Weekly Sales News – 4th April 2017

Top price per kg – 211p – Mr J Matthews; Top price per head – £100 – C A Worley Farming Ltd

A smaller entry this week and a slightly more difficult trade for all grades of hoggets on offer. The trade nationally has taken a downward trend since the sale last week with the increased numbers being marketed across the major centres in main feeding areas of the country. 120,000 hoggets were marketed in total last week through live auction centres which was almost 30% higher than the previous week.

Top price for the best Beltex cross lambs went to Mr J Matthews at 211p per kg and this was closely followed by the same vendor at 209p. Heavier weight sheep on offer topped at £100 from C A Worley Farming Ltd for some heavy Beltex hoggs with crossbred heavies selling to £86 from M R Woodruffe.

We had a small offering of new season lambs in the pens this week from one vendor. J Farrants lambs sold to a top price per head of £100 and 254p per kg. There will be the Easter show and sale for the best pen of 5 or more lambs next week with trade expected to remain at these levels.

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.

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Easter Milk Lambs Show and Sale – Tuesday 11^th April

Hobbs Parker Auctioneers are sponsoring prize money to vendors bringing forward pens of 5 or more milk lambs for judging. The lambs will be judged at 9.30am. Prizes 1st £20, 2^nd £15 and 3^rd £5.

Please advise intention to enter and approximate numbers by lunchtime on Monday so we can advise buyers of expected entry

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Report on trade: A bigger entry of ewes on offer this week with a slightly more tricky trade which appears to of followed on from the hogget trade nationally. Several better ewes in the pens this week selling in excess of £80 with the top price of £99 for some shapey Beltex ewes which was closely followed by P Denne at £90.

Top prices included Continental ewes to £99 from C A Worley Farming Ltd, Suffolk crosses to £86.50 from R L Goodman & Son, Mules to £60 form W A Groombridge and Romneys to £65 from R L Goodman & Son.

Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901

Report on trade: A very mixed entry of store hoggets with a high percentage of smaller plainer sorts which are proving harder to sell this late in the season. The best continue to sell well in excess of £60 per head and up to £63.50 for Charollais cross from A & B Carlton, Suffolk cross to £62.20 from Mrs L Taylor and Texel cross to £61.50 from Mrs V Frampton. Averages: Top £91 and aver £58.37.

Report on trade: Still a relatively small entry for the time of year and not the quality from start to finish we saw in last week’s record breaking sale. Best lambs still met a strong demand with the highlight 5 super still young Texel crosses making to £38 for a ewe lamb and averaging £34. Plenty more stronger lambs made £20 to £30 with smaller and triplet lambs £5 to £20. 46 sold to £36 and averaged £16.23

Report on trade: A good solid trade for an increased number of finished cattle with a few handy weight butcher type sorts selling around 215p per kg notably a Simmental cross steer topping at £1152 (216p) from Gillshaw Farms Ltd. An Aberdeen Angus cross heifer made £1083 (215p) from J Prior & Son and Limousin cross heifer at £1055 (212p) from G L Boulden & Sons.

More commercial sorts generally made 180p to 190p with Limousin cross steer up to £1221 (187p) from W Alexander (Shoreham), Limousin cross steer at £1121 (189p) from R F & E A Simmons and a Limousin cross heifer to £1089 (182p) from A J Down.

Several heavy weight cattle were on offer and grossed well up to £1254 (174p) for a Blonde cross steer from F A Rogers & Son Ltd and a run of British Blue cross steers just under 30 mths were well sold up to £1230 (178p) from K E Budd.

Cull Cows – 37 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357

Report on trade: There is no stopping the cow trade which is struggling to find numbers nationally to satisfy processing demand. We had low numbers today which met an outstanding trade. Please keep looking for suitable candidates amongst your beef and dairy herds. Carrying non productive cows in any system is not the best policy and at the moment we have an exceptional cull trade to take advantage of.

