Weekly Sales News – 27th November 2018

Top price per head – £200 – Valley Park YFC – Show Champions; Top price per kilo – 333p – Valley Park YFC – Show Champions

Report on trade: On show night a large crowd of supporters were ringside all through the judging of the pairs of lambs where Matt Prince was our judge. He has not only to be congratulated for completing the long journey from Derbyshire down to Kent and back but also for the long, testing and arduous job of judging a tremendous entry of some 250 show sheep. A farmer himself, and running a very successful farm shop, he is only too conscious of the importance of the live to dead assessment of sheep and he stuck to his task with clear understanding and direction.

The exhibitors set him a hard task with marvellous entries in all classes but, as is always the case, the Supreme Champion pen comes out on top and he found a tremendous pair of Beltex lambs from Valley Park School YFC. First prize awards also went to Ed Harmer, Lewes; Nigel Vincent, Folkstone; Anthony Neaves (2), Tonbridge one pair of which went through to take reserve Champion spot; N A Balcomb & Son, Lydd; Jenny Heathcote, Pluckley; High Weald Academy YFC, Cranbrook and 2 more for Valley Park School YFC

Generally we saw a small entry of sheep forward this week for show week but the lambs in the show pens were a credit to all involved with the Young Farmers Clubs putting in huge efforts again this year. Overall show champions were from the  Valley Park School YFC (the team of students led by Andrew Town) which were a tremendous pair of Beltex cross lambs that weighed in at 60kg and sold to Gibsons Farm Shop, Wingham, Canterbury for £200 with the reserve champion pair presented by A Neaves weighing 45kgs and sold to B Wilson of Hockley, Essex for £150. Many thanks, as always goes to all the buyers for their continued support of the show.

In the commercial section of the sale, we saw a smaller but very good quality entry of sheep on offer with a super run of Beltex cross lambs from C A Worley Farming Ltd really ringing the bell and making up to 230p per kg (40kgs @ £92). These smart export grade lambs saw a strong demand as numbers nationally have tightened and export demand has increased in the run up to the festive period. Heavier offerings were also improved on the week with Master Joey Burden presenting his first lambs to market and selling to £97.

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: A small entry of ewes penned this week being show week and we saw a similar trade to recent weeks. Best ewes were a slightly improved trade to a top price of £89.50 for some strong Texel ewes from Blackmores Farm Partnership. Grazing ewes are still making up a high proportion of the entry and selling between £30 and £45.

Top prices included: Texel ewes to £89.50 from Blackmores Farm Partnership, Suffolk crosses to £64 from S W Mount & Sons and Romneys to £57 from A G A Homewood.

Report on trade: A marvellous selection of cattle covering most breeds and sizes was placed before our judge for the show, Kevin Ludgate, a showman of repute himself. Over several testing hours and a championship line to rival any market Christmas show he found his Supreme Champion in a Limousin heifer with great style, presence and fleshing. Bred and exhibited by the Brown family trading as M B Farms, Stockbury and shown expertly by Kiri Bass, this 645kg heifer went on to realise 440p per kg and gross £2835 at auction to Brian Wilson of La Vallee Farm Shop, Hockley, Essex where he his wife Marion run a well established farm butchers shop. It was to be ladies day at Ashford with the Reserve Supreme Champion going  to the British Blue x Aberdeen Angus heifer from Charlotte Husk. The heifer was also champion Young Farmers beast and reserve to the Supreme Champion in the heifer championship. In addition she was also judged to be the best turned out beast on the day. At auction she sold for 335p to great supporters P C Turner, wholesalers of Farnborough, Hampshire.

Native cattle were well represented with good entries of both Aberdeen Angus cross and Sussex cattle. Native Champion went to the Sussex steer from Chandler & Dunn, Ash, Canterbury which sold at 230p to Park Farm Butchers, Hawkhurst. Best selling Aberdeen Angus cross went to a very smart handyweight steer from Karen Husk, Adisham, Canterbury selling at 245p to Fulk Bros Butchers, Pirbright, Surrey.

Good competition produced a cracking trade also for the cattle in the penned classes where the Championship was awarded to another Limousin heifer from MB Farms, Stockbury. The reserve Champion award went to Fred Husk, Dover whose handy weight Limousin cross steer sold to Fulk Brothers for 203p.

Plenty of cattle made from 200p to 250p but generally amongst the show cattle there was more weight on offer than seen for many years with 28 cattle over 600kgs and a number over 700kgs! This creates its own limitations to customers and it would be fair to say that the handy weight cattle sold better than the heavyweights in line with regular commercial weeks.

Report on trade: A mixed offering today with a lot of cattle showing the effects of the weather and generally short of flesh.

A run of over thirty month Sussex steers and heifers sold to 134p per kg whilst a short offering of cows sold to 111p with trends just a little firmer. There are still plenty of cows in the pipeline and the collapse in the hide market is not helping anyone! The prospects for the trade in the new year looks better than the pre-Christmas period.  We will however be here to trade cattle for another three weeks if it is not feasible to hold cattle “on farm” and will miss two Tuesday cattle marketing days before trading again on 8^th January.

Please do not hesitate to call me for marketing advice.

Report on trade: There was a better trade this year for the show pens penned with up to half a dozen buyers looking for numbers and bidding well for all the good pigs offered.

