Ashford Market Report – Tuesday 22nd July 2025

Sheep Sales Reports

New Season Lambs – 1,481 Sold

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

Top price per kilo – 403p – C A Worley Farming Ltd, Kent.
Top price per head – £191.00 – C & J Georgetti & Sons, Kent.

Similar numbers this week in the pens but the trade has really had a good boost recently with all sorts improved. We still have the two tiers in the trade for the intensively finished lambs and the grass produced sorts, but both have lifted this week with averages all through now approaching 350p kg. Best lambs approaching £200 head for the heavier offerings. Top price on the day was £191 for the super run of lambs from C & J Georgetti & Sons whose run of 280 lambs were a real credit to them and achieved very well-deserved prices. Next in line were the North School and L E Humphreys & Sons who topped at £190 and £189 respectively.  Handy weight sheep took a bigger lift this week as quality in this section is becoming harder to find around the country and we broke the £4 kg for some superbly shaped continental lambs from CA Worley Farming Ltd, with Link Bros in close attendance at 385p kg. More of the leaner sorts will now come forward on a Friday store sale which will may tighten up the numbers for Tuesdays but will ultimately increase the overall quality on offer.

33 – £110.00 (333p kg) – Lovejoy Farms Partnership
35 – £116.00 (331p kg) – N A Vincent
36 – £117.00 (325p kg) – D Thompson
37 – £135.00 (365p kg) – The North School
38 – £137.00 (361p kg) – G H Dean & Co
39 – £157.00 (403p kg) – C A Worley Farming Ltd
40 – £151.00 (378p kg) – C A Worley Farming Ltd
41 – £159.00 (388p kg) – C A Worley Farming Ltd
42 – £155.00 (369p kg) – G H Dean & Co
43 – £159.00 (370p kg) – Link Bros
44 – £160.00 (364p kg) – G H Dean & Co
45 – £169.00 (376p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
46 – £177.00 (385p kg) – Link Bros
47 – £170.00 (362p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
48 – £175.00 (365p kg) – P N & C Burden
49 – £176.50 (360p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
50 – £186.00 (372p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
51 – £190.00 (373p kg) – The North School
52 – £190.00 (365p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
53 – £186.00 (351p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
55 – £191.00 (347p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
57 – £189.00 (332p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
59 – £189.00 (320p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons                                

Averages (p/kg) 

Standard 32.1 to 39 kgs – 318 – Top 365, Ave. 324.1
Medium 39.1 to 45.5 kgs – 755 – Top 403, Ave. 338.9
Heavy 45.6 to 52 kgs – 399 – Top 385, Ave. 360.6
Others 52.0 + – 40– Top 365, Ave. 347.9

Cull Sheep – 434 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

Top price ewe: £170.00 – John Wickham (Cranbrook Ltd), Kent. – Ave. £109.80

Another very strong trade for all grades rates dearer with the larger numbers of grazing types now coming forward. Recent rains restoring confidence and buyers plentiful for these. Short of best ewes, unsurprisingly at this time of the year, and regularly £150 – £180 to a top price of £210 from R H Kingston for a well fleshed Charollais ram. Medium sorts £110 – £140 on most occasions with leaner grazing types £70 – £100.
Please do inform me of ewes you have to sell with well fleshed ewes short and every grade of ewe wanted every week.

Top prices included:

Suffolk cross to £170 – J Wickham (Cranbrook), Beltex to £160 – Snowfields Academy, Charollais cross to £156 – C Leach, Mules to £155 – North Frith Farms, Romney to £149 – N A Balcomb & Son, Poll Dorset to £146 – G L Porter & Son.

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 Sales Reports

Finished Cattle –  48 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357.

