New Season Lambs

Top price per head – £94.50 – Friday Street Farmers; Top price per kilo – 244p – S W Mount & Sons

Finished Hoggets

Top price per head – £99 – J Lloyd & Sons – £99; Top price per kilo – 222p  –  P A  Reeve

Report on trade: The largest entry of lambs on offer this year with just under 500 in the pens and we saw a strong trade for all on offer. Several pens of lambs made in excess of £90. There were plenty of continental crosses on offer this week which has helped to boost the average prices per kilo to a very pleasing 221p which was an increase of 16p on last weeks figures despite an increase in numbers in Ashford and nationally. Friday Street Farmers once again were in top spot with some super continental lambs selling to £94.50 (40kg).

A larger entry of hoggets this week saw just under 3000 penned which can be attributed to the lift in the trade we have seen in the last week or so. In particular the SQQ weight band of sheep were most improved and in the greatest demand as they have fallen into short supply across the country. Farm assured sheep are required for the supermarket customers and show a 16p premium over the non assured offerings in this weight bracket. Top price in the handy weights was £91 for some 45kg hoggets from C A Worley Farming Ltd  which were closely followed by D J & J L Isaac with £88 for some 44kg hoggets.

Heavier sheep were also sold to a better trade with some extremely heavy sheep on offer selling to better prices per head than we have seen in recent weeks. Top price of £99 was for some 60Kg hoggets from J Lloyd & Sons which was closely followed by Mason Estate Farm Partnership at £98.

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 large entry of ewes on offer this week with over  as a result of the improvement we have seen in the trade over the past week or two. Several ewes sold in excess of £80 to a top price of £88.50 from Howard Farming Ltd which was closely followed by G Lawrence & Sons at £88. The ewe trade nationally has begun to show signs of an improvement with number nationally slightly down over the last couple of weeks.

Top prices were Suffolk crosses to £88.50 from Howard Farming Ltd, Crossbred ewes to £84.50 from R F & E A Simmonds, Mules to £75.50 from D Howard Farms Ltd and Romneys to £71 from Langrish Farmers.

Report on trade: A bigger entry of Ewes and Lambs on offer today with a small flock reduction sale for Mr K Lukehurst selling to a large crowd of buyers. These sheep traded between £50-60 per life for Suffolk and Romney Ewes with Beltex cross lambs at foot. Some Lleyn Ewes with single lambs at foot from Palmer Farms sold to £57/life. Averages 130 ewes sold Top £145 and aver’ £123.94 (£50.90 per life)

Numbers forward reduce each week in the store  hogget pens. The best just made £60 with a pair of Texel crosses topping at £62.50 from R J Adams. Averages 167 sold – Top £60 aver’ £44.88

Report on trade: Possibly the last sale of the season. Please ring to check possible entries for next week. Strong lambs made £25 to £32 . The rest made £5 to £23. Averages 22  lambs sold to £32 and aver’ £16.95

Report on trade: Another decent entry of finished cattle for the time of year. With a little more finish and weight amongst the cattle there was certainly  more bite to the trade. More butcher buyers were in attendance adding to the competition. Best handy weight cattle were in short supply as is the case very often at this time of year. More cattle are wanted on a weekly basis to supply demand.

Smartest heifers readily made over 120p per kg with a quality pair of Blondes from G L Boulden & Sons at 234p and 220p and Limousin from F S Husk at 229p. Limousin steers from W Alexander (Shoreham) made to 196p but generally more commercial grades were on offer and made 170 to190p.

Sussex cross heifers made 170 to 180p and Aberdeen Angus exempt steers close to 180p and grossing  £1187.

A big show of over thirty month cattle sold well with Sussex heifers to 188p and £1004 from J C & C Lewis and Aberdeen Angus steers to £184p and heifers 173p from B W C Brooks.

Some good and some bad amongst the bulls! Young Sussex made to 177p and £1124 from Chandler & Dunn and the best of the old and ugly to 130p.

