Ashford Market Report – Tuesday 23rd June 2026

Sheep Sales Reports

New Season Lambs –1,843 sold.

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

Top price per kilo – 445p – Jamie Watt, Surrey.
Top price per head – £220.00 – M J Ashworth, Kent.

A bit of a scorcher today in the market and with the rising temperatures and torrential rain early in the day, the inevitable day of reckoning came, and the trade has come back to more reasonable levels. Very much a two tier trade again with the grass lambs now selling below £4/kg for the first time this season but again as I said last week, prices are still very favourable for these comparably younger lambs that are now grossing £130-145/hd, are they likely to be more than that in the store ring in a little over a months’ time? Well-fed lambs with weight are still the best to sell at this time of year and still go over £200/hd and topped at £220 from M J Ashworth, with others over £200 from L E Humphreys & Sons, Holly Chandler, C & J Georgetti Sons and Louisa Taylor. As we now have two tiers in the trade, the overall averages are quite an inaccurate way to judge the trade, but with this still at just under 400p/kg this week, I can’t help but think this is a price that most producers would have been delighted with if they were offered it at lambing time…

32 – £111.00 (347p kg) – J Freeman
33 – £116.00 (352p kg) – C Hardwick
34 – £149.00 (438p kg) – Eastlands Farm
35 – £150.00 (429p kg) – Eastlands Farm
36 – £150.00 (417p kg) – Eastlands Farm
37 – £147.00 (397p kg) – Dan Hopper
38 – £154.00 (405p kg) – Dan Hopper
39 – £170.00 (436p kg) – Eastlands Farm
40 – £178.00 (445p kg) – Jamie Watt
41 – £168.00 (410p kg) – Eastlands Farm
42 – £174.00 (414p kg) – A J Pynn
43 – £178.00 (414p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons
43 – £178.00 (414p kg) – Jamie Watt
44 – £180.00 (409p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
45 – £189.00 (420p kg) – Louisa Taylor
46 – £198.00 (430p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons
47 – £201.00 (428p kg) – C & J Georgetti & Sons
48 – £199.00 (415p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons
49 – £212.00 (433p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons
50 – £189.00 (378p kg) – L E Humphreys & Sons
51 – £220.00 (431p kg) – M J Ashworth
52 – £206.00 (396p kg) – D Isaac & Holly Chandler

Averages (p/kg)

Prime NSL SQQ – 396.28

Light 32.1 to 39kgs – 266 – Top 438, Ave. 396.3
Medium 39.1 to 45.5 kgs – 945 – Top 445, Ave. 396.7
Heavy 45.6 to 52 kgs – 341 – Top 433, Ave. 402.8

Cull Sheep – 271 Sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

Top price: £198.00 – M Keeley (Agri Services) Ltd. – Ave. £140.86

A firm trade with more in the pens this week however more numbers would be of no concern.
Leaner and medium sorts looking best sold and thicker sorts slightly harder work this week. The best regularly £160 – £180 and to a top price of £198 for Dutch Spotted crosses from M Keeley (Agri Services) Ltd. Medium sorts £130 – £160 on most occasions with leaner grazing types £100 – £130 throughout with only 4 lots sold under £100 per head on the day.
Please do inform me of any ewes you have in the coming weeks with customers present for all grades every week.

Top Prices Included:

Dutch Spotted cross to £198 – M Keeley (Agri Services) Ltd, Texel cross to £188 – Kinnear & Co, Suffolk cross to £180 – M Bullock, Romneys to £178 – H G Tompsett & Son, Crossbred to £177 – M J Ashworth, Mules to £158 – H G Tompsett & 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 Reports

Finished Cattle –  51 Sold

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903.

A few more on offer but probably less quality in comparison to last week, bringing averages back accordingly. The beef price has been in a less than preferred position for quite a few weeks now and with heatwaves forecast for the coming weeks, it is unlikely to improve very quickly and those cattle that fall out of “spec” by being too big, too small, or too fat are generally harder to sell. Saying this, cattle are still grossing generally £2200-£2400 and topped today at £2434 from Mr J Berryman and 371p/kg from Red Barn Farm.