Overall a better show of cattle this week with consistent finish throughout. Trade is holding strong with little sign of any big numbers coming forward nationally, and undoubtedly some disruption to supplies over the coming harvest period will help the trade.
Best cattle able to touch 400p with a smart Limousin heifer from R F & E A Simmons, whilst the steers were topped by a heavyweight Limousin Blue at 389p, £2526 from W S Furnival Ltd. Anything short of finish finding a very sharp demand from feeders.
Best cattle generally 380-400p with a fine run of British Blue x and Limousin x heifers out of Longhorn, British White and Sussex cows from C R Cook much admired.
Dairy bred Limousin x steers from Alan Down selling to 385p, £2453, generally 370-380p, his Herefords to 375p, £2284.
Natives saw Angus steers from W S Furnival to 369p, £2414 and good feeders from G Stokes to 369p, £2254. Angus heifers to 379p, again G Stokes, with strong Angus heifers from Burden Bros to 373p, £2460.
A nice pen of well-fed young bulls from C R Cook saw Simmental to 372p, £2378; Hereford to 357p, £2317; Longhorns to 345p twice £2136. A fed OTM Limousin at 310p, £1872.

Top Steers

W S Furnival Ltd – Limousin cross – 389p (£2525)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 385p (£2269)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 380p (£2353)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 380p (£2182)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 379p (£2328)

Top Heifers

R F & E A Simmons – Limousin – 400p (£1978)
C R Cook – British Blue cross – 390p (£2337)
C R Cook – Limousin cross – 389p (£2176)
C R Cook – British Blue cross – 383p (£2238)
C R Cook – British Blue cross – 383p (£2123)

Average prices

Steers 200 to 550 kg – 1 – Top 366p – Ave. 366p
Steers 551 to 650 kg – 16 – Top 389p – Ave. 372p
Steers 651 kg + – 5 – Top 375p – Ave. 369p
Heifers 300 to 500 kg – 2 – Top 400p – Ave. 389p
Heifers 501 to 590 kg – 14 – Top 389p – Ave. 370p

Heifers 591 kg + – 5 – Top 390p – Ave. 360p

OTM Cattle and Cull Cows – 63 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357.

Several very wet days in a row gave the opportunity to producers to have something of a tidy up in both beef and dairy herds. Rain and extra numbers most welcome with the trade holding very strong for fleshed cows though a little easier for the plain killing cows as numbers creep upwards a little, nationally, as low yielders from the dairy sector are culled with grazing and forage in tight supply.
Nothing, again, very flashy but both better meat cows and smart feeders for yarding close to 300p whilst commercial meat cows still regularly 240-280p. Lack of grazing has taken the fire out of the older grazing types but better yarding types holding a strong trade.
Limousin 299p, £2134 Campbell Bros, 285p, £2063 Burden Bros; Angus 298p, £2127 Burden Bros, 285p, 278p, £2034, £1845 A J Thompson & Sons, 266p, £1859 J Berryman; British Blue 291p, £1772 A J Thompson & Sons; Sussex 274p, £1860 C R Cook; South Devon 264p, £1910 Horton Park, 257p, 248p, £1949, £1778 H & S Nesfield; Trad Hereford 260p, 259p, £1661, £1526 Grace Natural Foods; Longhorn 246p, 242p, £1583 F Henderson.
Not the smartest of offering this week from the dairy sector with mostly plain cows on offer. Amazing returns and this must be the right course for some of the problem low yielders.
Holstein Friesian utm heifers 290p, 276p, £1795 Appleton Farms; Holstein Friesian cows 246p, 227p, £1721, £1719 Appleton Farms; 243p, £1746 J W Boyd &Sons; British Friesian 244p, £1631 R & J Ledger; Ayrshire 241p, £1684 J Howie; Jersey 230p, £1205 Hickson Bros, 172p, £858 G R Edgar & Son.
Stock Bulls (3) Fabulous trade for a good quality offering of fleshed bulls. Stabiliser 270p, £3153; Limousin 247p, £2182; British Blue 244p, £2021.
Overage (4) Very positive. OTM Angus x heifers to 329p £1790.