Cull Cows – 94 Sold

Auctioneer: Peter Kingwill 07795 200357

Report on trade: Another excellent seasonal entry of cull cows met again a powerful trade particularly for the fleshed cows from both the dairy and beef sectors. Prices for lean beef cows were driven on to new heights by the grazing and feeding men but perhaps the leanest dairy culls not quite as sharp now they come from grass.

Best of the young beef cows were making 150-200p per kg, plenty of meat cows 130-150p and gross returns regularly £1000 – £1200, topping at a superb £1411.

Charolais slips to 207p and £1053 from J Boomaars and his cows 166p £1225, Charolais again 143p £1411 Campbell Bros; Blonde 147p £1223 G L Boulden & Sons; Simmental 145p 143p £1134 Campbell Bros, 140p, 137p C R Cook, 129p £1028 (Non FA) P M Thomas; Sussex 139p,136p £914 J C & C Lewis; Aberdeen Angus 138p £956  J Boomaars, 137p £1038 Betchworth Estate, 126p £1280 R J & C M Greengrow;  British Blue 136p Betchworth Estate, 132p (Non FA) J A Cox and 131p (Non FA) D Beaney.

Less flesh was on offer amongst the dairy culls but the noticeable exceptions found a marvellous trade. Values for strong plain steakers were fully maintained but the leaner lighter weight boners were a little steadier as meat yield diminishes.

British Friesian slips to 155p from T Castle & Son; cows 134p, 130p, 128p(2) £920 Debden Court with Holsteins 128p £1090 Hall Place Farms, 125p £998 N J & G M Lambert, 122p J E Scutt. Ayrshires 112p £773 D R & J Heasman and Jersey 104p Hickson Bros with imported cows 90p.

An outstanding British Blue bull, regrettably non working, made 171p and £1645.

Report on trade: Another very good entry of stores for mid May and whilst we would not expect to be seeing the runs of quality that were present earlier in the spring nevertheless plenty were on offer to attract a good company of buyers. There is a little concern, generally, as to the tightening grass position but cattle are short, confidence is high and trade was well maintained with the smart heifers particularly in demand on the day.

Hard beef yearlings with a bit of coat and substance always find strong demand and producers with cattle to sell ought to be thinking of doing so sooner rather than later. June is late as attention turns to silage and hay making. Get the main cattle sold in May!

Principal prices not already mentioned above included:        

Continental crosses                                                                                                                         

Breeding Cattle – 2 Females Sold

Auctioneer: Mark Cleverdon 07748 202688

Report on trade: Cows and calves £830 and a Limousin cross in calf cow £770

Females will be in much larger numbers next  week.

Report on trade: A good sized entry with a wide mix of age and quality but with a definite shortage of the really best sorts sums up todays sale. Confidence in the beef sector still remains good as you can read above in the store cattle report . Reares were present this week for all breeds and grades of calves offered

Highlights this week included:

Beef bred Simmental cross heifer £265 from D Beaney.

Aberdeen Angus cross bulls to £420 twice at 13/14 weeks from Boty Farms; bulls to £230 at 8 weeks from G R Edgar & Son

Sussex cross bulls to £160 and heifers £130 at 4 to 6 weeks from J Warnock & Son; 8 at 11 to 15 weeks to £198 and averaging £134.60 from F W Hamlyn & Son

British Blue Bulls to £300 and heifers £200 at 6 to 11 weeks from G R Edgar & Son; British Blue to £330 at 15 weeks from F W Hamlyn & Son

Blonde heifers £165 at 7 weeks from W S Furnival Ltd

Simmental cross bull £315 at 12 weeks from F W Hamlyn & Son

12 Holstein bulls  £50 to £78, all late March and early April born and averaging £62.90 from G R Edgar & Son

6 Holstein bulls  £52 to £94, all February to April born and averaging £76.30 from J E Scutt & Sons

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: With pigs just in short supply to match rising summer demand the live trade is very competitive. Combine this fact with a short entry and again today our trade was very acceptable to sellers. No store pigs came forward this week but there are plenty of enquiries.

The best 15 finished pigs with weight grossed over £100 this week for East Sutton Park and C B Hope. S J M Evans 16 Peitrain crosses made 118p per kg to 126p producing a gross average of £96.62.

