Weekly Sales News – 31st January 2017

Top price per kg – 195p – P Ashlee; Top price per head – £85 – T Masters

Report on trade: A larger entry of hoggets on offer this week which met with a slightly stickier trade than in the past few weeks with poor retail demand and a slow export market being held responsible by most buyers. Both the standard and medium weight categories of sheep were sold on a relatively similar trade to last week with the heavier weights suffering most under the trade pressures.

Best export types sold to 195p per kg from P Ashlee (38kg @ £74/hd) with the top end of the heavy sheep selling to £85 for some very heavy hoggets from T Masters.

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.

certain buyers are restricted to the purchase of only farm assured stock.

Report on trade: A good sized entry of ewes and better quality entry were on offer this week but despite this a good number of leaner types did pull the averages down. The best ewes once again broke the £100 mark with some super Texels from Mr & Mrs R J Warnock selling to £101. Several more meated ewes made over £80 with the majority of the leaner grazing types selling between £30 – £40.

Top prices on the day included Texel ewes to £101 from Mr & Mrs R J Warnock, Suffolk crosses to £83.50 from T Masters, Mules from the same vendor to £63.50 and Romney ewes to £60 form S E Lane & Ptnrs.

Auctioneers: Elwyn Davies and John Rossiter  

Report on trade: Another large entry of store tegs made up of mainly medium and long term sorts sold to a similar strong trade with the better pens selling readily around £60 and only very small sorts below £50. This trade looks very favourable alongside the returns currently available in the finished section. Average: Top £62.50 to £14 (aver £48.35)

The first sale of breeding sheep of 2017 started with just under 500 in lamb ewes on offer from 4 vendors, all of which were being offered for sale following decisions to reduce flock size. Over 300 ewes were offered for John Paine Farms and these sold to a top price of £88 for some Suffolk crosses that were scanned in lamb to a Charollais at 200%. Most of the ewes offered traded between £70-80 with some Charollais ewe tegs from Mrs P Rosato making to £82.

We will be offering further consignments of in lamb ewes on Tuesday 14^th February – see front of this report for details

 Top store teg prices include:                                                                                                                        

Report on trade: A strong trade with a few smart butcher type heifers making in excess of 220p per kg and topping at £1245 (227p) for quality handy weight heifers consigned by D W Ferguson Ltd. Another run of quality continental crosses from regular vendor W Alexander (Shoreham) grossed well up to £1307 (186p) for a heavy weight Limousin cross steer and a smart Limousin cross heifer made to £1182. (208p).

A few native bred cattle grossed up to £1521 (186p) for a heavy weight Shorthorn bull from C R Cook and Aberdeen Angus cross steers to £1188 from M A & F W Owen.

Report on trade: Another outstanding cow trade this week with a few less cows but in the main beef and dairy culls carrying good flesh and keenly wanted by the processing trade and are in short supply. Rates firmer on the week and more cows are wanted to take advantage of demand that is giving full confidence to the feeding men who are also short on supply with scanning results generally good this winter.

Good beef meat cows generally made 120-135p per kg with a few high spec models heading towards 150p. Plenty of cows grossed over £1000 and a few topped out well over £1100. Farm assurance is a big help but there is plenty of competition for all grades. Limousins made  141p, 139p and 135p from L E Humphreys & Son and 133p G L Boulden & Sons; British Blues 135p, 131p, 129p, 128p(2) and £1122, £1073, £1007 from W S Furnival (Brookland); Blonde 135p £1015 G L Boulden & Sons; Simmental 135p L A Charman and 126p £960 W S Furnival; Hereford 128p £982 (Non FA) S P Howland and 128p C R Cook; South Devon 127p (Non FA) P Shubrook; Aberdeen Angus 126p £954 W S Furnival and 124p (Non FA) S Inglis; Longhorn 125p £852 C R Cook with Sussex 123p Jones & Garratt and 122p £954 J C & C Lewis.