Judge Andrew Clark, who runs a successful high street butchers shop in Hawkhurst, selected a champion pair produced by Hadlow College from the Princess Christian farm unit at Hildenborough near Tonbridge with reserve pair exhibited by Kent Life Museum, Maidstone. The Valley Park School YFC show team were exhibitors of the best single pig in the show classes.

The champion pigs made 185p per kg grossing £161.80 and were purchased by Brian Wilson, La Vallee Farm, Hockley, Essex while both champion and reserve single pigs made 176p and 160p and were purchased by Will Bealing for his butchers shop in Rainham trading as J W Farms Butchers. Boyd Roberts , Charing exhibited the reserve best single pig. The reserve champion pair from Kent Life Museum were purchased by Shaun Fagg trading as GHE for his East Kent meat supply business. 82p to 128p covered the rest of the pigs sold

Ben Hopes first prize winning cull sow made 55p and £127

Lamb Carcasses

Auctioneer: Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

Report on trade: These Lloyds Bank Agriculture sponsored classes attracted a very good entry of 50 with a large number of superb shaped and fleshed carcases displayed on the rails. Guy Grimstone from Ringmer was pleased to attend Ashford to judge at the show. His face is better known to many in Sussex as an advisor to livestock farmers and meat businesses.

In the show classes he picked 2 superb carcases as champion and reserve being a Texel x Beltex from show chairman Anthony Neaves and Beltex from Graham King and family from Hawkhurst. Further 1^st prizes went to Cobtree Young Farmers in the Romney class, Anthony Neaves with a Suffolk x Texel, Dylan Isaac with a Charollais cross and Wakeham-Dawson & Harmer, Lewes with their Southdown x Beltex.

The sale on Monday evening was well supported and a very fair trade resulted. Romney carcases made 410p to 480p per kg grossing £80 to £112. Of the remaining carcases from the native breeds show chairs Suffolk cross made 500p and £138 to Doug Marchant (who kindly cut and prepared them all for the show),  the Texel and Beltex’s made 400p to 560p away from the champion, reserve and charity carcase with the Charollais crosses 430p to 540p and finally Southdowns 290p to 510p.

Nick Hedges farming in the Salehurst area of East Sussex and with his family one of our most regular livestock market supporters purchased the champion for 780p and £191 while Simon Husk and family paid 675p and £162 for the reserve.

Charity note: The presidents charity fundraising was boosted by a generous donation of a carcase of the lines from Ruth Vant and family (Vant & Claringbold). This was sold 3 times to Guy Grimstone, Nick Hedges and Ned Farris raising £450 in total. Thank you all involved

Christmas Cakes – 11 Sold

Auctioneer: Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

Report on trade: 11 Cakes (5 traditional and 7 novelity) were baked, exhibited and then sold in this ever popular section and in total £2005 raised for the presidents charity. Thanks goes to the bakers and also the buyers – Messrs Neaves, Husk, Sheppard, Light, Grimston, Marsh, Cleverdon, Marchant, Rossiter, Masters, and Keeley (also Andrew Head for trying hard!!)

Clare Stevens best  traditional sold 2 times twice to raise £610 and Vant and Claringbolds best novelty made £240.

The Ashford Cattle Show 2018

Both Hobbs Parker and The Ashford Cattle Market Company were delighted again to have supported the Show Committee in presenting this pre Christmas event here in the market.

Peter Kingwill, a Hobbs Parker Auctioneers director, has commented “The support for the annual Ashford Cattle Show remains outstanding. Certainly the schools, their pupils, their mentors and their staff deserve great credit for the care and devotion that they place in their livestock and in their showing ethos but there is also a strong level of backing from a good number of our regular market supporters. This coupled with sponsorship and attendance from the wider agricultural audience and associated businesses makes for a great occasion on the Monday and Tuesday. We thank you all for making the event one of the strongest market Christmas primestock shows anywhere in the country”.

The Hobbs Parker auctioneers have written their own reports for each of the sections they were responsible for within the newsletter. The show committee will publish a full report covering all aspects of the event shortly

Next years show will be held on Monday and Tuesday 25^th and 26^th November .

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

Tom Hamplett (Calves) 07966 104532

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

Wanted – a reliable young man in the Maidstone area is looking for part or full time agricultural employment. He can be recommended for both livestock and tractor work.  Please ring 07787 566080

For Sale – 2 sheepdogs on a North Kent farm – a 6mth Collie bitch and 12 mth Kelpie dog. Ring 07850 224330

For Sale – 2 Brown Merles and 1 tricolour collie puppies on a mid Kent farm. Ring 07941 730588

Fodder Crop for sale and / wanted

For Sale – 600 conventional bales of 2018 season gathered wheat straw in mid Kent. Ring 07768 726286

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

South East Farmer and Farm Machinery magazines

The December editions of these popular regional farming magazines are now available here in the market. Hobbs Parker are regular contributors to the editorial content.

RABI, Young Farmers Clubs and Kent Herdsmans Club news

Kent Herdsmans Club

The Club’s Christmas dinner will be held on Monday 10^th December, 7.30pm at the Halfway House, Challock.

For all details on Herdsman’s Club events contact Chairman Alan Jull 07708283220 or Jo Masters 01580 240568.