Livestock & Dairy: Bakewell Market

Even tougher rules in place and strict ‘Drop & Go’ in operation.

With no vendors, no trade stands and no café we are doing our best to keep everyone safe.

The current objective, maximum numbers of stock with minimum people.

The result was 509 cattle and 1,662 sheep and only genuine buyers permitted around the rings.  Both sale rings now have clearly marked ‘buyer positions’ and social distancing was rigorously enforced.

The National situation is now so serious that anyone who cannot abide by the rules is not welcome.

We fully understand that for vendors not to be present whilst their stock is sold is something that many find hard to accept, however, when we are faced with a crisis as serious as this and with trade as good as it is, it is a small price to pay for keeping people safer, be they vendors at home or purchasers in the market.

It looks as though the current circumstances are going to be with us for months rather than weeks, so we have set off with the new measures in place for the foreseeable future, and we thank everyone for their cooperation and understanding.

There was a larger entry of 252 store & breeding cattle with all types wanted and an outstanding trade from start to finish.  Plenty of stronger cattle this week generating very keen competition on the back of the strong finished trade.

Steers sold to £1,280, heifers, £1,170 and feeding bulls £1,180.

There was a nice run of in-calf cows and heifers reaching £1,100.

As already mentioned, the finished cattle trade was up another notch with 121 on offer peaking at 263p and £1,676.

Looking at our usual yardstick – the average for the 58 heifers at 209.5p you can see how dear they were.

The OTM section was on similar form.  90 animals forward selling to 199p and £1,599.  The OTM average looking very good at 132.8p.

46 calves on offer, Bulls to £390 and heifers £245.

The sheep department was well supported with 1,169 old season lambs, the best hitting the highlights at 296p and grossing a remarkable £140.70.

The SQQ average emerged at 259.5p a figure that speaks for itself.

Needless to say, there is no great worry about ‘Dropping & Going’ when the trade is that good.

In the cull sheep department, it was a similar story with ewes to £173 with a solid average of £90.25.

Forthcoming Fixtures

Thursday 14^th January:      Thursday Lunchtime Sheep Sale

Friday 22^nd January:   HPLS Cattle Sale:

794 Store Cattle

145 Bulls, 649 Steers & Heifers

For an update on current rules please give the Bakewell Office a call or Alastair Sneddon

10.30 Start, catalogues available via our website: www.bagshaws.com

ALL FARM DISPERSALS ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

90 Barren, OTM and Feeding Cows Overall Average 132.96p (Auctioneer Oliver Hiles).

A more regular entry of cows as we move in to the second week of proper trading in the New Year.  Trade was absolutely remarkable from the start with the first cow in the ring at 177p and they remained the same all through the sale.  Prices peaked at 199p for a Limousin Heifer from Ben Simpson, Bradwell with Blue heifers from Lizzy Mottram at 188p and best Limousin cows at 186p for Messrs Bennet (£1599) and Messrs Simpson (£1440) 11 best cows over 175p with plenty more 150p plus.  Angus to 138p, Herefords to 129p.

40 Black & White and ex-dairy cows Ave 118.7p

A joy to sell with some cows 10 pence dearer.  Ian Redfern for Alf Sims had 149p for a square Friesian with the better-done cows 135p plus.  Big Holsteins 125-132p with smaller cows 110-120 and only a few plain cows under £1.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

2 OTM Bulls

120 FINISHED CATTLE – overall average 200.65p (Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

A very good entry of cattle today with trade absolutely remarkable from start to finish with the second and third quality cattle through the roof.

11 Finished Bulls ave 186.3p/kg

Only a few today but a solid trade.  The two best over £2 for John Ottewell to 222p/kg (£1385) and 201p (£1595).

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

51 Steers – overall average 194.7p/kg

22 Continentals, 7 Native and 12 Black & White, but trade absolutely amazing.  The best as always, a solid price but the second-grade cattle look very dear.  Stan Evans topped the day at 242p for a Blue with the Austin Family at 218, 216 x2, 212 and 209p and Brian Ponsonby at 216p (£1473) and 215p (£1492).  Angus to 209p and 202p (31 mnths), Herefords to 202p, Lincoln Red to 204p (twice) and Beef Shorthorn to 205p, 12 B/W topped to 190p and averaged 179p.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

58 Finished Heifers – overall average 209.5p/kg

One of the best averages ever at Bakewell with a good run of heifers today and keenly bid for by all intending purchasers.  Stan & Geoff Evans topped the day at 263p (£1604) closely followed by Keith Harrop at 260p with the top 5 over 230p.  Natives had Herefords to 204p.

Sample Results:

And Gross Prices:

STORE & BREEDING CATTLE – (Auctioneer Alastair Sneddon)

Numbers building up nicely after the Christmas break with 252 forward this week.

Strict ‘Drop & Go’ in operation, but trade so good that no one needed to worry.

All types in demand, but short finish cattle particularly dear on the back of the finished trade.

The sale started with a consignment of in-calf cows and heifers with examples as follows:

 There were also some Feeding Cows

£770    Lim x, 57-96 mnths      Frith Bros, Thorpe

Just 11 Feeding Bulls with examples as follows:

128 Steers ave £909

A decent selection with some nice bunches which attracted some very fierce bidding.

Angus crosses in great demand as were Herefords.

If you have cattle to sell Bakewell buyers would like the opportunity to bid for them.

Sample results:

95 Heifers ave £875

Excellent trade from start to finish with stronger one particularly dear all of which helped the average of £875.

Angus x definitely the flavour of the month.

Sample results:

47 CALVES (Auctioneer Ivor Lowe)

47 calves forward met strong buying support, albeit with some of the heifers being perhaps a little less money.

Best continental bulls upwards of £300 to a top of £390 and the natives topping at £170 for an Angus.

The heifers sold to a top of £245 but some of the lesser quality sorts being a little easier.

B/W again met strong support but not a lot of strength in the entry with a top price of £90.

1,662 Sheep including 1,169 Finished Lambs & 493 Cull Sheep

 (Auctioneer Peter Oven)

A total entry of 1662 head of sheep included 1169 lambs.  Demand very brisk right from the start and holding to the very last pen.  Top call for butchers lambs of 296p/kg with heavyweight butchers lambs to 285p/kg and overweight to 233p/kg.  Best big lambs grossed over £140/head and an overall market average of over £109/head.  The average pence per kilo of 259.83 with 9 pens over 280p/kilo.

Leading Prices: –

Averages:

493 Cull Sheep (Auctioneer Mark Elliott)

Nearly 500 forward and the trade very good from start to finish.

There was a proper trade for all categories including the big and classy, the mediums, the mules and the plain types.

Top price £173 for the Furness Family at Nursery Fields with long Texels.  The first ewe of the day was again a Texel and struck off the trade for the Cartledges at Doveholes at £162.

Best crossbred types £104-£125 with the biggest best spec mules touching £90.

Some smart Swales and Woodlands £66-£72 but they had been corn fed.

Plainer sorts had plenty of trade regardless of breed.

The cull rams good to sell to a top of £141 twice for Richard Hague at High Bradfield with other better fleshed Texels and Suffolks at £104 and above.

Cast Ewes        To: £173          Ave: £90.25

Cast Rams       To: £141          Ave: £107.36