Weekly Sales News – 4th October 2016

Top price per kilo – 210p – G H Dean & Co: Top price per head – £97 – Mr C Bryer

Report on trade: A small entry this week with only just over 1000 penned and a very mixed entry in terms of quality with the best meated and heavy weight lambs selling to a very substantial premium this week as they were in short supply. Several lambs sold in excess of £90 with the top spot taken by Mr C Bryer. Other heavy lambs of note from A J Skinner & Son topped at £96 and G H Dean & Co to £93.50 for 51kg and 50kg respectively.

The small selection of lighter weight but well finished lambs also look well sold on the day with export type lambs selling to 210p per kg from GH Dean & Co (39kg) and 204p from R J & E F B Russell & Son (38kg). Over all the average was returned at 176p against a nationally report figure of 166p.

Report on trade: A large entry of ewes forward with almost 1000 in the pens this week and several of these would fall into the lean category but these types are wanted with several men present to buy these types to farm on for the quieter period after Christmas. A large run of over 300 meated mules from J E Wickens were well sold to a top price of £66 and only the leaner sorts sold under £60. Best meated ewes sold to £76.50 from John Wickham Ltd. Several ewes are being sold all around the country in the past few weeks and this has certainly had an impact on trade but we can expect prices to creep back up when numbers begin to decline.

Top prices included crossbred ewes to £76.50 form John Wickham Ltd, Suffolk crosses to £74 from J Walker, Mules to £66 from J Wickens and Romneys to £58.50 from L M Taylor.

Report on trade: This week saw a competitive trade without the exceptional prices achieved recently. Smart butcher type sorts made up to £1239 (230p per kg) for a quality Limousin cross heifer from M B Farms and the regular consignment of Limousin cross heifers from W S Furnival (Brookland) made around 215p and grossed up to £1297. Top steers made 210p for Limousin and British Blue crosses from W Alexander (Shoreham) and S Marsh.

Several native bred cattle were on offer with Aberdeen Angus crosses taking the pick of the trade topping at £1445 (177p) from A J Thompson and Sons, and £1120 (192p) from F J Horsnell. Others included Hereford cross steers at £1093 (170p) from R W Jones & Son, and a Sussex steer at £1047 (178p) from Langrish Farmers.

Over thirty months cattle made up to £990 for a rangey Friesian steer from R W Jones & Son.

Report on trade: The cow trade is still very strong for the time of year but this week we saw just the first signs of seasonal easing as the big firms ease dead weight prices back as more dairy culls come forward in their Westcountry heartlands. We are still relatively low beef cull numbers with calves remaining on cows during this spell of good weather and little scanning having taken place to date. Meat is what is wanted along with the good feeders whilst the lean killing types are the first to be dragged back because they carry the highest proportion of processing cost.

Best beef cows made 120-140p but do require Farm assurance or the time in which to obtain it.  Younger Charolais made 138p and 135p from A D Bentley; older Charolais 133p and 124p M J Booth; Beef Shorthorn 129p brede barn Farm; Simmental 128p R Coleman & Sons, 127p J Hooker, 127p Brede barn Farm; Aberdeen Angus 120p and 115p H & J Noakes, 116p (Non FA) Kingsbrook Farming and Sussex (Non FA) 111p Pritchard-Gordon Farming.

A similar story within the dairy culls saw the very best still up around 120p but the middle grade boning cows taking a bigger hit. Holstein Friesian 120p A L Betts Ltd; British Friesians 119p and £931 PC Coleman ; Holstein 117p £932 Smith Farms (Clacton) and Holstein steers made to 130p from E T Ledger & Son.

Stock bulls require flesh but better types a little firmer with British White grossing £937 and Sussex £887.

Report on trade: A good entry of store cattle comprised a range of breeds, age and quality. We saw a similar strong trade to recent weeks with several away buyers keen for the best cattle to yard and they competed well with the regular customers while there was a good attendance of local buyers for the younger cattle offered. Top run of the day comprised of a superb run of 27, 20 mths steers from Gallagher Farms with Limousin crosses topping at £1165 and Aberdeen Angus crosses up to £1030.

If you have store cattle to sell please get them entered over the coming weeks. Buyers are keen to purchase and prices are competitive throughout.

Report on trade: Two herd reductions / dispersals were at the heart of today’s sale with D Jenkins from West Sussex offering 15 females making to £1,000 for a senior Limousin cross cow with her Aberdeen Angus bull calf and in calf cows to £790. 13 individual buyers secured stock in this section of today’s sale.

General news

Updated 4^th Ocotber 2016

Wanted – teaser ram for a Romney marsh farm. Ring 01303 873160 .

Wanted – grazing / mowing grass within 10 miles radius of Charing. Ring 07714292024 or 07730496037.

For Sale – up to 70 acres of standing maize (estimated 20 tonne per acre crop) which was direct drilled and with good access in West Kent. Contact Elwyn Davies on 07710 803901 for details

Wanted – winter stock housing. Have you the buildings, the food and the time to have up to 200 beef cattle this winter in ideally a TB4 area? Enquiries will be treated in confidence. Please contact Peter Kingwill.

Grass keep available – 12 month grazings near Andover for smart shorn Romney ewe lambs third week Sept start. Will accept multiples of 200 but would prefer 600 as a lot. Contact Ted Sclater 07785793450 or 01264736420 to discuss.

Kent Herdsmans Club – For all details on Herdsman’s Club events contact Chairman Sandra Brown on 01233 502796 or Jo Masters 01580 240568. Meetings at the Conningbrook Hotel, Ashford.

Monday 20^th October 7.30pm – Dianne Quested from Mid Kent Training to give a talk about the training programmes and courses available.

Monday 14th November at 7.30pm – a talk by John Arthur Boyd about his travels around the UK and his book.

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

Our next Auction Sales are…….

Horse & Saddlery auction

Thursday 27^th October at 10am. Further entries immediately please.

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 auction

Friday 11^th November at 9.30am. Entries close on Friday 21^st October

New & newly near mowers & garden machinery

New tools, farm & agricultural equipment, timber plus large

Special Vehicle auction

Monday 9^th November from 10am

This auction of cars will include a special sales of 4 X 4, Diesel, sports and MPV vehicles.

Rural Property auction

Wednesday 23^rd November

Contact James Hickman on 01233 506223 for all details

Ashford Cattle Show and Sale of Christmas stock

Monday and Tuesday 28^th and 29^th November

Annual show of livestock, crops, carcases and much much more. All details from Julie Coney 07887 643002 or email ashfordcattleshow@gmail.co.uk

Full competition schedules are now available.