Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their weekly sale of prime stock on Thursday 1st October 2026. Forward were 239 cattle and 1982 sheep.
101 Prime Bulls sold to 416ppk or £3660
24 Prime Steers sold to 432ppk or £3119
114 Prime Heifers sold to 494ppk or £3256
1845 Prime Lambs sold to 387ppk or £185
137 Cast Ewes/Rams sold to £160
Prime Bulls (101) – A welcome start to October; more forward, quality higher and trade sharper to see them all in average 364ppk and £2586. The top end was terrific; this helped fifteen pass 400ppk and twenty sell over £3000. Top per kilo was a brilliant home bred British Blue bull from the firm of Renton Highlaws Ltd, Morpeth; the superb 780kg bull sold for 416 pence. Two bulls followed at 411ppk, another beauty from High Highlaws and a tremendous bull from Borders based WM Fleming, Moss Tower, Kelso. The remaining bulls in the 400-club included five more from the flying Fleming’s, a couple more from the red-hot Renton’s, five other vendors in the mix were Rochester & Murray, WA Richardson Ltd, M & G Chantrell Ltd, JA Matten & Sons and the Firm of Messrs Trotter. Of the plethora selling over £3000 our top trio made is past £3500; third place went to the Renton team whilst the top two spots headed back to Thirsk with JA Matten & Sons, Avenue Grange producing two thumping bulls at £3622 and £3660. Native bred bulls sold to a top of 360ppk and £2487 for a smart 691kg Aberdeen Angus from R Hall & Son, Kilton Hall and the finest of the Friesian’s hailed from GW Dobson & Son, Wood Close at £2068 or 315ppk from MA & PD Foster, Smithy House Farm.
Some stand out averages below
WM Fleming sold 6 (751kg) averaged 405ppk
Renton Highlaws sold 8 (769kg) averaged 401ppk
JA Matten & Sons sold 3 (895kg) averaged 392ppk
JA Matten & Sons sold 3 (895kg) averaged £3512
Renton Highlaws sold 8 (769kg) averaged £3089
WM Fleming sold 6 (751kg) averaged £3049
SH Watson & Son sold 2 (813kg) averaged £3041
Messrs Trotter sold 8 (769kg) averaged £2992
Lead Grossing Continental Bulls £3660 £3622 £3256 JA Matten & Sons. £3572 £3310 £3263 £3244 £3012 Renton Highlaws Ltd. £3140 £3070 £3050 £3049 £3006 £2978 WM Fleming. £3135 £2948 SH Watson & Son. £3128 £3041 £3020 £2995 £2985 £2977 £2910 K Trotter. £3062 A&MJ Henshaw. £3060 Rochester & Murray. £3057 LW Martin. £2878 PJ&ES Rogerson. £2876 C Binks & Son.
Bulls – Top prices ppk 416 411 405 404 399 398 393 389 Renton Highlaws Ltd. 411 410 405 403 WM Fleming. 407 Rochester & Murray. 400 WA Richardson Ltd. 400 397 396 393 391 386 382 K Trotter. 400 390 387 JA Matten & Sons. 400 397 395×2 390×2 388 M&G Chantrell. 394 378 GK KN & GJ Hird. 392 LW Martin. 389 PJ&ES Rogerson. 388 SH Watson & Son.
Native Bulls – Top prices ppk 360 336 331 R Hall & Son. 357 348 343×3 341 340 330×2 CH&SE Armstrong. 332 331 GS Dowson. 349 Williamson.
Lead Grossing Native Bulls £2487 £2328 £2283 R Hall & Son. £2356 £2263 £2082 £2077 £2075 £2049 £2028 £1965 £1868 CH&SE Armstrong. £2088 £2011 GS Dowson. £2076 Williamson.
Friesian Bulls – Top prices ppk 315 311 305 MA&PD Foster. 311 GS Dowson. 305 260 JR Dowd. 295 281 GW Dobson & Son.
Lead Grossing Friesian Bulls £2068 £1952 GE Dobson. £2024 GS Dowson. £2022 £1839 £1738 MA&PD Foster. £1912 £1513 JR Dowd.
Clean Cattle (138) – Stand on, the clean continued their sharp trade again this week to see the heifers average 409ppk and a better-quality offering of steers average 397ppk. The top fourteen heifers sold over 450ppk, one superstar stood alone at the top, a brilliant 543kg Limousin from W Miller, High Aketon, Wigton sailed away to 494 pence per kilo. Four heifers followed in the 470’s; two more from the Wigton wizard, one from the Roxburghshire raiders WM Fleming and a smart sort from Cole Hill Farm Ltd, Elwick. The classy Cole Hill cattle secured the top steer per kilo accolade when an excellent 590kg Limousin sold for 432 pence. A smart steer from the Askwiths of Crook came next at 430ppk with another from Cole Hill next up at 426ppk. A tremendous trio all from the same good home sold over £3000, another of our faithful following from north of the border Messrs RD Richardson, Sunnyburn Farm sold Limousin heifers to £3256 and £3113 plus a super steer to £3119. Nineteen more sold between £2700 and £3000 with the next bracket down seeing a further twenty-two between £2600 and £2700.