In the cull pens trade good demand was maintained with the best boars making 48p and sows 45p.

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.

Spring sale of livestock farming equipment

Friday 19^th May at approx 12 noon

130 Lots of principally sheep farming equipment including 2 genuine dispersals.

Equipment on offer includes 2 Quad bikes, a Ritchie combi clamp, Trailed Ridley Rappa unit, Poldenvale cattle gates and a IAE cattle crush, troughs, feeders, gates, shearing equipment and many other sundries

Visit our website for a full listing of items for sale and a selection of photographs

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Ashford Cattle show summer competitions

Flocks Entries are now welcome for this event. Forms will be sent to regular exhibitors but new faces are always welcome. For all information please ring Edward Langrish on 07973 977074. Judge will be confirmed and entries close on 28^th May with judging to take palce in the 2^nd week of June.

Beef herds and Crops Details will be published shortly. Charles Bull 07825665498 and Tim Porter 07919 196068 have all information on these 2 competitions

Sheepdogs for sale

2  Border terrier puppies. Eight weeks old. One bitch and one dog. Fully vaccinated, wormed and microchiped. East Kent . Contact 07885 968077 for more information

5 Collie puppies (3 dogs) – farm bred, well socialised and nicely marked. 07814 972010. Essex.

15mth old registered well bred collie bitch. Just broken sides and a stop and easy to handle video available. Also 3 5mth old registered collie dog pups whose breeding includes Ross Games Roy and Kevin Evans Sawmill Jess . Microchipped, vaccinated and very keen. Please ring 01403 864361 or 07718902953. West Sussex

Breeding Cattle for sale ex farm

6 Pedigree Sussex bulls – 3 in West Sussex and 3 in Kent. All well bred and from high health herds here in the South East. TB Low. Mark Cleverdon can provide further details – 07748 202688

2 Pedigree Limousin bulls, 18 mths from a Welsh farm

Grazing available

50 acres for sheep this summer in the Brede area. Fenced and watered. Ring 01424 882442

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For up to date information on all livestock sales please contact

Elwyn Davies (Sheep) 07710 803901 or 01233 861263

Peter Kingwill (Cattle & Sheep) 07795 200357

Martin Crowhurst (Sheep & Cattle) 07710 803903 or 01797 343936

Simon Husk (Sheep & Cattle) 07885 968077 or 01304 842393

Mark Cleverdon (Rams, Breeding Cattle, Pigs & Calves) 07748 202688

John Rossiter (Cull ewes & store sheep plus commercial vehicles) 07557 392903

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South East Farmer and Farm Machinery magazines

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

In addition our Property Consultants Outlook for Summer 2017, is included with this months publication and again are available hare in the market. Articles from our Property Consultants team and James Hickman’s commentary on the agricultural land market  make interesting reading for all landowners and occupiers.

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.

RABI, FCN and Kent Herdsmans Club News

RABI Fund raising events over the next few months include:

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 8th May at 7.30pm – visit to Jane Wanstall’s Christmas Tree business at Christmas Tree Farm, Matfield. TN12 7JJ.

For all details on Herdsman’s Club events contact Chairman Alan Jull 07708283220 or Jo Masters 01580 240568

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

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

Thursday 18^th May – Fontwell Park; United Hunts – 3pm.

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

NSA Eastern Region Youthful Shepherds Day

Saturday 10^th June 2017 at the Rutland Stud, Saxon Street, Newmarket, Suffolk, CB8 9RS. Open to all NSA members and friends from 11am with catering available through the day.

A range of practical demonstrations will be going on for visitors to view, with the opportunity to quiz the mentor at each. 

Incorporated into the day will be the option to compete in the Next Generation Shepherd competition, open to young shepherds aged 26 and under.

Visitors will also get the chance to take in the surroundings at Godolphin Stud with a farm walk, looking at the how the commercial flock operates within the working stud.  Interested? Contact NSA Eastern Region Manager Jonathan Barber for entry forms and more information on 01973 607860 or office@ceressoultions.co.uk