Weekly Sales News – 26th January 2021

Top price per head – £125 – P & C Bower Ptnrs; Top price per kilo – 281p – O Martin

Report on trade: This week saw another good sized entry with over 2,000 finished hoggets penned and a big range in the quality on offer. Some superb, top quality hoggets from P & C Bower Ptnrs, C Hepher and O Tilley to name just a few with top spot taken by P & C Bower Ptnrs at £125 for some superb continental hoggets weighing in at 46kg.

Trade has stabilised at the current level with 2 to 3 weeks of similar returns in the main auctions around the country but we have seen the demand for the very heavy hoggets drop back with 44kg selling at the same price per head as 49kg on many occasions due to the lack of the catering demand in the UK. This is something for finishers to bear in mind in the coming weeks. These heavier sorts did make in excess of £120 on several occasions with A R Dunlop selling to £122.50 twice.

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 smaller entry was penned this week but sold to a similar trade as a week ago with the best sorts making around £100 to a top of £105 from P N & C Burden. It was quite a mixed entry of ewes with several scanned empties included and some very lean sorts also. Overall average of £72 was seen which was in line with last week. Grazing sorts are not really being purchased for further finishing in great numbers at the moment but the few that were made from £50 to 60.

Suffolk crosses made to £105 from P N & C Burden, continentals to £96 from W J Waters, Mules to £80 from W G Watkins & Sons and Romneys to £76 from S E Lane & Ptns.

Report on trade: Here again we can report a strong trade for store hoggets with the best making £90 plus and only small long keeping sorts below £80.

Top prices include Suffolk crosses to £99.50 from R J Horsman, Romney wethers £98.50 from H G Tompsett & Sons Ltd, Charollais crosses £94 from D H Ford & Son and Texel crosses £92.50 from P Tassell.

An entry of 143 in lamb Suffolk x Mule and Romney flock aged ewes sold well with plenty of customers in attendance.  Prices were strong throughout topping at £128 and averaging just short of £120.

Report on trade: This was again another cracking trade with the best selling readily around 240p per kg and only heavyweights and those lacking shape below 200p.

The regular weekly consignment from W Alexander (Shoreham) took the pick of the trade with continental cross heifers making £1524 (244p) and £1418 (241p) and Limousin cross steer £1382 (243p). They were closely followed by a run of handyweights from S Marsh and D W Ferguson Ltd with the best of their Limousin cross heifers £1202 (241p) and £1197 (242p). Other top prices included Limousin cross heifers at £1299 (239p) from G L Boulden & Sons and £1353 (228p) from L E Humphreys & Sons.

Heavier cattle made around 185p with a British Blue cross steer grossing well at £1413 (188p) and an Aberdeen Angus cross steer £1374 (185p) from Leggat Farming Ltd. A run of rangy heavyweight Aberdeen Angus cross heifers look well sold grossing £1100 plus and up to £1275 (188p) from B Sutton.

A small selection of bulls topped at £1343 (198p) for a Sussex from J C & C Lewis and an OTM up to £1191 (193p) for a Bazadaise cross steer from W & P New.

Report on trade: There is currently no stopping the trade for all cattle in this section as demand strengthens and supply can do nothing but tighten at this time of the year. Rates for all grades were dearer and with the smart young feeding cows breaking through the 200p per kg barrier. Too few fleshed beef cows came forward toward and this shortage is accelerating the demand from feeders to secure stock for the future.

In summary the best of the slaughter types made 145p to 180p with some excellent feeders 160p to 200p grossing up to £1394 (177p) from S Marsh for his British Blue cross cow. A young Simmental cross cow from Barfrestone Court Farms Ltd topped at 204p £987.

The main “top calls” were Simmental cross 204p £987 (Non FA) Barfrestone Court Farms Ltd, 160p £1066 (Non FA) J & A Lyon and 145p £1163 W & P New; Parthenais 185p £1070 S Marsh; Aberdeen Angus cross 186p 176p £842 £833 (Non FA) K Vincent, 139p 137p 135p (Non FA) J & A Lyon, 156p 137p 130p 129p 127p £1044 £998 £987 (Non FA) Barfrestone Court Farms; Limousin cross 179p 160p 150p £1178 J Berryman, 147p £905 (Non FA) J H & A H Godden and 140p £1109 (Non FA) A Boyd & Co; British Blue 177p £1394 S Marsh, 163p (Non FA) J & A Lyon and 140p (Non FA) N A Vincent; Sussex 142p £1026 Birt Bros, 137p 136p 130p £1048 £1036 H W Richards, 129p £848 (Non FA) M Godden and 129p £887 L Stevens & Sons; South Devon 135p £962 (Non FA) W E Baines with Beef Shorthorn 126p £874 (Non FA) D & J Murray and 125p (non FA) D C James.

Demand was tremendous for the dairy culls with some good, heavyweight, fed types on offer with cows grossing up to £1246 (134p) from M A & F W Owen.

Top calls included maiden Holstein heifers 165p 164p £1145 £1008 Huddlestone Farmers Ltd and 155p £1298 Leggat Farming Ltd; Holstein Friesian cows 134p 129p 127p £1246 £1056 £1021 M A & F W Owen, 133p £1087 W F Farms, 122p 120p £1004 Leggat Farming Ltd, 120p £992 Huddlestone Farmers Ltd and 118p £1093 M S Clifford-Baynes; British Friesian 124p 119p £1087 B J Goodsell & Son; Ayrshire 115p J Howie with Jersey 84p £397 Hickson Bros and  77p £379 S E Lane & Ptnrs.

Better bulls were penned, all assured and a stronger trade. Limousin 128p £1122, Blonde 122p £1238 and Aberdeen Angus 117p 109p £1258 £1047.

Report on trade: We penned a good show of stores for this time of year with a big percentage of strong native bred cattle on offer.

A small entry of continental cross yearlings sold well with Limousin cross steers to £915 and heifers £710 from L Palmer & Sons while strong 22mths British Blue x Friesian steers topped the market at £1200 from B Sutton.

A good selection of native bred cattle saw quality purebred Sussex selling in excess of £900 from HHB Raveningham Farms, 20mths steers topping the Aberdeen Angus section at £1020 from P & G & J Carden and strong Beef Shorthorn steers to £1075 from D C James.

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

Report on trade A handful of breeding cattle were forward today selling on a strong trade. Leading the way were 3 in-calf Aberdeen Angus cross cows from Horne & Son which looked well sold at £1,040.

Report on trade:  A small entry discouraged a few regular buyers attending and as always is the case the best pigs sold well but demand for second quality was lacking and prices reflected this. Nationally the picture is very similar, and the cull throughput has been cut dramatically creating a backlog of stock in this sector.

Best finished pigs in the pens were from High Weald Academy YFC making 124p per kg and grossing £105 and a second pen 110p and £90. The remainder of pigs offered made 40p to 88p.

In the cull pens one white sow made 8p per kg – desperate!

One pen of store pigs made £28 for nice white weaners from D J Cole

Please note Covid-19 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

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.

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

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

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-19 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.

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

For Sale – 120 5’ Round bales of 2020 hay. Rolvenden area 07860 469597

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