Livestock & Dairy: Bakewell Market

Bakewell Market Monday Livestock Market

Sheep numbers well down, but a larger entry of cattle.

Trade strong in all sections with lamb prices significantly dearer than last week and store cattle looking very well sold.

Busiest section was the Store & Breeding Cattle department with numbers boosted by a special entry from H Spiby & Sons from Markfield together with the annual consignment of in-calf heifers from J & G Ede of Youlgreave.  The total head count was 491.

Trade was solid right through, Steers sold to £1,300, Heifers £1,160 and Feeding Bulls £1,240.  In the Breeding section in-calf heifers reached £1,460, Cows with Calves £1,400 and Stock Bulls £2,150.

The beef trade certainly seems to be remaining buoyant and a decent trade was enjoyed for the 133 Finished Cattle.

Top figures 258p/kg and £1,685 and the average for the 53 heifers at 190.8p looked good.

Another substantial turnout of 110 OTM and Feeding Cows saw the best to 163p and £1,248.  The average for the mixed sample was down a shade at 108.9p.

There were 67 Calves which sold on a sharp trade, Bulls to £295 and Heifers to £335.

As far as the Sheep section was concerned it was numbers down, prices up.

With only 883 lambs on offer trade hardened considerably with the best to 252p and £129.78

The SQQ average was almost 20 pence better than last week at 216.4 pence.

Cull Sheep numbers were down too at 381 with ewes to £131 and the average at £77.36.

Forthcoming Events

Thursday 19^th November: Regular Lunchtime Sheep Sale

Friday 20^th November: Store Sheep Sale, Further Entries invited

Sunday 6^th December: Derbyshire Carol Service – ONLINE ONLY

Friday 11^th December: Final Round Up of Store Sheep

110 Barren, OTM and Feeding Cows Overall Average 108.9p (Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)
Nicely over 100 cattle again, but with some Covid related troubles about, an odd buyer less at ringside led to a slightly reduced trade for the best but everything else very similar to last week.  OTM heifers peaked at 148p for a Hereford heifer (31 mnths) with S Devon heifers at 140p twice for Alison Wilton. Best cows to 137p for a Limousin from Terry Thompson, Longnor.  29 Natives also saw Longhorns to 117p, Angus to 130p and Red Poll to 107p.

40 Black & White and ex-dairy cows Ave 104.1p

Yes, the best a little less but plenty on a par with last week.  An odd heifer sold at 138p with best cows at 125p and 124p for Messrs Handford, Birch Vale.  Big lean Holsteins look well sold 105-115p with smaller sorts 90100p and plain cows under 90p.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

3 OTM Steers

 3 OTM Bulls

133 FINISHED CATTLE – overall average 182.1p (Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

A very good entry but a shortage of best cattle led to buyers going home short of required numbers.

29 Finished Bulls ave 172.3p/kg

15 Continentals, 4 Native and 10 Black & Whites with the best looking better sold to a top of 230p and 229p for tremendous black Limousins from Stan & David Fearn, expertly fed by David Goddard.  Black & White topped at 176p for Gordon Cresswell.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

51 Steers – overall average 179.8p/kg

A bumper entry of steers today with 25 Continental, 21 Natives and 5 B&W’s on offer and some remarkable prices for all qualities.  Vernon Belfield, one of the last vendors in the ring showed 5 super Limmys to 227, 221 and 219p/kg.  Angus sold to 202p/kg, Hereford to 188p and Longhorns to 184p.  Big Holsteins for Roger Ardern sold to 170p.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

53 Finished Heifers – overall average 190.8p/kg

Possibly dearer than last week although the average shows them less, but the 21 Natives had a big effect on the overall average.  Suckler bred continentals were well received by the butchers at ringside and topped at 258p/kg and 252p for best Limousins from Steven Wells.  Top 10 over 230p.  12 Angus to 197p, 4 Herefords to 179p and Longhorns to 190p.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

STORE & BREEDING CATTLE – (Auctioneer Alastair Sneddon)

Another busy week with a total of 491 cattle in the section.  An excellent trade from start to finish with all categories of cattle keenly sought.

Young cattle especially suckler bred types attracted particularly keen competition.

The entry was boosted by a suckler herd dispersal from H Spiby & Sons, Markfield together with a consignment of in-calf heifers from Messrs J & G Ede, Youlgreave.

The sale commenced with the breeding stock with sample results as follows:

In-calf heifers

Cows & Calves

Dispersal Sale for H Spiby & Sons

Cows & Calves

In-calf Cows & Heifers

Stock Bulls from H Spiby & Sons

Feeding Bulls

There were a total of 39 feeding bulls which attracted plenty of interest with sample results as follows:

169 Steers ave £793

An outstanding trade for the young suckler bred types.

Plenty of interest in the Angus crosses of which there were several of useful consignments.  Some big bunches of Black & Whites including a ring full of 14 sold together attracting fierce competition and speeding up the progress of the sale.

Sample prices as follows:

153 Heifers ave £666

A good selection with a tremendous trade for all types.  Young Cattle looking very well sold indeed.

Angus & Hereford crosses selling well and the stronger continentals finding a ready market.

Sample Results:

67 CALVES (Auctioneer Ivor Lowe)

A similar entry of calves to last week with trade strong for all types.

The offering lacking much in the way of top-quality sorts with a smart B Blue Heifer topping the day at £335.

Better bulls generally upwards of £200 to a top of £295 with black & whites again creating significant interest with stronger sorts upwards of £50 to a top of £78

1,270 Sheep including 889 Finished Lambs & 381 Cull Sheep

 (Auctioneer Peter Oven)

A smaller entry of 1270 head of sheep saw buyers bidding briskly in all sections to secure the numbers required.  A total of 889 lambs saw a top of 252p/kg for Bernard Archers pen of lambs, with 3 further pens from various vendors realising 250p/kg.  Best heavy butchers lambs peaked at 239p/kg with over weight sorts to 206p/kg with top gross of £129.78/head.  Overall average 216.46p/kg up 20p/kg on the week.

Leading Prices: –

Averages:

Old Season Lambs to 149p/kg – Average 146.4p/kg

 Cull Sheep

In the cull ewes just 381 on offer attracted very brisk bidding with several grazing buyers operating.  Best Texels topped the day at £131/head with the top 10 pens averaging £126/head.  Strong Suffolk ewes were in the £90-£100 bracket with mules in the £65 to £75 range.

Cast Ewes        To: £131          Ave: £77.36 (up £5/head)     

Cast Rams       To: £138