Weekly Sales News – 11th September 2018

Top price per head – £102.50 – W G Watkins & Sons; Top price per kilo – 213p  – D C Foy

Report on trade: A small entry of lambs this week as is often the case in September and October and with reports of poor demand nationally, we saw a similar trade to last week for the best meated offerings. The heavier the better being the theme for the day.

Several good runs of strong lambs this week with the pick of the bunch being some very heavy continental cross lambs from W G Watkins & Sons which peaked at £102.50 and averaged £97. Best continental lambs sold to 213p per kg from D C Foy for Beltex cross lambs with another run of super Beltex crosses from G H Dean & Co selling in excess of 200p. The average returned at over 176p against a national figure of 173p across the country.

Producers please note – For top results please present well fleshed lambs which are preferably dry and clean. Lairage facilities are available every Monday evening.

Sheep sales here in Ashford are supported by buyers representing a large cross section of abattoirs throughout the country. Please ensure your FABBL status is up to date and if you are not FABBL assured seriously consider becoming so – certain buyers are restricted to the purchase of only farm assured stock.

Report on trade: Another good sized entry of ewes forward with a huge percentage on offer being presented quite lean and showing signs of the hard summer they have had. This is also shown by the fact that over 50% were not sent to slaughter but were purchased by farmers to improve over the winter. The ewe trade nationally has been showing a downturn in recent weeks with averages dropping but this is due to the condition of the ewes on offer. Best meated sorts were selling around the £80 mark.

Top prices included continental cross ewes to £80 from Ms H V Link, Suffolk crosses to £80 from M L Williams and Romneys to £65 from R S Body & Sons.

Report on trade: With no exceptional quality on offer this was the best trade for some time and many more could have been sold at favourable prices. A run of Limousin cross heifers took the pick of the trade with the majority 200p per kg plus and up to £1089 (206p) and £1093 (203p) from R F & E A Simmons. A large percentage of native bred cattle were on offer with the majority making 180p plus with a Red Poll steer at £1074 (189p) from D W Page & Son, Sussex cross steer £907 (186p) and Hereford cross heifer £924 (185p) from R Winstone and OTM Friesian steers sold well up to £1189 (157p) from B J Goodsell & Son.

Please notify us of entries to enable us to achieve consistent numbers

Report on trade: Another excellent entry of cull cows and overage beef met a very similar trade to recent weeks. Best meat remains in very short supply and badly wanted by processors, young beef cows wanted for feeding but with costs likely to be higher this winter buyers are being a little more selective. More lean killing cows are now coming through and buyers are wary of killing out percentages and yields from the poorly fleshed sorts.

The trade, for the time of year, remains at excellent levels and it cannot be stressed strongly enough that some early attention to your culling policy this autumn/winter is strongly advised sooner rather than later.

Highlights included Aberdeen Angus cross 148p per kg, 131p, 125p and grossing £1083, £985 from W S Furnival (Brookland) Ltd and 134p, 133p, 132p, £808, £795 D J Miles; Sussex 140p, 139p, £921 W J Hurley and 127p £968 J R Gunner (Non FA); British Blue cross 125p, 121p, £856, £815 W S Furnival (Brookland) Ltd and Murray Grey cross 111p D R Thompson (Non FA).

Holsteins 144p, 135p (2), 126p, £1157, £1076, £1005, £954 Appleton (Ledger) Farms; 129p, £977 G R Edgar & Son and 125p, 123p, £858 P J Forknall; British Friesian 132p (2), 128p, £928, £914, £893 G D & E E Field and 127p, £904 V & C Smith (Non FA).

Aged Holstein steers made 148p, 147p, 144p, 143p (3), 141p, 139p (2), £1148, £1147, £1040, £1039, £976 from E T Ledger & Son Ltd.

Stock bulls – flesh is  wanted and leaner types are more difficult to place. Holsteins made to 109p and £835; Hereford 106p £1102 and Limousin 102p £898.

Report on trade: A very small entry after last week. J B & S M Marshalls 16/17 mths Aberdeen Angus and Limousin steers made £730. These strong cattle to feed are really wanted.

See next Tuesdays catalogue with over 550 coming forward and good numbers are now being booked for every week well into October.

Auctioneers: Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230 and Thomas Hamplett

Report on trade: A busy ringside with many buyers competing for all types of calves. Particularly well sought after today were British Blue’s of both genders which saw fierce competition especially for the squarer more fleshy types. A smaller entry of native bred calves saw bulls selling mainly around the £160 – £180 mark. A mixed entry of native heifers topped at £220. Black and white bulls were aplenty today, 46 forward with size and fleshed types being most desired on the day.