An outstanding run of young fed cows (3 – 6yrs) from Burden Bros met a superb trade with Limousin to 162p per kg and grossing  £1106, Aberdeen Angus to 150p and £1020, South Devon to 150p and in total their 13 cows averaged 150p and £1022 per head. Others all very well sold with Aberdeen Angus to 148p A J Strand & Sons and Sussex to 156p Beaute Farms.

Dairy culls were also in short supply. Holstein Friesian 134p £1027 WF Farms; Brown Swiss 122p £923 D Murdoch & Sons and Dutch imports to 100p and £731.

Report on trade: The largest entry of store cattle this season comprised a predominance of top quality single suckled continental cross beef bred yearlings. The numbers and quality of stores on offer proved a major attraction with several additional buyers from away in attendance competing well with the locals and regular buyers. The trade was brisk throughout with the majority of yearling steers making £900 to £1000 and heifers £700 to £900. A superb yearling Limousin cross heifer topped at £1102 from H J Emery & Son and a smart 15 mths Limousin cross heifer sold well at £1025 from L Smith. A few older stronger sorts were on offer with a 24 mths Limousin cross steer topping the market at £1200 from Hawkfibre Ltd.

A small selection of Aberdeen Angus cross stores were offered and well received with a superb run of Aberdeen Angus x British Blue yearlings from J Prior & Son selling exceptionally well with steers to £1100 and heifers to £885. A run of hard farmed Aberdeen Angus cross cattle from G C Kirby & Son attracted lots of interest with yearling steers up to £885.

Principal not already mentioned prices included:    

Continental bred cattle                                                                                                                    

Notice from Trading Standards on Sheep tags

Sheep producers are reminded that all sheep now require electronic tags, either single, double or re replacements. Please refer to Defra guidelines for the necessary type of tag required depending on the sheep you are presenting for sale.

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.

Kent Wool Growers wool sheet distribution

Wool sheets will be available between 10am and 3 pm on Tuesday 11^th April. Further information is available from the Wool desk on 01233 648052

Shearing course

A British Wool Marketing Board shearing course will be held at Rye on Monday 22^nd and Tuesday 23^rd May. This is for all standards, beginners to advanced. Please contact Alison Gould on 01647 24804 or Charles Fuggle on 07885 226428 or email agould@britishwool.org.uk for details

Sheepdog wanted

A local shepherd is looking for a 4 to 6 year old working collie (either sex). Please ring 01233 720181.

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Hobbs Parker Auctioneers and Car Auctions

run over 200 auction sales every year

Our next Auction Sales are ……

Horse & Saddlery sale

Thursday 13^th April at 10am

Catalogues are now availablefrom here in the market or online.

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 21^st April at 9.30am.

Catalogues will be available about a week before the sale.

Lots will include new & newly near mowers & garden machinery. New tools, farm & agricultural equipment, timber plus large selection of miscellaneous items.

Car Auctions May Day Extravaganza

Monday 1^st May at 10am

Spring bank Holiday extravaganza sale for all classes of vehicles– well over 500 vehicles will be offered including a wide selection of 4 x 4 models.

Commercial Vehicles

Thursday 11^th May at 3.00pm

Commercial vehicle sale

Shenley Farm Machinery sale

Saturday 13^th May at 9.30am

Large entries of tractors, trailers, vehicles, arable equipment, haymaking equipment, tractor attachments & spares, livestock kit, garden machinery, workshop tools and a large and varied selection of rural bygones are expected

Spring Breeding Sheep and Livestock Equipment sale

Friday 19^th May at 11.00am

Up to 400 ewes and lambs from one Weald farm and a consignment of 80 lots of livestock farming equipment already entered. Further entries of both sheep and equipment are welcome

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Easter Saturday Tractor Run

Great Humphries Farm Grafty Green, Maidstone ME17 2AX leaving at 11am. All proceeds to RABI and Kent Agricultural Tractor Club. For more details please James on 07748 632346.

