Weekly Sales News – 12th January 2021

Top price per head – £129.50 – M R Woodroofe; Top price per kilo – 302p – T Husk

Report on trade: Another good entry of finished hoggets but not quite enough to go around with demand very strong from both the wholesale and export sector. This is despite the hospitality industry still being under severe restriction.

Top spot was taken by T Husk at 302p per kg, closely followed by C A Worley Farming Ltd at 295p and G L Harris at 294p. Trade has lifted slightly for the heavies as well with a lot of these sheep selling in excess of £120 to a top price of £129.50 from M R Woodroofe who sold 180 superb hoggets up to 293p. We haven’t seen levels like this for about 3 years but the peak of the prices were seen a lot later in the season in that year with today’s prices as high as we have ever known them to be in January.

More fleshed lambs required to satisfy requirements of current buyers. Important to contact us regarding numbers so that we can notify the buyers.

Report on trade: A good entry of ewes and the quality was improved also this week with more well finished continentals on offer to increase the average price overall to £88. Best ewes made to £123.00 from O Martin closely followed by C A Worley Farming Ltd at £119 and N A Balcomb & Son at £118.50.

Not many grazers on offer but the wholesale trade can generally outbid the grazing men at this level anyway but leaner ewes trading from £60 to 75.

Continental ewes to £123 from O Martin with Suffolk crosses to £118 from T Masters.

Auctioneer: John Rossiter 07557 392903

Report on trade: A small entry of stores were on offer this week and a tremendous trade for all to a top price of £102 from M J Morris. Many stores sold in excess of £90 with Suffolks to £99 from H J Hecks & Son. Nearly all stores made in excess of £80 with only a few long term types selling less than this price.

Report on trade: This was another cracking trade for a good selection of cattle with the best butcher types selling readily in excess of 225p per kg with native and dairy bred cattle around 200p. A run of top quality continental crosses from D W Ferguson Ltd again sold exceptionally well with the top prices including Limousin cross heifers £1293 (246p) and £1386 (242p), Charolais cross heifers £1496 (229p), Bazadaise cross heifer £1448 (225p) and Limousin cross steer £1306 (238p) while similar cattle from W Alexander (Shoreham) also rang the bell with Limousin cross heifers £1525 (237p) and £1206 (224p) and Limousin cross steer £1421 (228p).

Heavier sorts sold at slightly less money per kg with British Blue cross steer £1431 (217p) and £1353 (201p) from K & P M Sinden & Sons, Limousin cross steer £1371 (195p) from P W & P Sim & Son and the pick of the Limousin x Friesian steers from A J Down at £1274 (206p) and £1204 (198p).

A small selection of native bred looked relatively well sold with purebred Sussex steers to £1196 (215p) from A H Hoad & Son and Sussex cross heifers £1037 (208p) from W Alexander (Shoreham).

Report on trade: An outstanding entry of cull cows with stock and customers coming from far and wide. Many thanks to producers for heeding pre-Christmas advice and remaining in touch over marketing advice. This is producer and industry co-operation working at its best and high numbers and high prices speaks volumes!

Beef is wanted in all forms and stock for slaughter and further finishing was an outstanding trade. No fewer than 21 buyers on the score sheet with all grades and ages wanted for a wide range of processing roles both home and abroad.

We had relatively few best meat cows forward which is a sign of this season but outstanding Limousin heavyweights from L E Humphreys & Sons to 168p and 160p £1404 £1290 whilst many others, especially if under 48mths, regularly made 130p to 180p per kg. Feeders were very competitive with even the older cows rarely below 100p.

Headliners included British Blue cross 181p 179p £993 £946 E P Knight and 143p (Non FA) T Beesley; Limousin 176p J Loveridge, 168p 160p £1404 £1290 L E Humphreys & Sons and 153p £1266 P N & C Burden; Aberdeen Angus cross 155p £989 (Non FA) Llewellyn Farms and 140p £949 J Loveridge; Sussex 154p 137p £967 W J Hurley, 137p 136p 135p 133p (Non FA) J Muscat, 136p (3) 135p 133p 132p £1014 H W Richards, 136p (2) 134p (2) 133p (2) 132p £1145 £1070 Buckhurst Farms, 134p 128p (Non FA) J D Hickman and 117p £965 (Non FA) S Paget-Brown; Fleckvieh cross 149p E P Knight; Simmental cross 148p £1048 (Non FA) A R Dunlop, 148p (2) £931 Betchworth Estate Farms; Charolais cross 139p £956 Betchworth Estate Farms; Beef Shorthorn cross 138p £1009 J Loveridge with South Devon 135p 129p (2) £1182 £1069 H & S Nesfield.

