Weekly Sales News – 17th January 2017

Top price per kg – 265p – Mr K Lukehurst; Top price per head – £90 –  Mr K Lukehurst

Report on trade: A few less in the pens this week compared to last week and these met a very similar trade with some very smart lightweight Beltex lambs selling to a great premium particularly from Mr K Lukehurst. Once again we saw the heavier sorts selling on a testing trade due to increased numbers being offered nationally over the last week. It certainly appears that all wholesale customers are seeking medium and standard weight lambs (35kg-45kg) as these sheep are being sold to a distinct premium with the farm assured offering in this weight bracket the most sought after. The best of the heavy weight sheep sold to £80 from R L Goodman & Son & R J Parsons.

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 again in the pens with several runs that were scanned empties on offer again this week. Reports suggest that scanning has not been as good as recent years and this will have an influence on the numbers of ewes currently being offered for sale. The best meated ewes were well sold on the day with the leaner sorts finding a more limited number of buyers to farm on further.

The best end of the ewes sold in excess of £85 with leaner sorts trading between £25 – £40.

Top prices on the day included Suffolk ewes to £79.50 from S W Mount & Sons, Texel crosses to £71.00 from R Hambrook, Mules to £55 from R Haydon & Ptnrs and Romneys to £60 from Mrs V McDonald.

Auctioneer: Elwyn Davies 07710 803901  

Report on trade: A large entry of store hoggets sold exceptionally well despite the relatively poor returns in the finished section. An abundance of keep, particularly good root crops is boosting prices confidence around the store section and many more could be sold at favourable prices. At this trade feeding concentrates to finish stock is not cost effective and producers would be well advised to sell stores.

Best stores sold readily at around £65 and only very small long term sorts were making below £50. Averages: Top £68.20 aver £56.19

Top prices include:                                                                                                                           

Report on trade: An increased entry of finished cattle met another strong trade with our regular customers, both butchers and wholesalers, ensuring competitive returns throughout.

The best butcher type cattle sold readily at around 210p per kg with the pick including a Limousin cross heifer at £1085 (215p) and a Blonde cross steer at £1273 (211p) from W Alexander (Shoreham), a Limousin cross heifer at £1211 (208p) from Burden Bros and a British Blue x Friesian steer at £1224 (207p) from K E Budd. Heavier cattle grossed well with Limousin cross steers at £1402 (185p) and £1389 (211p) from R F & E A Simmons and a British Blue x Friesian steer at £1303 (188p) from K E Budd. A few native bred cattle were on offer with an Aberdeen Angus cross steer topping at £1292 (180p) from M A & F W Owen and a South Devon cross heifer making £1168 (195p) from Burden Bros.

A very satisfactory trade – please keep regular numbers coming forward for the regular buyers supporting Ashford Market.

Report on trade: Another tremendous day in the cow section with well over 100 culls penned for sale. Trade was again very strong helped by some good fed cows from the beef sector. Perhaps a little less flesh amongst the dairy culls this week and this was reflected in their top end prices. Feeding men were again very positive with youngsters very keenly sort after. Prospects remain very positive throughout.

A few smart youngsters made 150 -170p per kg; good meat cows 125p-135p and little under 100p except for the very oldest. British Blue crosses 170p and 164p N A Husk, 133p, 129p  and £1009 Burden Bros and 131p J Saunders ( Non FA);  Charolais 136p, 129p, 127p and £1025 Burden Bros, 127p £1050 S J & J L Vine and 125p L A Charman & Ptrs; South Devons 133p Burden Bros and 132p, 129p and £1150 Gardners; Limousin 133p,129p £1041 Burden Bros, 130p, 129p A J Bray and 129p, 128p ( Non FA) J Saunders; Simmental 129p Gardners, 124p L A Charman and 124p £1050 B D Brown; Hereford 125p £971 S J & J L Vine; Sussex 123p £925 J & S Harmer and 120p, 119p £871 S J&J L Vine with a Galloway 96p.

Less best fed cows were forward among the dairy culls but nevertheless we saw another very firm and positive trade. Big weight on show throughout so be careful with presentation on all grades. Holstein Friesian 118p £1011 D Murdoch & Sons, 116p £1003 P J Forknall, 115p R C & J L Pickering, 114p A E Daw & Sons; 114p R & J Ledger and 112p R Torrance & Son; Brown Swiss 118p D Murdoch & Sons and Jersey 95p, 91p, 87p, 86p, 85p £497 Hickson Bros.