There was more of a mixture in the dairy culls but still plenty of flesh at the top end. Trade for all grades very competitive and lean cows looking very well sold.

Holstein maiden heifers 145p £932 H O Champneys, 139p £934  J W Boyd & Sons Ltd and 134p J Warnock & Son; British Friesian cows 124p £1155 R & J Ledger, 121p, 120p, 119p, 117p £945 Debden Court; Holstein 125p £903 Oncoland, 122p £1002 J Warnock & Son and 120p(2) £908 D Murdoch & Sons with Jerseys 90p, 88p, 87p(3), 85p Hickson Bros.

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357

Report on trade: There really is a positive feel around the store cattle ring even at this early stage of the year. A strong beef trade and plentiful supplies of fodder is giving confidence to producers and a modest entry this week found no shortage of customers and demand.

Smart Charolais bulls, 6-10mths amde £800 and £700 from Vexour Charolais. Young cattle for this years grazing were much in demand and Sussex steers, 12-14mths made £580 from B W Kemsley & Son; an Aberdeen Angus steer, 11mths £650 Mrs A Farris; British Blue steer 10m £835, a Beef Shorthorn steer, 12mths £740 and heifer £650 Miss T Maddocks.

Older and stronger cattle were in short supply but wanted. British Blue steers, 18mths made  £1060 from Miss T Maddocks and heifers, 28mths £870 from Betchworth Estate; Aberdeen Angus heifers, 17-20mths £705, £700, £580 from W Gutsell and Sussex heifers, 18-24mths £620 from Price – Whitehead. More cattle are wanted and numbers in our sales will increase in the coming weeks.

Next weeks sale includes 46 in calf beef cows being part and full herd dispersal’s from 2 Kent farms.

Report on trade: A good sized entry included a wide range in age and quality and the good, competitive trade for all calves proved again the strength of the auction system to find customers prepared to pay a fair price for a wide range of stock. The best continental cross beef calves from the dairy herd, principally Simmental and British Blue crosses, made £250 to £455 and really good for their age Aberdeen Angus crosses made £250 to £355. Dairy bulls (and steers) saw a respectable all in average of £69.

Highlights this week included British Blue Bulls to £455 at 20 weeks and £310 at 15 weeks (5 aver’ £377) from T Castle & Son; to £355 at 6 weeks from Ledger Farms and to 350 at 10 weeks from H O Champneys Ltd.

Simmental bulls to £380 at 7 weeks and heifers £330 from H O Champneys Ltd

Aberdeen Angus Bulls to £355 at 10 weeks from H O Champneys Ltd and their heifers £210 at 9 weeks and a Bull £265 at 7 weeks from Ledger Farms.

Holstien steers to £140 with 11 making £102 to £140 at 17-20 weeks from Squerryes Estate

Friesian Bulls made to £40 at 6 weeks from R & J Ledger while M W Goddards regular run made £50 to £82 at 6-9 weeks and Oncolands 10 £32 to £68 at 2-8 weeks

Please keep your entries of calves coming. At our fortnightly sales we expect to have plenty of enquiries for all shapes, sizes and ages of stock. Thank you all for texts and messages with early notice of your entries for forthcoming sales – it does help.

Report on trade: The message for Ashford is that we currently have customers regularly looking for substantial numbers of pigs and at present and we do not have enough coming forward. Trading this week produced a very good trade for a smallish entry of both finished and store pigs.

Headlines were made by P W & P Sim’s finished (probably some of the last from this farm) making to 142p per kg and £122 and S Scott & Son’s well bred medium feeders which made to £64. The best cull sows made to 50p from Mrs P Banks.N dance sold good shaped pigs to 128p and £109, Care Estates Gloucester feeders made to £54 and a Not big Saddleback sow and 11 3 week old piglets made an exceptional £310.

