Weekly Sales News – 2nd June 2020

Top price per kilo – 282p – T Husk; Top price per head – £114 – L Stevens & Sons

Report on trade: Another bigger entry of new season lambs this week with just under 1,800 on offer.  Some super runs of quality, well finished lambs on show from our vendors with a top price of 282p per kg taken by T Husk for some super Beltex cross lambs. Best sold on the day were the heavier lambs, as always is the case at this time of year when the hogget numbers begin to dry up. Top spot today was taken by L Stevens & Sons at £114 with second place taken by T Masters at £111 and F Brown selling some cracking lambs to £106. The days average was returned just under 240p for the lambs on offer which was in line with Mondays prices but a little less than last week due to numbers increasing rapidly.

Another vastly variable entry of sheep on offer this week with every manner of hogget penned. Best meated sorts without erupted teeth are still in demand as there isn’t enough heavier weighted spring lambs to fill their place just yet and many of these types sold in excess of £100 up to £110 from L Stevens & Sons once again and S B & A E Martin. Continental export grades sold to 222p from P Gorringe at £100. Hoggets with erupted teeth sold from £70 to £85.

It would be greatly appreciated if you could “help us to help you” by arriving earlier to assist with appropriate sorting and penning of sheep. Lairage facilities are available from 2 to 6pm every Monday and we can accept stock from 6am every Tuesday.

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: This was a strong trade for cull ewes with best fleshed ewes in excess of £75 and up to £90 for Texel crosses from L Stevens & Sons, Suffolk crosses made to £89 from T Masters, Mules to £75 from R L Goodman & Son and Romney to £74 from A J Thompson & Sons. Only plain ewes below £60 per head.

Report on trade: This week handy weight butcher type cattle took the pick of the trade with prices on a par with recent weeks notably Limousin cross heifers £1081 (199p) from D W Page & Son and £1167 (195p) W Alexander (Shoreham) and a Blonde cross steer £1083 (189p) from G L Boulden & Sons. Heavier sorts made 175p to 185p with British Blue cross steers grossing well at £1202 (175p) and £1189 (178p) from K & P M Sinden & Sons, Limousin cross steer (184p) from W Alexander (Shoreham) and Charolais cross heifer £1153 (178p) from D W Page & Son.

The pick of the native bred cattle included purebred Sussex heifers £1027 (172p) and £952 (182p) from A H Hoad & Son.

Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901

Report on trade: Again a very strong trade and many more could have been sold at similar favourable prices. Not the quality on offer compared to last week but still the best of the beef and dairy cows were grossing in excess of £1000 and topping at £1126 (133p) for heavy weight British Friesian cows from R & J Ledger.

Top prices included South Devon £1071 (137p) W E Baines; Aberdeen Angus cross £1008 (139p) J & A Lyon; Lincoln Red £961 (144p) A W Vincent and Sussex £907 (139p) J & S Harmer.

In the dairy lines Holstein Friesian £1126 (133p) £1093 (159p) R & J Ledger, £1072 (138p) W F Farms, £1034 (134p) ,P J Forknall, £1034 (129p) and  M A & F W Owen with Jerseys to  £367 (78p) S E Lane & Partners.

Report on trade: A similar sized entry this week met a better trade with our small to medium sized wholesalers out shopping for stock and a reasonable, if not top quality (bar a few !) entry in the pens. Store pigs could be sold with only one pen forward while the sow trade is still well off the boil.

The best finished pigs made up to 117p per kg for a pen of 5 from S Scott & Son who saw their pigs still gross to £109, 2 heavy Duroc gilts made £111 from D J Cole and N Dance saw 5 heavy pigs gross £107.70. The rest of the offering generally made 75 to 100p, a vast improvement on two weeks ago.

Cull sows saw only 3 forward – 2 Mangalitzers made 32p and a young Large Black saw 42p to breed. A good shaped Pietrain boar made 35p grossing £62.50.

One pen of stores, not the best bred, made £20

Next pig sales – Tuesdays 16^th and 30^th June and 14^th and 28^th July at 9am with stores immediately following the finished and cull.

Notices – Nicholas Chantler, Headcorn

The Chantler family have asked us to let you know that Nick very sadly passed away, peacefully at home last Monday after a long battle with Myeloma Cancer. Nick loved farming and his livestock and was a well-known figure in the farming community. His wonderful sense of humour and kindness will be greatly missed by his family and all who knew him.

Hobbs Parker and Ashford Livestock Market

We are the South East’s principle livestock market selling over 255,000 head of cattle, sheep and pigs in 2019.

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

Message from Peter Barker of Barkers Animal Health

Barkers Animal Health retail store here in the market is open for collections on a Tuesday. Please pre order so goods are ready for you – 07880 946983  

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

For Sale – 2002 livestock lorry with 25 ft container with sheep decks. Regularly used to date and with 10 months MOT. Genuine reason for sale. East Kent – phone 07850 518330

Relief farm worker required – for general livestock duties including milking, feeding, calf rearing and general husbandry. Would suit a self-employed person but position is flexible located near Dartford. Please call Iain on 07738 445530 for more information.

Wanted – 2 Male farm kittens, any colour bar white. Ashford area. Ring Richard Wood 07710 803902

Wanted – Sheepdog puppy required. Ashford area. 01303 812775 (evenings only)

For Sale – 5 working collie puppies, 4 dogs and 1 bitch, ready end of May. North Kent. Ring 07979 802044

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.

Local Agricultural Show and ploughing match dates and news

Agricultural shows in the region which are now cancelled include Royal Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey County, Kent County, South of England, Heathfield, Singleton Rare Breeds and Aylsham (Norfolk). Sadly Moreton in Marsh (Gloucestershire) have now finally cancelled and the Bath and West and Royal Cornwall have both now cancelled from their rescheduled dates.

The Weald of Kent and East Kent Ploughing matches have now both been cancelled for this year.

Message from the secretary of the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match reads as follows: It is with great regret that the Chairman and committee of the Weald of Kent Ploughing Match Association feel we have had no choice but to cancel the 2020 Plough Match due to the restrictions in place and the risk surrounding Covid-19. This was not an easy decision, but the Association feel it is the correct decision to make to ensure the health and safety of all involved.

On a positive note, we will be running the Growing Crop competition and the Hop competition this year, so if you would like to get involved with those competitions do pop me an email and I can send you the entry forms.

Also, there will be a group of committee members dedicated to running our social media platforms. The aim is to increase our following but we are also keen to promote all our trade and suppliers as well. We will be uploading content more regularly as well as trying to run small, light-hearted competitions, so if you would like us to promote your company, please send me any up-to-date content and if you would like to donate any prizes for our competitions that would be more than welcomed.

We would like to say thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to seeing everyone at next year’s match in 2021.

Liz Copping, Secretary. 07872 501951. lizcoppingWKPMA@hotmail.com

Planning

As part of the critical food industry in these difficult days we want to plan and control our market operations as efficiently and safely as possible for the sake of us all – vendors, purchasers, hauliers and market staff.

Please advise us of your plans and numbers if you intend to sell stock.

Please liaise with and help your hauliers with early collections.

Please help market staff with fully completed entry forms – ear numbers listed in numeric order to speed up processing. With big loads please split heifers and steers on entry forms.

Thank you and take care

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