Bulls with flesh and shape were a better trade with Limousins 126p, 122p and grossing to £1067.

Report on trade: Small numbers coming through early in the New Year but a very good positive enquiry from a decent crowd around the sales ring.

Prices included Aberdeen Angus steer 15mths £790; Charolais steer 28mths £805; Aberdeen Angus steers 12mths £680, £670 and heifers £430; Blonde steers 10mths £665 and heifers £580; Holstein steers 30mths £735; Simmental heifer 24mths £820; British Blue steer 24mths £810; Norwegian Red steer 17mths £890; South Devon steer 19mths £830 and Blonde steer 20mths £825.

A good trade – see earlier in this report for details of 400 plus cattle to be offered next week.

Report on trade: Even though a few faces were missing around the ring from the large number of buyers seen for recent sales the trade for beef crosses, even though this was not the best presented or quality entry we have seen, was competitive. Dairy bulls sold for less money than recent sales but there were still about half a dozen men were around the ring to bid for these.

Highlights this week included:

British Blue Bulls to £400 at 5 weeks from D Murdoch, £340 at 8 weeks from Falconhurst Estate, £320 at 6 weeks from R Torrance & Son and £305 at 9 weeks (4 averaged £285) from Ledger Farms. May and June born stirkes made £380 for a steer and £430 a heifer from Squerrys Estate Dairy Ptnrs

British Blue Heifers to £285 at 9-10 weeks (4 averaged £267) from Ledger Farms.

Simmental bull £330 at 12 weeks from H O Champneys Ltd

Aberdeen Angus Bulls to £270 at 8 weeks from A & W J Hitchcock and their heifers £205 and £200 at 9 to 11 weeks.

Hereford Bulls to £290 and heifers £220 at 6 to 8 weeks from Falconhurst Estate.

Holstien bulls to £145 for August borns from Squerryes Estate; at 15 weeks and 12 at 7-10 weeks to £96 and averaging £75.60 from M W Goddard

Friesian Bulls to £95 at 12 weeks from R & J Ledger

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: A fair trade again for finished pigs for what would not have been the best quality entry ever seen in Ashford on a Tuesday. The few good pigs made 90 to 118p per kg with P W & P Sim’s good shaped 85kg models making 118p and grossing £100. Heavy (98kg plus) shapey pigs from J Watt made to 103p and grossed to £102. Other fleshed pigs  made 60 to 90p with only 3^rd quality and not best bred sorts 10 to 60p.

20 Cull sows and boars were offered selling to a similar trade to our last with the best  price a 390kg white saw at 51.5p and grossing £200 from J & S Harmer.

Demand for store pigs was again strong and the returns reflected confidence going forward in feeding pigs. Many more can be sold. S Scott & Sons well bred middle weight feeders made £60.50.

Anthrax declarations

Producers should be aware that these are not required at present.

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.

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

Our next Auction Sales are ……

Commercial Vehicle sale

Thursday 26^th January at 3.00pm

A wide selection of up to 40 vehicles are generally offered in these sales

Horse & Saddlery Sale

Thursday 16^th February at 10am.
Catalogues will be available about a week before the sale.

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

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

Updated 11^th Jan 2017      

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

Sunday 19^th February – South East Hunts Club; Charing, Kent. TN27 0JS – 12noon

Sunday 5^th March – Mid Surrey Farmers Drag; Godstone, Surrey. RH9 8DB, Surrey – 1pm

Saturday 18^th March – Crawley & Horsham; Parham, Storrington, West Sussex. RH20 2ER – 1.45pm

Notices – Trevor Passmore

The family have advised that sadly Trevor passed away recently. He was a highly respected farmer in West Sussex and had many friends within the rural community in that area. Country sports and the NFU were also played a big part in Trevor’s life.

There will be a funeral service at Findon Crematorium at 10.20am on Tuesday 24^th January. Those who do not attend this service are still very welcome to join the family back on the farm at Coombes from 11.30am.

