Weekly Sales News – 8th December 2020

Top price per head & Top price per kilo – £109 & 260p – Miss Amy Hedges and D Whyman

Report on trade: Once again a super entry of lambs on offer this week with some lovely runs of well finished and well-bred sheep in the pens. The SQQ average shows a very similar trade but the heavier offerings that don’t fall into this bracket would have been were    dearer on the week.

Top spot on the day were some super Rouge cross lambs form Miss Amy Hedges and D Whyman and there were several other top vendors with runs of lambs of note such as J Wayman with 270 lambs to average just under £100, M A Piper & Sons with super lambs to £105 and S King with lambs over £100 on a few occasions.

More fleshed lambs required to satisfy requirements of current buyers. Important to contact us regarding numbers so that we can notify the buyers.

Report on trade: A bigger show of ewes this week with a few scanned empties coming out onto the market as there were considerably more ewes in better condition this week as can be seen by the average which was up £4 per head to £76 all through. Best ewes really rang the bell with top end sheep to £135 from S & V Bullock and cull rams from N A Balcomb & Son. Other ewes of note were some super Texel’s form H V Link Ptnrs at £120.

Grazing types were in shorter supply this week which has bucked the trend of recent months but were still in demand. The best offerings sold in excess of £70 and very few under £50.

Report on trade: A good entry of store lambs bringing the total sold at Ashford market this autumn to over 60,000 head. The sale was well attended with buyers from the west country and eastern counties competing strongly with a keen local interest. The average for store lambs was a very favourable £77.50 throughout.

Best lambs sold readily at £80 plus topping at £85.50 for a pen of Texel crosses from I Strang and Romney wethers looked well sold at £84 from Wright Farm Ptnrs. Other top prices included continental crosses at £85 from P A Tampin, £84 from A S Neaves, G Lawrence & Son, Mrs C Wickens and G Dallaway, £82 from J Hooker, £81.50 from S G Barten, £80.50 from G W Fuller & Son and Romneys £81 from J Hickman. Only very small long keeping lambs made below £70.

Average 1,581 sold to £85.50 and average £77.50

Store lambs will be offered for sale on the coming Tuesdays. As always please advise our auctioneers and fieldsman when you intend to send us your sheep.

Report on trade: Again, we can report another cracking trade for finished cattle with the best of the beef bred handyweights selling readily at 225p per kg plus and topping at £1232 (247p) for a superb Limousin cross heifer from D W Ferguson Ltd. The best of the dairy bred cattle attracted prices around 200p.

Further top prices included a Limousin cross steer £1466 (230p) and  Aberdeen Angus cross heifer £1349 (239p) from W Alexander (Shoreham), Blonde cross heifer £1133 (230p) and £1212 (221p) from G L Boulden & Sons, Limousin cross steer £1174 (220p) and heifer £1245 (227p) from R F & E A Simmons and Limousin cross heifer £1123 (237p) from S Marsh. A run of continental cross Friesian steers from A J Down sold well at 195p plus up to £1259 (214p) for Limousin cross and £1157 (211p) for British Blue cross.

A small entry of bulls sold well with a 20 mths Charolais grossing £1586 (188p) from A Hubbard.

Cattle will be wanted over the next few weeks but, as always, it is essential that sellers keep in touch with our auctioneers and fieldsman. We are constantly monitoring demand from our buyers and endeavouring to match supply to that demand.

Report on trade: Today saw further signs that processors are easing back on the Christmas prime work and reverting to processing beef for the new year market, and their associated “ready meal” suppliers. The cows were a really good trade throughout and certainly with a bit more flesh on offer rates for the slaughter cows were dearer.

Nothing very special about the beef cows this week but good killing cows were pushing close to 140p per kg with the non-assured 10p behind. Feeding cows regularly made 110p to 140p but there were very few younger cows about.

Headlines included Simmental cross 137p, 115p £1051 (non FA) Old England Farm; Limousin 136p, 129p, 119p £983, £861 A J Bray and 136p £982 Burden Bros; South Devon 124p £741(2) A J Bray; Aberdeen Angus 125p, 118p £928 (non FA) Gallagher Farms and 114p £823 A J Bray with Sussex 112p £647 Mrs V MacDonald and 104p £761 Trenchmore.

Prices for dairy culls were certainly much firmer and buyers were looking for numbers which is of course, the positive sign for increasing demand down the line. Trade saw less of a lift for the plainer types but still improved and imported cows met a strong and positive trade for the fleshed types.