Not quite the flesh of last week but nevertheless a good sample of cows from the dairy sector. A few fleshed calved heifers, but under 3yrs made 160p to 180p with the best of the fed dry bagged cows readily 115p to 130p with a top of £1219 and several over £1100. Wet bagged types, of course, a little less by comparison but still a very good trade with no shortage of competition and only 5 cows below 100p.

Headliners again Holstein Friesian cows under 3yrs 179p 176p 164p £1219 £1187 £1071 R Torrance & Son; Holstein Friesian cows 134p 127p 124p £1107 £1041 £1000 Leggat Farming, 129p 128p 127p (2) 125p 124p 123p (2) £1066 £1032 £983 R C & J L Pickering, 125p 120p £1025 £982 R Torrance & Son, 125p 122p (2) £1109 £1008 W G & T A Manford, 125p £959 J W Boyd & Sons and 122p 120p £991 WF Farms; Norwegian Red 131p £887 Westnedge & Knight with Guernseys 115p 105p £813 £747 W G & T A Manford.

Stock bulls a fair trade with all carrying flesh which, of course, is wanted! Aberdeen Angus 127p £1354, Hereford 120p £925 and Sussex 116p £1207.

Report on trade: A good entry of store cattle early in the year were well received and prices were strong throughout with plenty of customers in attendance keen for cattle to replenish finishing yards. The best bred continental crosses were in particular demand with a run of top quality yearlings from L Palmer & Sons topping the section with their steers to £1060 and heifers £845 while older stronger cattle look well sold up to £1020 for Limousin cross heifers from P & G & J Carden.

A good selection of stronger native bred cattle were on offer with the best of the Aberdeen Angus crosses taking the pick of the trade notably steers up to £1115 from M A & F W Owen and £1025 from Llewellyn Farms.

Regular buyers keen for cattle. Please contact now for forthcoming sales.

Report on trade: Despite strong demand in the sheep and cattle sectors unfortunately the pig trade is in “January Mode” with difficult trading conditions affecting particularly the spot market (which the live trade is). In a nutshell the best pigs sold well, the rest of the finished were difficult, culls pigs traded at very low values and stores met limited demand. How long will this last ?? – we need the spring, some dry weather and sunshine, most importantly a government that will sort out initial problems with paperwork and delays with export procedures through this country’s ports and finally control of Covid 19 to allow abattoirs and processors to fully staff their businesses again. Not too much to ask surely!!!

Back to the days business in the finished pig pens S Scott & Son sold three pens of really super shaped pigs for 116p, 128p and 130p per kg grossing from £97 to £123. The remainder made 30p to 60p.

In the cull pens pigs traded at very disappointing levels similar to many other markets up and down the country. Abattoirs are all reporting that they are having to severely limit throughput to meet Covid rules (processors on the continent have similar problems) and cope with export delays.

Store pigs traded at low prices giving feeders the opportunity to benefit when the drier and sunny weather comes and the trade irons out supply surpluses.

Please note Covid regulations mean we will be again implementing a “Drop and go Policy” and no vendors will be permitted to attend the market other than to deliver stock.

Please help us to ensure your market remains open and operational

Hobbs Parker calendars for 2021

We would advise that because of uncertainties over arrangements for auctions for the coming year, due to the continuing Covid pandemic, the Hobbs Parker calendar has not been published.

Livestock auctions will continue, as has been the case throughout the pandemic, on Tuesdays. Seasonal Friday sales, for sheep, will be confirmed in due course as will dates for farm machinery and collective auctions, both on farm and on site in the market.

Bovine TB Test Dates

It is very important that the date (first part of test) is recorded on cattle entry forms for all cattle sold from TB1holdings. Any recent whole herd test dates from TB4 holdings must also be recorded. This information is critical to purchasers who may be required to test animals again and who will wish to avoid the risk of a false positive by testing again within the 60-day period.

Please advise of test dates when making cattle entries for cataloguing from TB1 Holdings.

South East Farmer and Farm Machinery magazines

The January edition of this popular regional farming magazine is now available here in the market. Hobbs Parker is a regular contributor to the editorial content.