A pick of the averages below:
WM Fleming sold 4 (601kg) averaged 455ppk
JC Thwaite sold 2 (573kg) averaged 454ppk
W Miller sold 15 (552kg) averaged 444ppk
Askwiths sold 3 (700kg) averaged £2904
WA Richardson Ltd sold 4 (667kg) averaged £2809
WM Fleming sold 4 (601kg) averaged £2736
Steers – Top prices ppk 432 426 418 394 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 430 409 406 Askwiths. 422 418 415 412 400 393 390 M&G Chantrell Ltd. 418 397 A&MJ Henshaw. 418 Rochester & Murray. 410 JM Ramsay & Son. 408 A Swinbank & Son. 389 RD Richardson.
Lead Grossing Steers £3119 RD Richardson. £2907 £2902×2 Askwiths. £2734 £2662 £2564 £2548 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £2667 £2390 A&MJ Henshaw. £2578 JM Ramsay & Son. £2575 £2523 £2407 £2389 £2244 £2215 M&G Chantrell Ltd. £2361 Rochester & Murray.
Heifers – Top prices ppk 494 474 472 468 450 442 439 438 437 W Miller. 474 450×2 448 WM Fleming. 473 458 449 442 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. 462 446 JC Thwaite. 456 440 JE Suddes & Son.455 RW Sowerby & Sons. 453 M Robinson & Sons. 450 FW Robson. 448 JV&JA Hodgson. 447 446 444 440 436 R Hirst. 441 B Walker. 441 438 RD Richardson. 434 WA Richardson Ltd. 431 S Luck & Son.
Lead Grossing Heifers £3256 £3113 £2793 RD Richardson. £2967 M Robinson & Sons. £2900 £2870 £2776 JE Suddes & Son. £2862 £2706 £2704 WM Fleming. £2860 £2852 £2797 £2726 WA Richardson Ltd. £2805 £2692 £2688 JV&JA Hodgson. £2794 NG Beveridge. £2784 £2768 £2710 RW Sowerby & Sons. £2721 £2697 R Hirst. £2721 NE Dyson. £2696 £2688 A&MJ Henshaw. £2696 £2691 Cole Hill Farm Ltd. £2692 £2682 W Miller.
Prime Lambs (1845) – Trade steadier, after months of finding themselves as the marts most wanted, the heavy lambs are wavering; export weights still keenly bid for but they do need good cover on their loin, the sale today averaged 307ppk and £145.90 with an SQQ of 320ppk. Topping the trade per kilo at 387 pence was a bonnie pair of 41kg lambs from W Tindale, Paradise Farm. Second place in the prices per kilo went to a 47kg cracker from AWSM Farms at 368 pence, the better bred well covered handy weights sold typically 340-360ppk throughout. The best of the heavy lambs still traded £170 to £185; thumping Charollais from T Lawson & Son, Sands Farm twice reached £185, both pens were over 60kg. The Lawson feeding featured again at £180 with a 60kg Suffolk joining JJ Horn, Bushy Park at the same price.
Top Gross Averages
T Lawson & Son sold 15 (58kg) averaged £174
R Atkinson sold 124 (50kg) averaged £165
PJ Tindale sold 26 (47kg) averaged £163
I Marshall & Sons sold 62 (54kg) averaged £163
Anna Herbert sold 6 (50kg) averaged £162
Lambs – Top prices ppk 387 345 341 336×3 333 W Tindale. 368 353 AWSM Farms. 363 346 343 336 PJ Tindale. 361 344 338 HT Davies & Partners. 359 RW Dalton. 356 333 LD Laws. 356 352 350 340 N&LL Brown & Son. 347 340×2 333 R Atkinson. 347 345 344×2 334 JC Hope & Son. 346 Anna Herbert. 343 340 337 J&S Barnes. 333 BR&RI Routledge. 333 K&PM Lough. 333 A Hall & Son. 331 RO Gilson.
Lead Grossing Lambs £185×2 £180 £175 £172 £167 T Lawson & Son. £180 JJ Horn. £173×2 £167 AWSM Farms. £172 £170 I Marshall & Sons. £170 £165 J&S Barnes. £170×2 £168×2 R Atkinson. £170 W Tindale. £170 J Hird. £170 £165 Anna Herbert. £170 W.K M.M Lamb. £170×2 F Shield. £170 W Walker & Sons. £170 JC&A Hutchinson. £170 JA&A Herbert. £169 JC Thwaite & Son. £169 D Barron. £168 PJ Tindale.
Cast Ewes/Rams (137) – A similar story to the lambs with trade just on the slide compared to recent weeks trading, values certainly below those witnessed in the buoyant store ring on Monday gone. Twice bidding reached £160, a strong pair of Texel ewes from P Cockburn, Newbiggin Farm were matched by a Texel tup from D Barron, Newacres.
Lead Grossing Cast Sheep £160 £125 P Cockburn. £160 D Barron. £150 £120 JK Gill & Son. £150 JCW Taylor. £140 £130×2 GF Whitfield. £130 W Tindale. £130 £120 J&A Layfield. £130 £110 JC Thwaite & Son. £120 P Kirk. £110 LD Laws. £110 H Rowbotham.