Notices – Alec Bray

The family have advised that sadly Alec passed away on Christmas Eve. He was a highly respected farmer in the Faversham area and had many friends among market users here in Ashford.

There will be a funeral service at the church of St Peter and St Paul, Ospringe at 11.30pm on Friday January 20th.

General news

Updated 17^th January 2017

Wanted – General farm worker required for mixed farm on Romney Marsh during spring period with possibility of full time employment. Experience with cattle, sheep and modern farm machinery including gps will be an advantage. Call 07785 542805 for more information

For Sale – Beautiful male working collie puppy from working parents who can be seen. Very well socialised , well grown and healthy and looking for good active country home (ideally working but not essential ). On a north Kent farm ring 07875356294.

Wanted – trained mid aged working sheepdog, preferably a bitch. Ring 01424 870892

Hay, Straw and fodder

Updated 17^th January 2017

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 hayledge and 50 7’ long 6 string bales of meadow hay. Kent / Sussex borders. Ring 07773 384716 or 07973 634519.

For Sale – up to 1,000 tonnes of 2016 season clamped maize silage and large quantities of hay. Ring 07860 623196.

Market manager’s news

Updated 10th January 2017

Ray Scott (weekend boot fair and stall market manager) and his team of helpers would like to thank everyone who supported their charity raffle in the weeks leading up to Christmas. £1,300 was raised for Demelza House.

RABI, FCN and Kent Herdsmans Club news

Updated 10th January 2017

Forthcoming dates including many fund raising events include:

Plough Sunday service at Rochester Cathedral – Sunday 15^th January, 3.15pm

Farmhouse breakfasts including

Wednesday 18^th January. Medway Yacht Club, Lower Upnor, Rochester. ME2 4XB at 8.30am. Ring Karen Smeed, NFU Meopham 01474 444243. £12.50

Wednesday 25^th January. Greenfield Shooting School, Sturry, Canterbury, Kent. CT2 0NG at 8.30am. Ring Andrew Brealy 01227 741023 or Canterbury NFU Office. £12.50

Friday 3^rd February. Hempstead House Hotel, London Road, Bapchild, Sittingbourne. ME9 9PP at 8.30am. Ring Anthony Hyde 01795 830355or Rollo Parsons (NFU) on 01795 472774

Wednesday 8^th February. The Dirty Habit, Upper Street, Hollingbourne, Maidstone, Kent. ME17 1UW at 8.30am. Ring David Chantler 01622 850207. £12.50

Thursday 9^th February. Elham Valley Vineyard. CT4 6LA at 8.30am. Ring Robert Pickard 01227 832045. £12.50

Wednesday 15^th February. Here in Ashford Market at 8.30am. Ring Chris Older 01233 720395 or Richard Beaugie 01233 732580 for full details. £12.50

Thursday 16^th February. Dog & Duck, Plucks Gutter, Canterbury. CT3 1JB at 8.30am. Ring Robert Pickard 01227 832045. £12.50

Wednesday 22^nd February. Poacher & Partridge, Tudeley. TN11 0PH at 8.30am. Ring Sheila Adams 01622 831429 or Charlie Chantler 07801138243. £12.50

Friday 24^th February. The Alma, Painters Forstal, Faversham. ME13 0DU at 8.30am. Ring Tish Neaves 01795 890515 or Charles Tassell 01622 858733. £12.50

Events later in the year include

Plumpton Race Day – Monday 27^th February. Charity race day in exclusive R.A.B.I marquee. 12.30 for 1pm. Lunch, afternoon tea, parking, full race card, bar and tote facilities. Ring David Chantler 01622 850207 or Sally Field 01903 882741. £65

Clay Pigeon Shoot – Friday 31^st March. West Kent Shooting School, Brenchley. TN12 7DG. 70 bird R.A.B.I Charity shoot. Ring Sally Field 01903 882741 or Charles Tassell 01622 858733. £75

Kent Herdsmans Club

Monday 13th February 2017 at 7.30pm. AGM followed by Mark Cleverdon speaking about his experiences as an Auctioneer – at the Conningbrook Hotel, Canterbury Road, Ashford. TN24 8QR.

For all details on Herdsman’s Club events contact Chairman Sandra Brown on 01233 502796 or Jo Masters 01580 240568