Weekly Sales News – 4th December 2018

Top price per head – £110 – A Town; Top price per kilo – 221p – A Town

Report on trade: Back to normal service this week following last weeks Christmas show and sale with a good entry of well finished lambs were on offer with many presented dry and empty after being shut in over night. This certainly showed in prices with these sheep selling to marked premium above the morning presented sheep.

A handful of top quality lambs were shown by A Town which sold to 221p per kg for 42kg continental lambs and also £110 for 53kg lambs of the same breeding. Notable quality runs of sheep came from  John Monnington Farms, J & S Harmer and C H Ellis Ltd which were all well presented and sold to a strong demand throughout to a top price of £86 from John Monnington Farms Ltd and 187p from J & S Harmer.

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 bigger entry of ewes this week with once again a large number of leaner sorts on offer. Grazing purchasers were still out in force to compete for these. Best meated offerings sold to a top price of £78 from A C Hulme & Sons for some strong Suffolk x Mule ewes. The ewe trade nationally has not shown much lift for several months now but with numbers starting to subside, we may see a lift in the coming weeks.

Top prices included: Suffolk crosses to £78 from A C Hulme & Sons, continental ewes to £66 from V Frampton and Romneys to £61 from L F Crisford & Sons.

Report on trade: There was a strong trade throughout with best store lambs topping at £68.50 for a pen of Texel crosses from D Bicknell and medium sorts selling readily around £60 and only very small long term sorts below £54.

About 4,000 store lambs are expected to be penned for our final Friday fixture for 2018 on the 14^th December. Sale starting at 11.00 am

Following this final sale we would expect numbers offered on Tuesdays to increase. Please keep in touch with our auctioneers and fieldsmen if you have stock to sell.

Report on trade: A large entry of cattle and while the best held their value relatively well second quality sorts proved more difficult. A smart British Blue cross heifer topped the market at £1321 (214p) from D W Ferguson Ltd and a British Blue cross steer sold well at £1288 (210p) from W Alexander (Shoreham). A heavyweight Limousin cross steer grossed well at £1284 (184p) from P Burgess and a run of British Blue cross steers with more weight than usual topped at £1191 (185p).

The native bred cattle proved more difficult with a few regular local butchers not in attendance. An Aberdeen Angus cross steer made £1193 (175p) from D J & J L Isaac and a purebred Sussex steer £981 (164p) from D W Page & Son.

A run of bulls topped at £1112 (180p) for an Aberdeen Angus cross from C R Cook.

Report on trade: The beef market in general and the cow market in particular are in a difficult place at the moment. Much of this is down to simple over supply as a consequence of a long, hot, dry summer that has impacted both on feed supplies nationally and the pregnancy status of many cows. Unproductive cows are selected for culling, of course, but the feed situation means that many less are being kept for feeding and many more plain cows are entering the slaughter route.

Today’s trade was similar to recent weeks with a bit more flesh on offer amongst the beef cows. Good meat cows made 100p per kg plus; fleshed cows 80-100p; lean cows 60-80p and plainest or most wasteful 40-60p. Nothing exciting but the strong beef and dairy culls regularly came to over £800.

Best bulls were wanted but lean types hard work.

The New Year is a better time for cow beef demand  but with supplies stacking up we are not going to see a miracle turn around until later as a shortage of fed cows becomes more apparent.

Sussex made to 113p and grossed £775 from Mrs D M Ashbee and 101p £688 D W Page & Son; South Devon 111p £880, £856(2) Gardners; Charolais 110p, 105p, £865, £830 J Boomaars; Aberdeen Angus 105p, 102p £941, £846 J Boomaars; Lincoln Red 98p A W Vincent and British White 89p £659 Oaklands College.

Holstein Friesians 108p, 104p £882 W S Furnival Ltd, 96p, 90p  £812, £801 Appleton (Ledger) Farms and Guernsey 90p £640 High Weald Academy.