Top price this week of £330 went to W G &  T A Manford with a British Blue heifers from a run of quality calves forward. Other notable prices for continentals included British Blues again from the Manfords with a bull calf to £320, £320 for a heifer from J C & S K Williams, H O Champneys Ltd realising a top of £300 for a bull and againbull from W S Furnival Ltd to £300. In the native section top price of £220 went to J E Scutt & Sons for a strong Aberdeen Angus cross bull with other notable prices include £220 for younger Hereford cross heifer from W S Furnival Ltd and a good run from Kingcott Dairy achieving a top price of £180 for an Aberdeen Angus cross bull.

Top of the order for black and whites went to J C & S K Williams for a well framed bull calf achieving £115 with J E Scutt & Sons also selling a well framed bull calf to £95.

In the stirk section The John Graham Centre dominated with a quality run of mainly British Blues. These topped at £450 for a pen of strong British Blue Heifers, bn March and April..

Remember we sell calves once a fortnight all through the year and have regular customers for all breeds and sexes.

Report on trade: A good sized entry of finished and cull pigs met a competitive trade with 8 individual purchasers securing stock. Prices achieved continued in the vain of the last 2 months with the cull section again producing some very good returns.

A large show of finished pigs included a large proportion of heayweights. Best light pigs made to 122p per kg from S J M Evans (83 kg grossing £101) while heavy Welsh (102 to 118kg) made 95p to 101p with 20 averaging £108.86. 37 pigs made over 100p and 29 grossing over £100.

Sows and Boars were a very strong trade again with weight and flesh all 50 to 69p and grossing to just short of £200. Boars made to 35p.

Store Pigs were in short supply with one pen of good shaped white pigs making £29 for the gilts and £26 the males. A young small sow and litter of 6 made £110.

For up to date information on all livestock sales please contact

Elwyn Davies (Cattle & Sheep) 07710 803901 or 01233 861263

Peter Kingwill (Cattle & Sheep) 07795 200357

Martin Crowhurst (Cattle & Sheep) 07710 803903 or 01797 343936

Simon Husk (Cattle & Sheep) 07885 968077 or 01304 842393

Mark Cleverdon (Rams, Breeding Cattle, Pigs & Calves) 07741 845230

John Rossiter (Sheep, Machinery plus commercial vehicles) 07557 392903

Fodder Crop for sale and / wanted

For sale – Large quantity of maize silage available in the Cranbrook area, excellent analyse and quick loading. Please ring 07860623196/01580 240479.

For sale – 50 2018 and 40 2017 season wrapped 4’ round bales of hayledge in West Sussex. Ring 07718 532971

Hobbs Parker and Ashford Livestock Market

We are the South East’s principal livestock market selling around 250,000 head of cattle, sheep and pigs in 2017.

Weekly sales throughout the year of all classes of stock, principally on Tuesdays, run by a fully professional team of auctioneers and support staff, they provide an unmatched level of service and commitment to the livestock farmers in the area. Come and see us on market day soon and bring your livestock for us to sell.

Hobbs Parker Auctioneers and Car Auctions run over 200 auction sales every year

Our next Auction Sales include……..

Chilli Farm Machinery sale

Saturday 29^th September at 9.30am

Large entries of tractors, trailers, vehicles, arable equipment, haymaking equipment, tractor attachments & spares, livestock kit, garden machinery, workshop tools and a large and varied selection of rural bygones. Entries close Saturday 8^t.

Collective Machinery & Equipment sale

Friday 10^th November at 9.30am

Catalogues will be available about a week before the sale.

Lots will include new & nearly new mowers & garden machinery. New tools, farm & agricultural equipment, timber plus a large selection of miscellaneous items.

Farm job opportunity

Wanted – a general assistant on a livestock and arable farm in North Kent. The job can be full or part time and will be principally working with sheep and cattle. Ring 07976 921689

Miscellaneous livestock and general goods and services for sale and wanted ex farm

For Sale – 300 Suffolk x Mule 1 & 2 lamb ewes on a Kent farm. Ring Elwyn Davies for more details

For Sale – 2 Pedigree Beef Shorthorn bulls, bn 2015 (proven) and 2017 (ready to work) – ex farm in North Kent. Ring Mark Cleverdon for more details

For Sale – 24 British Blue x Friesian cows, mainly 2^nd to 4^th calvers, due to calve again from late February and through March to a Limousin bull – East Sussex. Ring Mark Cleverdon for more details

For Sale – 20 Beef cross cows, mainly 2^nd to 6^th calvers, due to calve again from December onwards to a Parthenaise bull – East Kent. Ring Simon Husk 07885 968077