Leading steer prices

R F & E A Simmons – Limousin cross – 360p (£2085)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 339p (£2166)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 338p (£2160)
Leggat Farming Ltd – Aberdeen Angus cross – 337p (£2389)
A J Down – Limousin cross – 337p (£2120)

Leading heifer prices

Red Barn Farm – Limousin cross – 371p (£2167)
W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 359p (£1846)
Red Barn Farm – Limousin cross – 355p (£2162)
W Alexander (Shoreham) – Limousin cross – 350p (£1817)
W & P New T/A Moorhouse Farm – Simmental cross – 346p (£1952)

Average prices

Steers 551 to 650 kg – 14 – Top 360p, Ave. 331p
Steers 651 kg + – 8 – Top 337p, Ave. 321p
Heifers 300 to 500 kg – 1 – Top 343p, Ave. 343p
Heifers 501 to 590 kg – 11 – Top 371p, Ave. 334p
Heifers 591+ kg – 11 – Top 355p, Ave. 320p

OTM Cattle & Cull Cows – 50 Sold

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903.

A bigger entry here today with quite the mixture on offer from Dexter cows to Stabiliser bulls and most others in between and the best of the cows topped at £2,659 from Mr A Gray, Dover, with bulls topping at £2,646 from Bull Bridge Farm Partnership. Trade was a little stronger with the cows as processing beef is still in high demand for the burger industry and obviously, the better fleshed the cows are, the more they make. At times they do look dearer than the clean cattle, but this is what the market wants at this moment in time. Less dairy bred cows on offer but these would be 10-15p up on the week with most proper black and white cows over 200p/kg and the best beef types over 300p/kg. Quite a number of cull and over age bulls this week with these trading from 240p/kg to 320p/kg depending on age and shape.

Beef Cows – 23 Sold – Top 325, Average 278.5
Dairy Cows – 16 Sold – Top 262, Average 216.5

Store & Breeding Cattle – 58 sold

Auctioneer: James Cook-O’Connell 07780133678

With the sun shining we continue to find a few numbers for our store & breeding section.
First in the breeding section was a 6 year old Sussex bull from S S Gibb as part of a herd reduction to £2150 and a Limousin bull 6 years old from A J Thompson & Sons to £2500.
Sussex cows from S S Gibb ready to go back to the bull topped at £1620 with Sussex heifers 14 mths to £1210 from the same home. Smart Limousin cross heifers 14 mths to £1610 and British Blue cross steers 15 mths from I D Machin to £1750 with Shorthorn cross steers from the same home to £1740. A strong Aberdeen Angus cross steer 21 mths from D Britton to £1930 and took top call on the day.
Please do inform us of any store or breeding cattle you have to sell in the coming weeks with intentions to have another catalogued sale on Tuesday 7^th July.

Calves – 26 Sold

Auctioneer: Tristan Howell 07917024340.

Defying the heat in the calf ring today, the trade has resumed to the prices we saw 2 months ago.
The biggest run coming from regular market supporters, J W Boyd & Sons, with 3-week-old British Blue bulls returning at £670 and the majority £450-£500. Older, 3–5-mth-old calves from J Howie hitting £570, £560, and £550 for bulls and heifers alike.  J Warnock & Sons finding homes for an Aberdeen Angus bull (2 weeks) at £370, an Aberdeen Angus heifer (3 weeks) at £250, and a Sussex bull (2 weeks) at £305. Topping the day with a strong British Blue calf at £710, T Castle & Son brought forward a very good consignment, also consisting of Limousin crosses which returned £660 for the bull and £580 for the heifer. One Holstein Friesian from J Warnock & Sons made £240 and British Friesians from T Castle and Son made £315 twice.

Bull Calves
British Blue cross – 6 – Ave. £544.17 – Top £710.00 – T Castle & Son.
Limousin cross – 1 – Ave. £660.00 – Top £660.00 – T Castle & Son.
Aberdeen Angus cross – 3 – Ave. £406.67 – Top £450.00 – J W Boyd & Sons Ltd.
Hereford cross – 3 – Ave. £535.00 – Top £560.00 – J Howie.
Sussex cross – 1 – Ave. £305.00 – Top £305.00 – J Warnock & Sons.
British Friesian – 3 – Ave. £308.33 – Top £315.00 – T Castle & Son.
Heifer Calves
British Blue cross – 2 – Ave. £442.50 – Top £485.00 – J W Boyd & Sons Ltd.
Limousin cross – 1 – Ave. £580.00 – Top £580.00 – T Castle & Sons.
Aberdeen Angus cross – 2 – Ave. £280.00 – Top £310.00 – J W Boyd & Sons Ltd.
Hereford cross – 3 – Ave. £538.33 – Top £570.00 – T Castle & Son.

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.

 

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