Livestock & Dairy: Bakewell Market

Good entries of cattle and a fantastic trade, sheep numbers down, but trade thankfully much better.  Actual entries 678 cattle and 1,024 sheep.

Another great turnout of 391 store and breeding cattle with a very active company of buyers operating and prices well in excess of expectations.  Steers reached £1,640, heifer £1,570 and feeding bulls £1,030.

In the breeding section in-calf cows sold to £1,300 and a mature Hereford stock bull sold at 2,550.

107 finished cattle sold on another tremendous trade with top figures 314p for both steers and heifers.

The top gross price of £2,434 must be a market record for a regular market day and the average for the 65 heifers of 265.4p must be able to make it a red-letter day.

In the OTM sections trade was just as hot with top figures £1,844 and 246p/kg.

The average was up again at 176.7p.

40 calves this week with bulls to £380 and heifers £230.

Over in the sheep section numbers were down with only 591 hoggs on offer this clearly helped trade with top figures 320p/kg and £161.85.

The SQQ average looked a good deal healthier at 264.2p.

In the cull sheep section the entry was 428 head with ewes to £196 to average £98.96.

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

Thursday 26^th January: Thursday Lunchtime Sheep Sale

————————————————————————————————————————-

News from the Farming Life Centre

Our Prince’s Countryside Fund ‘Farm for the Future programme’ is now underway.

Our next event ‘Clarity on Farm Carbon’ will take place on Tues 31^st Jan 7pm –with Becky Wilson of the Farm Carbon Toolkit.  Learn where carbon emissions and storage happens on your farm,  practical actions you can take to reduce emissions and costs, improve resilience, and understand how your farm stacks up against others to give you an understanding of where to focus on making improvements.  Contact Alice on 07904 691457 or alice@thefarminglifecentre.org.uk to book a place.  Free to attend, supper included.  Venue: Blaze Farm, Wildboarclough, SK11 0BL.

News from the Peak Farmers Group

NEXT EVENT: ‘Get the Most from your 2023 forage’ @ Matlock Meadows, Snitterton Rd, DE4 2JG on Tues 24^th January, 7pm.

Experts from Trouw Nutrition will join us to talk forage quality (be it for silage or grazing), over winter grass growth, forage sampling and analysis, how to supplement and taking a proactive approach to optimise efficiency.  Please contact Lorna on 07969 951101 or info@peakfarmersgroup.co.uk to arrange and to book your free place.  Supper included

140 Barren, OTM and Feeding Cows overall average 176.7p /kg or (£1,145)

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)                    

More cow again with 140 arriving this week at Bakewell from 61 vendors from the Peak District and surrounding areas.  Any why Bakewell? Well, a good ring of buyers representing abattoirs and feeders looking to buy cows.

Strong competition throughout the sale with all cows freely bid for and some remarkable prices.  28 cattle topped £2/kilo and selling to a top of 246p for a 1 calf, 33 mnth old Limousin from David Critchlow, Sheen that sold for feeding.  Older cows sold at 234p for an 8 year Limmy from Messrs Brown, Bonsall.  25 Natives saw Herefords to 203p, Devons to 216p and Angus to 195p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

60 Black & White and ex dairy cows at 160.7p

Very dear again with a quarter of the cows over 180p.

15 best big cows 182-198p

Big Holsteins 170-180p

Leaner parlour cows 150-165p

Plain cows under 130p

The best today:

3 OTM Bulls

2 OTM Steers

107 FINISHED CATTLE – overall average 257.9p/kg

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

A few less about after the suckler sale on Friday but a full line up of buyers and all cattle very dear once again.

26 Young Bulls ave 238.5p

Some very big pedigree bulls about today with 4 over £2,100 and a top call of 281p (£2124) for a Limmy from Boden & Davies, Mellor with a Blonde from Jamie Turnock at £2434 (259p).  7 B/W sold for 200-229p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

26 Steers ave 262.3p/kg

One of the best averages ever for steers at 262p/kg with a couple over £3 for a showy sort from Nic Beardsley, Muggington at 314p and Mark Hadfield at 306p.  Plenty more good steers 270-292p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

55 Heifers ave 265.4p/kg

Like the steers the average is well up but some super cattle on offer.  4 best topped £3 from 4 different vendors with Alex Birch T/A Thorp Farms Ltd winning the day at 314p for a strong Blue x heifer to gross £1959 and was purchased by RW Walmsley , Catterton, York.  Michael Wynne had 310p, Andy Chadfield at 306p and Roger White at 300p.  A big tank of a heifer grossed up to £2073 (810kg) from John Gould.

Results:

Gross Prices:

STORE & BREEDING CATTLE – (Auctioneer Alastair Sneddon)

Another big turnout of 391 head with plenty of buying power in operation,

All categories of cattle in strong demand with the older short finish cattle dearer than ever.

The sale commenced with a few Breeding Cattle which included:

22 Feeding Bulls

To include:

236 Steers ave £1,033

A good selection with a hefty average demonstrating the number of strong cattle in the entry.

Angus & Herefords selling well and some great prices for B/W.

Very strong competition for the older cattle as finishers battle to top up their yards.

Sample Results:

120 Heifers ave £841

Some very nice bunches which attracted a premium and a few show types for the specimen hunters.

Trade carried over from last Friday’s fantastic HPLS sale.

Great prices achieved for all types.

Sample Results:

40 CALVES (Auctioneer Ivor Lowe)

Calf trade dearer again for all types and a good show of quality calves.

Better continental bulls regularly upwards of £300 to a top of £380 and heifers to a top of £230.

A similar story for the B/W with a number of potential purchasers operating to a top of £95.

Many more calves could have been sold to vendors advantage with a number of purchasers going home short of requirements.

Bulls

B Blue                 £380     JE Seals & Son, Shirland

B Blue                 £340     BD Hudson, Ipstones

Hfd                       £195     D Fotherby & Sons, Wormhill

Angus                 £180     WR & W Hayes, Pilsley

Fries                    £95        T & CJ Hadfield, Wheston

Heifers

B Blue                 £230     JE Seals & Son, Shirland

Hfd                       £205     JW Brandrick, Beamhurst

591 Lambs, 428 Ewes & Rams & 5 Store Sheep (Auctioneer Peter Oven)

A total entry of 1024 sheep included 591 lambs.  Lamb numbers down this week but trade was well up with an increase of 25p on the overall average.  Five pens topped the 300p barrier with 2 pens topping the day at 320p/kg both out of Cheshire.  Top gross price £161.85 for Sue Torr with the Sessions Family from Trusley close behind with a top of £157.23, £156 and £153.  The overall market average £264.28p/kg which included several pens of plain lambs.

Leading Prices: –

Averages:

428 Cull Sheep

A reduced entry and virtually all categories just as dear as last week and actually the best strong Mules a fraction dearer.

Top call £196 for Texels from the Nairey Family at Lancashire with their three best pens averaging £191.66 and the Salisbury Family  at Abney close behind at £182.

Better Mules £78 to £92 and the best meated horned ewes better to sell than recent weeks.

Best Texel rams to £132 and £128.

Ewes to £196                Ave £98.96

Rams to £132                Ave £109.50

Store Sheep

Just 5 ewes and lambs attracted keen interest being the first in Bakewell this year.  Texel x doubles to £215 and singles to £185.