Our pig sales are held once a fortnight and with the summer now we are seeing plenty of competition and more confidence in the pig sector after very low levels which prevailed for about 3 months in the spring. Please keep in touch with us here in Ashford if you have pigs to sell.

Lairage bookings for Monday and Thursday evenings

Please ring David Martin on 07860 114650 to confirm when you are delivering stock to the market for overnight lairage.

Hay, Straw and fodder

Updated 31^st January 2017

For Sale – 2000 Conventional bales of 2016 season made meadow hay. East Kent. Ring 07885 305520.

For Sale – 150 Claas Quadrant 2016 season gathered winter barley straw, stored dry. Ashford area. Ring 07850 789113.

For Sale – upto 500 Conventional bales of 2016 season made hay. West Kent. Ring 07905 269113.

For Sale – 200 Mini Hesston 4 string bales oat straw, 800 4′ round bales wheat straw and 100 Mini Hesston 4 string bales, 600 4′ round bales and 200 4′ round bales of  hay. Transport can be arranged get at cost. East Sussex. Ring 01580 819000 or 07768 771933

For Sale –200 Round bales of 2016 season made meadow hay. Maidstone area. Ring 07813 741636

For Sale – 50 Round wrapped bales of 2016 season made haylage from organically farmed grassland. Mid Kent. Ring 01233 756468.

For Sale – 500 bales of 5` long mini Hesston bales of July 2016 meadow grass haylage with delivery available at cost. Chiddingfold, Surrey. Ring 01428 654695 or 07966 452256.

For Sale – 300 to 400 wrapped 4 string bales of 2016 season haylage and 50 7’ long 6 string bales of meadow hay. Kent / Sussex borders. Ring 07773 384716 or 07973 634519.

For Sale – up to 1,000 tonnes of 2016 season clamped maize silage and large quantities of hay. Ring 07860 623196.

To advertise your stocks in this section please speak to Mark Cleverdon or Adam Leonard for details of our very reasonable charges

Livestock for sale by private treaty – ex farm

Updated 31^st January 2017              

12 Various cross beef cows (herd ages) and due to calf from mid march to Aberdeen Angus bulls on an East Kent – TB Low

23 British Blue x Friesian young cows scanned in calf from mid March to Limousin bulls (pick 10 or more) on a North Kent farm – TB Low

70 Suffolk tegs and young ewes in lamb to Charollais rams and scanned 172%, due end March. East Sussex.

33 Romney ewes which have run with Romney ram and 35 Suffolk cross ewes which have run with Charollais ram all due from 1^st April. East Kent

South East Point to Point Meetings (www.pointingse.com)

Updated 24^th January 2017              

The fixture list for the season has been circulated with this report recently. Further copies are available here in the market

Sunday 19^th February – South East Hunts Club; Charing, Kent. TN27 0JS – 12noon

Sunday 5^th March – Mid Surrey Farmers Drag; Godstone, Surrey. RH9 8DB, Surrey – 1pm

Saturday 18^th March – Crawley & Horsham; Parham, Storrington, West Sussex. RH20 2ER – 1.45pm

General news

Updated 24^th January 2017

Wanted – experienced lambing person for a 600 ewe flock on the North Kent / Surrey borders from 12^th March for about 3 weeks. Ring 07970 549013

Wanted – General farm worker required for mixed farm on Romney Marsh during spring period with possibility of full time employment. Experience with cattle, sheep and modern farm machinery including gps will be an advantage. Call 07785 542805 for more information

For Sale – Beautiful male working collie puppy from working parents who can be seen. Very well socialised , well grown and healthy and looking for good active country home (ideally working but not essential ). On a north Kent farm ring 07875356294.

Wanted – trained mid aged working sheepdog, preferably a bitch. Ring 01424 870892

DEFRA regularly remind us of our responsibilities regarding unfit animals. No unfit animal should be exposed for sale in a market.

All animals should be fit to travel. All in milk cows should to be milked out prior to movement to market. Do not present lame sheep or those, for any reason, which are not fit to be transported.