A Limousin bull 110p £975 and Hereford 95p £888.

Please do not hesitate to call me for marketing advice.

Report on trade: A good show of store cattle late in the season saw the ring well attended and trade was brisk throughout particularly for the younger cattle making in the £450 to £650 bracket.

Best strong cattle made in excess of £900 with smart 20 mths purebred Sussex steers topping the market at £1040 from C Somerset, 18 mths Aberdeen Angus cross steers £1025 from M Twinley and 18 mths Limousin cross steers topping the continental cross section at £990 from R & H Vincent.

Please enter cattle early for forthcoming sales to ensure proper cataloguing and marketing.

On day of sale please ensure cattle arrive at the market early to ensure proper sorting and accurate administration of paperwork.

Report on trade: A smaller entry than the previous fortnight, nevertheless a good selection of calves on offer with types to suit all buyers. Top price on the day was £320 for a strong British Blue bull with several others making £300 and over.

Continental sired bulls peaked at £320 for a cracking British Blue from WF Farms. Other notable prices included £310 for a strong Simmental from F W Hamlyn & Son and £300 for a British Blue from P J Forknall. Continental sired heifers made mainly £150 to £200 selling away to a high of £250 for a British Blue from P J Forknall who also held second highest price in the section of £220, again for a British Blue.

Native breeds were well sold with strong bulls a particularly good trade. Top priced native bull of £265 went to J E Scutt & Sons who also sold native bull calves to £210 (x2) and £200, all Aberdeen Angus cross. P J Forknall sold Aberdeen Angus bulls to £230 and £220 respectively and W S Furnival Ltd led the Hereford charge with a bull to £210. Native heifers were a mixed trade topping at £170 for an Aberdeen Angus from J E Scutt & Sons with the best types easier to place with smaller less well fleshed calves harder work.

31 Black and white bull calves were forward with most selling in the £30 – £40 price range. There were a few bigger and older calves and only a handful of the smallest types. Top price of £78 went to A & W J Hitchcock.

The next fortnightly sale of calves will be the last calf sale before Christmas and will be held on 18^th December at 11.30am.

Report on trade: An entry of generally second quality sorts saw just 2 pens of good  finished pigs offered. These were a cracking trade with 3 from R Vidler making 134p per kg and £109 and 2 from T Russell 120p and £99. The remainder made 5p to 90p for 3 Middle whites from Brockhill Park School YFC

Cull sows made to 51p and £118

Store Pigs – one pen of 5 good shaped weaners made £30.

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

Livestock market days over the Christmas and New Year period

We do expect up to 50 head of store and breeding cattle on Tuesday 18^th December including a consignment of in calf cows

We confirm there will no market in Ashford on Tuesdays 25^th December and 1^st January.

A market for finished and cull sheep will be offered on Friday 28^th December with the sale starting at 10.00am. Please keep in touch with John Rossiter 07557 392903 if you are considering selling on this day

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

RABI

Don’t miss the Carol and Nativity service here in the market on Tuesday 11^th December at 6pm. For details contact Richard Beaugie 01233 732580

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.

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

Hobbs Parker Auctioneers – the team and their responsibilities.

For all office enquiries on livestock and auction sales please ring 01233 502222.

Elwyn Davies (07710 803901) – Managing director, cattle & sheep auctioneer and machinery sales.

Peter Kingwill (07795 200357) – Director, cattle auctioneer and machinery sales.

Lynsey Kendall – Director and accounts.

Mark Cleverdon (07741 845230) – Calf, pig, ram and breeding cattle auctioneer and auction sales entries and administration.

John Rossiter (07557 392903) – Sheep, machinery and commercial vehicle auctioneer

Simon Husk (07885 968077) – Livestock marketing and field services

Martin Crowhurst (07710 803903) – Livestock marketing and field services

Thomas Hamplett – Trainee Auctioneer

Hayley Andrews and Sue Marshall – Auction sales administration