Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 3rd September 2026. Forward were 250 cattle and 1343 sheep.
98 Prime Bulls sold to 402ppk or £3504
40 Prime Steers sold to 434ppk or £3188
112 Prime Heifers sold to 496ppk or £3067
1239 Prime Lambs sold to 438ppk or £220
104 Cast Ewes/Rams sold to £261
Prime Bulls (98) – More bulls forward, not anything like the quantity of big weights witnessed last week. Trade easier with more numbers forward nationally, still the best end sneak away alright with three over 400ppk, a dozen in the 390’s and thirteen breaking £3000. Limousin bulls led the way claiming the top ten spots per kilo and the seventeen highest values per head. Top per kilo at 402 pence was a super homebred 752kg bull from the Renton’s of High Highlaws, Morpeth; chasing the leader over the line were two excellent 800kg plus bulls from JA Matten & Sons, Avenue Grange at 401ppk and 400ppk. The pick of the Matten pen ran away with the top gross value, weighing 874kg he added up nicely to £3504; next in line at £3466 was another from the same home followed by an excellent sort from AC Simpson & Sons, McNeil Farm which checked in at £3434. The native breeds were topped by Inverurie based I Skea, Glenbervie who sold Hereford bulls to tops of 328ppk and £2316. Friesian bulls, an absolute cracker from JC & P Tallentire, Carlton Grange defied the tougher trade when he sold for an impressive 352ppk and £2245.
Bulls- Lead Grossing Top Averages:
JA Matten & Sons sold 3 (856kg) Average £3407 or 397ppk
AC Simpson & Son sold 3 (839kg) Average £3226 or 384ppk
WM Fleming sold 8 (775kg) Average £2966 or 382ppk
Renton Highlaws sold 6 (762kg) Average £2906 or 381ppk
Continental Bulls Per Kilo
402 392 391 380 371 Renton Highlaws Ltd. 401 400 393 JA Matten & Sons. 398 380 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 398 JC Thwaite & Son. 393 392 391 390 384 377 371 WM Fleming. 392 389 370 Robert Neill & Partners. 391 382 380 AC Simpson & Son. 391 370 JJ Horn. 382 377 373 GK, KN & GJ Hird. 376 LR Welsh & Co. 370 WA Wardman Ltd.
Friesian Bulls Per Kilo
352 JC & P Tallentire. 312 286 MA & PD Foster. 302 280 Tallentire. 289 288 279 GW Dobson & Son.
Continental Bulls Gross Value
£3504 £3466 £3252 JA Matten & Sons. £3434 £3307 £2937 AC Simpson & Son. £3182 £3100 £3061 £2944 £2943 £2886 £2860 £2754 WM Fleming. £3119 £3023 £3014 £2810 £2801 Renton Highlaws Ltd. £3073 £3037 WJ & AS Bowes & Sons. £2969 JC Thwaite & Son. £2928 £2830 JJ Horn. £2857 £2812 £2755 GK, KN & GJ Hird. £2800 Robert Neill & Partners. £2767 LS Staley. £2764 £2761 LR Welsh & Co. £2754 S Luck & Son.
Friesian Bulls Gross Value
£2245 JC & P Tallentire. £2084 £1990 MA & PD Foster. £1947 £1827 Tallentire. £1887 £1874 £1834 GW Dobson & Son.
Clean Cattle (152) – The tariff on the butcher’s shop cattle continues to rise as fifty passed 420ppk and the top spot seemingly sneaks closer by the week to that elusive 500 pence per kilo. Handy weights are hot property, the shapely sorts 540-580kg are in tremendous demand, heavier beef sellers were also enjoying a good kick of the ball today with twenty-eight selling over £2700 gross value. All in, the heifers average 409ppk and £2523 and a very variable show of steers 366ppk and £2443. Wigton based W Miller, High Aketon Farm was in pole position again on the leader board, a remarkable top price of 496ppk was achieved with a very sweet 549kg Limousin heifer, the Wigton wizardry was backed up further with another heifer at 490ppk, three in the 480’s and another in the 470’s plus the same pen produced the top steer per kilo at 434 pence. The consistent feeding of R Hirst, Neasham Grange followed next with a great run of heifers selling thrice in the 460’s to a top of 466ppk with a marvellous 548kg Limousin. Atop of the gross value list was an excellent 848kg Charolais steer from the Askwiths of Low Mown Meadows, Crook when he sold for £3188; top of the heifer list at an impressive £3067 was a 46-month-old 803kg Limousin, a fine sort fresh off the Aberdeenshire express.
Clean Cattle- Lead Grossing Top Averages:
Askwiths sold 3 (752kg) Average £2877
Messrs WA Fettes sold 11 (675kg) Average £2726
JV&JA Hodgson sold 4 (618kg) Average £2662
WO Grix & Partners sold 8 (617kg) Average £2649
Clean Cattle- PPK Top Averages:
W Miller sold 12 (559kg) Average 464ppk
R Hirst sold 12 (565kg) Average 443ppk
B Walker sold 2 (604kg) Average 431ppk
JV&JA Hodgson sold 4 (618kg) Average 430ppk
Steers- Top Prices PPK 434 W Miller. 428 414 394 WO Grix & Partners. 426 400 396 392 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 416 x2 380 377 Taylor Bros Ltd. 414 Lawson & Son. 400 376 375 Askwiths. 389 384 377 I Marshall & Sons. 382 RO Gilson. 377 CR Horner, 377 373 AG Watson & Sons.