In the dairy lines headlines were Holstein Friesian 114p, 109p, 108p, 105p £966(2) £941 Appleton (Ledger) Farms; 112p £763 G J Reynolds; 109p, 103p £835, 105p, 101p, 97p £979 (imported) R G Nash & Son and 104p J W Boyd & Son; British Friesian 112p  £736 B J Goodsell & Son with Jersey 88p, 84p £486 S E Lane & Partners.

Cull bulls a good trade for strong, fleshed types.

Report on trade: A seasonal entry of store cattle this week saw many keen customers for all types of cattle. Top of the trade today was a top-quality June 2019 born TB Edge Simmental heifer from P B & L A Grenham which sold for £1,100. Dropping down the weight bands but no less quality was a Limousin steer from D Wade which sold for £860. A handy pen of Limousin, Stabiliser and Aberdeen Angus heifers from F S Husk looked well enough sold at £785.

Native cattle sold to a top of £785 for a pen of Aberdeen Angus steers from J B Marshall and a pen of April 2020 born Hereford cross steers from Burnt Oak Farm and Kennels realised £595.

A handful of store bulls forward this week with a top price of £570 for a Sussex from J B Marshall.

Report on trade A small entry of breeding cattle this week with three pure Hereford cow and calf outfits from Beechgrove Community selling to a top of £660. In calf Sussex heifers from R Babcock sold to £800 and a 2009 born Sussex cow from the same vendor completed the section and sold for £740.

Report on trade: A fairly mixed entry of calves today in terms of quality which sold to a firm trade. The entry of continental calves lacked the real top end superstars we have become accustom to with only the odd gem to be found for the patient continental man or women!

Top price bull was a Simmental from R & J Ledger which sold for the day’s top price of £270. British Blues sold to £220 from J W Boyd & Son Ltd, continental heifers sold to £205 for a British Blue from North Kent College and a lovely suckler bred Charolais heifer from R V A Stannard looked on the money at £200.

A mixed entry of native calves sold to a top of £210 for an Aberdeen Angus bull from Kingcott Dairy with heifers sold to £135 for a Sussex from North Kent College.

We saw very bullish demand for dairy sired calves this week with the trade lifting once again! A mixed entry looked very well sold with a top price of £175 for Fleckvieh from J Gormley and plainer Holstein Friesian types look best sold on the day with most making £70 to £80. All in a total of 36 dairy sired calves sold to an average of £71.

In the weanling pens 13 were offered made up of a consignment of Holstein heifers and some well-presented Aberdeen Angus crosses. Three Aberdeen Angus cross steers from S E Lane & Ptnrs look well sold with the hammer eventually falling at £340 and heifers from the same vendor made £175. Holstein heifers with future potential topped at £150 from Appleton Farms.

Bovine TB Test Dates

It is very important that the date (first part of test) is recorded on cattle entry forms for all cattle sold from TB1holdings. Any recent whole herd test dates from TB4 holdings must also be recorded. This information is critical to purchasers who may be required to test animals again and who will wish to avoid the risk of a false positive by testing again within the 60-day period.

Please advise of test dates when making cattle entries for cataloguing from TB! Holdings.

South East Farmer and Farm Machinery magazines

The December edition of this popular regional farming magazine is now available here in the market. Hobbs Parker is a regular contributor to the editorial content.

In addition, our Property Consultants Outlook for Winter 2020 is included with this month’s publication and again are available here in the market.

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

For Sale – a pedigree Hereford bull, 6 yrs old, on a Romney Marsh farm. Ring Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

Wanted – up to 50 both spring and autumn calving beef suckler cows for a Kent grazing farm. Details of availability to Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

Wanted – a pedigree Red Aberdeen Angus bull to run with Sussex cows on a Kent farm. Details of availability to Mark Cleverdon 07741 845230

Wanted – J Warnock and Sons have a full-time position for a general agricultural worker, duties to include, milking, yard work, tractor driving, basic animal husbandry, and farm and machinery maintenance. Driving license essential

For more information please contact Robert Warnock at r.warnock@hotmail.co.uk

Wanted – a farmworker on a local beef, sheep and arable farm. Ring 07774408059 for details

Hay, Straw and fodder

For a small charge we are quite happy to advertise your hay, straw and fodder for sale in this register which will now run until early May for further details please ring our auctioneers office on 01233 502222 or Mark Cleverdon 07748 202688

Available now is a quantity of 2018 to 2020 crop hay, straw and silage on behalf of CTS Farms, located near Battle, East Sussex to include approximately 309 round bales of hay, 142 round bales of silage and109 round bales of straw. For further information, please contact Tom Hamplett on 01233 502201 or email; thomas.hamplett@hobbsparker.co.uk

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

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.