Young Farmers Clubs News

Please support local School and Open Young Farmers clubs forthcoming lambing events including

Ashford YFC’s event at Hope Farm, Wittersham on Easter Sunday; Swan Farm, Ashford on Easter Monday; North School, Ashford on Saturday 22^nd April and others

Weald of Kent YFC is a new club and is becoming more active in spring and summer. They are looking to recruit members from school Year 8 and above and are currently meeting mainly during the school holidays. Planned events include

Thursday 6^th Apri – A visit to beef farm near Marden and 13^th April – A NERF Gun Easter Challenge, Staplehurst.

For more please contact Claire on eckleyfarms@Waitrose.com

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DEFRA and our Local Authority trading standards officers regularly remind us of our responsibilities regarding unfit animals. No unfit animal should be exposed for sale in a market.

We have been reminded by the Local Authority that it is against current Welfare and Market Regulations to move stock to market, or any other holding, in the final stages of pregnancy (final 4 weeks). Please be careful with dates on breeding stock and cull stock that might turn out to be in lamb or in calf.

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.

Thanks for your attention to these matters.

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

Updated 28^th March 2017 

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

Sunday 9^th April – Southdown & Eridge; Godstone, Surrey. RH9 8DB at 2.15pm

Saturday 15^th April – Ashford Valley; Charing, Kent. TN27 0JS – 2pm

Monday 17^th April – East Kent: Aldington, Kent. TN25 7EJ – 2pm.

Saturday 22^nd April – Old Surrey, Burstow and West Kent; Penshurst, Kent. TN8 7DD – 2pm

Saturday 29^th April – Chiddingfold, Leconfield and Cowdray; Parham, West Sussex. RH20 2ER – 2pm

Hay, Straw and fodder

Updated 4^th April 2017

For Sale – 60 Round wrapped bales of 2016 season madehayledge, stored undercover . East Kent. 07775 794556

For Sale – 400 4ft round bales of 2016 season made hay on a West Kent dairy farm. Ring 07769 697934.

For Sale – Large quantities of hay. Ring 07860 623196.

For Sale – Large quantity Quadrant rectangular bales of 2016 season made threshed ryegrass hay. Good quality. Romney Marsh. Ring 07885703458

For Sale – Large quantities of 2016 made and gathered organic hay, haylage and silage. Buckhurst Park, East Sussex. Ring 01892 770220 or email:

For Sale – 100 Mini Hesston 4 string bales of oat straw, 60 Mini Hesston 4 string and 200 4’ round bales of exceptional hay. Transport can be arranged get at cost. East Sussex. Ring 01580 819000 or 07768 771933

For Sale – 157 Massey Ferguson 8’ x 4’ 6 string bales of 2016 season gathered winter barley straw, stored dry. East Kent. Ring 07703 130575

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 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 384271 or 07973 634519.

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

RABI, FCN, Kent Herdsmans and Ashford Cattle Show  news

RABI Fund raising events over the next few months include:

Beef Dinner, British Beef Week – Saturday 22^nd April. London Beach Hotel, Tenterden. TN30 6HX. Limited to 100 tickets. Ring David Chantler 01622 850207

Kart Racing – April or May, date TBC. Buckmore Park. Ring Charles Tassell 01622 858733

Elmley Bird Sanctuary private tour and barbeque  – Sunday 14^th May. Emley, Isle of Sheppey. ME12 3RW. Ring Roger Pickard 01227 832045 for full details

Watch this space for details of more events next week and ongoing

Kent Herdsmans Club

Monday 10th April at 7.30pm – visit to Ovenden Tipper Services, Eythorne, Dover. CT15 4ND

For all details on Herdsman’s Club events contact Chairman Alan Jull 01304 852991 or Jo Masters 01580 240568

Jon Chapman – Marathon man !!

Come Sunday April 23^rd our Jon will not be on his rostrum selling cars (or even in church!) because he has entered himself for the London Marathon.  As well as proving to himself, and all of us, how fit he is he will be raising money for Meningitis Research Foundation. Sponsorship forms to complete are available here in the market.

We all wish him well and look forward to hearing he has completed the course in a respectable time (for his age!)

South East Farmer and Farm Machinery magazines

The May edition of this popular regional farming magazine is now available here in the market. Hobbs Parker are regular contributors to the editorial content.