Lead Grossing Steers- £3188 £2831 £2612 Askwiths. £2840 £2705 £2680 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £2758 £2623 £WO Grix & Partners. £2695 £2634 £2549 £2533 I Marshall & Sons. £2688 £2659 £2602 £2569 AG Watson & Sons. £2683 £2454 CR Horner. £2647 £2597 RO Gilson. £2529 Lawson & Son. £2460 W Miller.
Heifers- Top Prices PPK 496 490 488 481 480 476 457 448 446 444 436 W Miller. 466 462 460 452 451 450 438 434 432 431 428 424 R Hirst. 458 444 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 456 F&JS Gargett. 450 449 446 441 WO Grix & Partners. 450 449 428 JV&JA Hodgson. 446 B Walker. 445 A&MJ Henshaw. 440 436 430 x2 Messrs WA Fettes. 440 435 GH Farms Ltd. 429 424 Lawson & Son. 428 GKKN&GJ Hird.
Lead Grossing Heifers- £3067 £2887 £2746 £2743 £2597 £2592 £2590 JP Palmer. £2918 £2677 JV&JA Hodgson. £2911 £2846 £2803 £2799 £2793 £2785 £2700 £2689 £2666 Messrs WA Fettes. £2828 £2806 £2658 £2606 WO Grix & Partners. £2818 £2734 £2635 F&JS Gargett. £2749 £2626 GH Farms Ltd. £2727 £2723 £2714 £2679 £2655 £2641 £2620 £2597 W Miller. £2721 £2714 £2654 A&MJ Henshaw. £2707 B Walker. £2695 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £2677 TW Clark & Son. £2651 R Hirst. £2644 WF Hustwit.
Prime Lambs (1239) – The lively lambs continued last week’s fine trading levels, once again a good show of flesh and as expected the heavy weights continued to find the premium prices. The sale averaged a weighed straight £158.81 and 338 pence per kilo. Top price per kilo was a beautiful 42kg Beltex from DG & PD Ayre, Roger Moor which sold for 438 pence (£184). Also breaking the 400 pence barrier were six smart 46kg lambs from R Errington & Son, Lily Hill which sold for £186. The top price per head was a thumping 64kg Texel from T Lawson & Son, Sands Farm at £220. Charollais lambs from F Shield, Uckerby Grange impressed with 63kg at £204 and 59kg at £202. One more man in the £200 club, showing father how to do it, was William Simpson of Hill Top East with his super pair of 52kg lambs. Eight vendors reaching the £190’s all did so with lambs between 55kg and 60kg. To emphasise the trade for the big lambs further today the statistics show that the 32-39kg lambs averaged £126.71; 40 to 45kg averaged £145.83; 45-52kg averaged £164.17 and the 53kg+ averaged £185.90.
A few of today’s lead grossing lamb averages:
T Lawson & Son sold 16 (56kg) average £187
RG Richardson sold 20 (53kg) average £184
F Shield sold 12 (55kg) average £184
W Simpson sold 13 (49kg) average £181
JC Simpson sold 20 (49kg) average £180
Lambs – Top prices ppk 438 360 DG&PD Ayre. 404 371×2 389 384 364 362 W Simpson. 388 371 361 JA&A Herbert. 378 O Chapman & O Parkin. 375 358 M Radford. 375 369 367 R Atkinson. 372 J Hird. 371 368×2 363 DR Smith. 369 360 JC Simpson. 366 J&S Barnes. 365 357×2 Anna Herbert. 365 RG Richardson. 363 258 J&RA Speed. 361 Ian Kirk. 360 358 PJ&MP Gilhespy. 360 356 AWSM Farms. 358 PR Weaver. 357 GF Whitfield. 357 W.K M.M Lamb.
Lead Grossing Lambs £220 £194 £193 £187 T Lawson & Son. £204 £202 £186 F Shield. £200 £187 £182 W Simpson. £199 £192 £184×2 RG Richardson. £198 J&S Barnes. £196 Namens Leases Farm. £195 PR Weaver. £192 £188×2 £184 £183 £178 DR Smith. £191 TA Robson & Son. £190 Ian Kirk. £187 JK Gill & Son. £186 R Errington & Son. £186 J Hird. £185 JA&A Herbert. £184×2 DG&PD Ayre. £181 £180 JC Simpson. £179 Anna Herbert. £179 Wytherstone Farm. £178×2 G Thompson & Sons.
Cast Ewes & Rams (104) – Absolutely off the clock, ewe trade in another stratosphere as the sale averaged a blistering £189.11. A pair of shapely continental ewes from RG Richardson, East Farm led proceedings at £261, plenty of others followed in the £220’s and £230’s. Suffolk ewes sold to £231 from JR & J Crowe, Bishops Close; Mule ewes topped at £177 for a nice pen of eleven from L & S Barker, Longpasture and horned ewes sold to £110 from RG Rutter, High House.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £261 £227 £185 RG Richardson. £239 £229 £215 JG Hall. £231 £197 £193 JR&J Crowe. £231 £213 £211 £200 JC Simpson. £229 £221 £201 £169 £189 O Chapman & O Parkin. £219 PJ&MP Gilhespy. £199 £177 £155 L&S Barker. £195 £173 JGM Brown & Co. £169 J Milbank & Sons. £163 B&L Robson.