Beef Cows – 29 Sold – Top 299, Average 246.1
Dairy Cows – 23 Sold – Top 290, Average 204.9

Store & Breeding Cattle – 86 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

Despite being well into the summer months we are continuing to see a few cattle coming forward, but this is no issue with a great trade for all.
Cows & calves from Brightleigh Farm, Surrey topped at £2280 for Hereford cows with Angus calves and majority of the others sold at over £2000 per outfit.
Amongst the store cattle Angus steers 8 mths from Rob Brown, Essex look well sold at £1280 with Hereford cross steers 14 mths from Brightleigh Farm topping at £1240. Strong cattle from K Loveridge 22 – 25 mths topped at £2140 for Shorthorn cross steers with others £1920 and £1880 from the same home. Smart Limousin cross heifers 15 mths from A W Vincent to £1590. Limousin steers 15 mths from L & L Colbourne, Surrey to £2200 with their heifers to £1920.
Store and breeding cattle are wanted so please do not hesitate to get in contact if you have cattle to sell in the coming weeks.
Next Store Sale planned for Tuesday 5^th August. 

Calves – 75 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357

A tremendous day in the calf section with good numbers of largely fresh calves, from both the Black & White herds, and the Channel Island sector. A great crowd in the ring with plenty of buyers from near and far, accompanied by visitors and their families to the market finding a day’s education in a livestock market whilst sheltering from the torrential downpours!
Trade fast right from the start and continuing throughout to a few weaned calves at the end.
Mostly Blues and Blacks, once again, but all grades keen and competitive.
Angus took the star turn with plenty of young bull calves £300-£400 topping at £405 twice from J Warnock & Sons; £382 P J Forknall; and £350 (2) from Appleton Farms. Decent young Angus heifers generally £200-£250 led by Appleton Farms at £260.
Blue x Friesian bulls £300 – £385, heifers £200-£330 with both sexes led by J W Boyd & Sons Ltd.
Crossbred Blue Bulls £150-£250, heifers £150-£200 from G R Edgar & Son, and Hickson Bros showing that calves are a valuable asset from all herds.
A pair of Friesian bull calves £200 and £170 from D Murdoch & Sons.
Good interest in the weaned calves on offer. Cathy Sugden`s well reared Angus x heifer 6 mths at £615 whilst a smart Blue Albion steer 5 mths from Susannah Garrett sold to £510. Crossbred Blue x heifers 5 mths to £460, 4 mths to £330 and £300.

Bull Calves
British Blue cross – 14 – Ave £244.79 – Top £385.00 – J W Boyd & Sons Ltd
Aberdeen Angus cross – 13 – Ave £284.38 – Top £405.00 – J Warnock & Sons
British Friesian cross – 2 – £185.00 – Ave £200.00 – D Murdoch & Sons
Heifer Calves
British Blue cross – 17 – Ave £226.47 – Top £350.00 – P J Forknall
Limousin cross – 1 – Ave £190.00 – Top £190.00 – Appleton Farms Ltd
Aberdeen Angus cross – 21 – Ave £174.33 – Top £260.00 – Appleton Farms Ltd
Steer Weanling
Blue Albion – 1 – Ave £510.00 – Top £510.00 – Garratt & Mannerings
Dairy Shorthorn cross – 1 – Ave £420.00 – Top £420.00 – Garratt & Mannerings
Heifer Weanlings
British Blue cross – 4 – Ave £427.50 – Top £460.00 – G R Edgar & Son
Aberdeen Angus cross – 1 – Ave £615.00 – Top £615.00 – C Sugden

Cattle Passports
We remind producers that on no occasion should the details on a cattle passport be changed other than by returning it to BCMS.
If details are incorrect return and advise BCMS or advise the auctioneers on market day without writing on the passport.

 

Forthcoming Auctions

Tuesday Livestock – 29th July 2025

Regular Weekly Market with a sale of Store and Breeding Cattle

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