better stronger or fleshier types easier to sell with tops of £30 for Friesians and £22 for Holstein Friesians.
Weanlings – 12
A few pens of weanlings this week with Saw Lodge Farm again topping with a consignment of 8-9 mths Angus and Sussex. A top of £430 for Angus x steers with heifers from the same home to £375.

Bull Calves

British Blue cross – 12 – Ave £196.25 – Top £300 – J E Scutt & Sons
Aberdeen Angus cross – 12 – Ave £187.50 – Top £250 – J C & S K Williams
Hereford cross – 4 – Ave £100 – Top £160 – Goddard & Son

Heifer Calves

British Blue cross – 5 – Ave £184 – Top £280 – J C & S K Williams
Aberdeen Angus cross – 6 – Ave £121.67 – Top £165 – J W Boyd & Sons
Hereford cross – 2 – Ave £40 – Top £75 – Goddard & Son

Bull Weanlings

British Blue cross – 1 – Ave £130 – Top £130 – J Howie

Heifer Weanlings

Aberdeen Angus cross – 4 – Ave £368.75 – Top £375 – Kent Game Shooting
Hereford cross – 1 – Ave £230 – Top £230 – Mrs T Higgins

Steer Weanlings

Sussex cross – 3 – Ave £430 – Top £430 – Kent Game Shooting
Hereford cross – 2 – Ave 260 – Top £260 – Mrs T Higgins

Forthcoming Auctions

Tuesday Livestock – 8th August 2023

Regular Weekly Market with a sale of Store and Breeding Cattle

For our Auction Calendar and Catalogues click here