For information on all livestock sales please contact at anytime

Elwyn Davies (Sheep) 07710 803901

Peter Kingwill (Cattle) 07795 200357

Mark Cleverdon (Pigs/Calves) 01233 506288

John Rossiter (Sheep) 07557 3929033

Martin Crowhurst (Cattle/Sheep) 07710 803903

Simon Husk (Cattle/Sheep) 07885 968077

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

Our next Auction Sales are ……

Special Vehicle sale

Wednesday 8^th February at 4pm

This auction of cars will include a special sales of 4 X 4, Diesel, sports and MPV vehicles and will be followed by our general car sale

Commercial Vehicle sale

Thursday 9^th February at 3.00pm

A wide selection of up to 40 vehicles are generally offered in these sales

Horse & Saddlery Sale

Thursday 16^th February at 10am.

** Nearly 30 horses are entered **. Catalogues will be available shortly for this sale

Entries expected of riding ponies, event horses and youngstock

New & nearly new saddlery & tack, grooming kit, yard equipment, rugs, harness

Riding boots, show jackets, jodhpurs, body protectors, yard clothing & boots

Collective Machinery & Equipment sale

Friday 24^th February at 9.30am.

Catalogues will be available about a week before the sale – final catalogue entries immediately please

New tools, farm & agricultural equipment, timber plus large selection of miscellaneous items.

New & newly near mowers & garden machinery

Store and Breeding Sheep sale

Friday 3^rd March January at 11am

This is our first of 2 store and breeding sheep sales in early 2017 and a full catalogue will be produced for these sales.

*************************************************************

RABI, FCN and Kent Herdsmans Club news

Updated 10th January 2017

Forthcoming dates, including many fund raising events, begin with farmhouse breakfasts

Wednesday 18^th January. Medway Yacht Club, Lower Upnor, Rochester. ME2 4XB at 8.30am. Ring Karen Smeed, NFU Meopham 01474 444243. £12.50

Wednesday 25^th January. Greenfield Shooting School, Sturry, Canterbury, Kent. CT2 0NG at 8.30am. Ring Andrew Brealy 01227 741023 or Canterbury NFU Office. £12.50

Friday 3^rd February. Hempstead House Hotel, London Road, Bapchild, Sittingbourne. ME9 9PP at 8.30am. Ring Anthony Hyde 01795 830355or Rollo Parsons (NFU) on 01795 472774

Wednesday 8^th February. The Dirty Habit, Upper Street, Hollingbourne, Maidstone, Kent. ME17 1UW at 8.30am. Ring David Chantler 01622 850207. £12.50

Thursday 9^th February. Elham Valley Vineyard. CT4 6LA at 8.30am. Ring Robert Pickard 01227 832045. £12.50

Wednesday 15^th February. Here in Ashford Market at 8.30am. Ring Chris Older 01233 720395 or Richard Beaugie 01233 732580 for full details. £12.50

Thursday 16^th February. Dog & Duck, Plucks Gutter, Canterbury. CT3 1JB at 8.30am. Ring Robert Pickard 01227 832045. £12.50

Wednesday 22^nd February. Poacher & Partridge, Tudeley. TN11 0PH at 8.30am. Ring Sheila Adams 01622 831429 or Charlie Chantler 07801138243. £12.50

Friday 24^th February. The Alma, Painters Forstal, Faversham. ME13 0DU at 8.30am. Ring Tish Neaves 01795 890515 or Charles Tassell 01622 858733. £12.50

Kent Herdsmans Club

Monday 13th February 2017 at 7.30pm. AGM followed by Mark Cleverdon speaking about his experiences as an Auctioneer – at the Conningbrook Hotel, Canterbury Road, Ashford. TN24 8QR.

For all details on Herdsman’s Club events contact Chairman Sandra Brown on 01233 502796 or Jo Masters 01580 240568