Hay, Straw and fodder

For a small charge we are quite happy to advertise your hay, straw and fodder for sale in this register which will now run until early May for further details please ring our auctioneer’s office on 01233 502222 or Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

News from our regional RABI regional manager Sally Field

Happy new year to those I’ve not spoken to. This morning RABI launched its “Big Farming Survey” and now we need to gather at least 26,000 responses from the farming community across England and Wales. This will be the largest survey of its kind ever undertaken. It’s an ambitious target that requires everyone’s support if it is going to succeed.

The research aims to deliver an invaluable insight into the challenges that a generation of farming people face and improve our understanding of how farming today is impacting physical and mental wellbeing, in addition to the health of farm businesses. The data collected will enable RABI to work with our partners to understand how we develop our services to help empower farming people to overcome challenges and increase farmer resilience now and into the future.

A page on our website links directly in to the survey the page will give more info and the link through to the online version is : www.rabi.org.uk/bigfarmingsurvey. Alternatively, the straight online version itself is at: http://ex.ac.uk/BigFarmingSurvey. For those who’d like to request a printed copy to be sent to them please email FarmSurvey@exeter.ac.uk. This comes with a stamped addressed envelope to return responses.

The survey takes 15 minutes and will be a great opportunity for farmers to be heard

Please stay safe and well – Very best wishes Sally – 07799 798441 or email sally.field@rabi.org.uk

News from the East Sussex Farmers’ Benevolent Fund

The Benevolent Fund charity was created in 1935 by a local farmer and its purpose is to support farmers, farm staff and those involved in the wider land-based industries. Support can also be given to family dependants.  Beneficiaries are normally resident in East Sussex or neighbouring counties.

Income from property and investment legacies help to finance the fund in addition to generous donations. The fund is overseen by five local trustees with strong agricultural connections.

Help can be for those currently in work, or who have retired or who are unable to work due to illness or disability. The fund can also assist those entering land-based education and help with relevant CPD for furthering their land-based careers.

If you feel that we can help you or you are aware of someone who might benefit from help, please let us know and we will be pleased to support. To contact the Honorary Secretary of the Benevolent Fund Des Lambert – 07912 464746, 01273 890841 or email des.lambert@btinternet.com.

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

For Sale – 15 plate Mitsubishi L200 Challenger pickup – very tidy with 1 yrs MOT, 64k miles, service history, tow bar, locking roller shutter top etc Guide £11,000. Ring 07787 566080. Kent

Wanted – a pedigree Red Aberdeen Angus bull to run with Sussex cows on a Kent farm. Details of availability to Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

Notices – Ron Cooper – Brabourne Lees

It is with sadness that the friends and family have asked us to report the passing of Ron Cooper. Well known as a butcher in the Ashford area Ron was a Market supporter and active member of the Cattle Show committee for the majority of his life. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to family and friends

Notices – Gwen Day – Chartham

It is with sadness that the family have asked us to report the passing of Mrs Gwen Day of Deanery Farm, Chartham, previously of Tonbridge “Day” family of farmers. Mrs Day died on 5th December 2020 peacefully aged 97. Gwen and her late husband Don and son Richard, the late husband of Fiona Scott Nichols were long-standing clients of Hobbs Parker trading pedigree Sussex cattle and sheep

Help and support from The Farming Community Network

Farming Community Network (FCN) volunteers regularly attend local livestock markets and whilst we cannot be present at sales currently, our helpline is still open from 7am to 11pm every day, staffed by people who understand farming.

FCN is a charity and voluntary organisation that helps farmers to stay resilient. We provide practical and pastoral support to those experiencing difficulties in England and Wales.

During these challenging times we are encouraging everyone to think about their own physical and mental health and that of their families and staff.

We can help with contingency planning against the backdrop of the Corona virus outbreak and our FarmWell website (www.farmwell.org.uk) offers a wealth of free information about managing change and maintaining personal wellbeing.

The FCN helpline can be reached on 03000 111 999 or via email at help@fcn.org.uk. Confidentiality is assured.

Please note if you don’t wash out at Ashford

Drivers of vehicles leaving Ashford empty without cleansing and disinfecting MUST complete a declaration form obtainable from the Market Office.

You must then cleanse and disinfect as soon as possible and within 24 hours, or before using again for livestock.

This is a LEGAL responsibility and are subject to checks by Local Authority Animal Health and Welfare Officers