Livestock & Dairy: Bakewell Market

Seasonal entries with 537 cattle and 1,475 sheep on offer.

Trade solid in all sections with cattle both store and finished holding up well in the face of reduced deadweight prices.

New TB rules in operation with most people now fairly clear what it all means and the relatively few people who are affected by the changes operating as normal.

The 266 head of store & breeding cattle sold remarkably well in view of current concerns about meat prices generally.

Steers reached £1,510, heifers £1,460 and feeding bulls to £810.

In the breeding section 2 pure Limousin cows and calves made £2,450 and £2,050.

There was a useful entry of 133 finished cattle with top figures 328p/kg and £2,031 per head, the average for the 58 heifers was 262.7 pence which gives an indication of the level of prices in general.

OTM cattle remain harder to sell than they were in the purple patch than they were enjoyed earlier in the year.

Top figures 220p/kg and £1,914 with the average much the same as last week at 151.1 pence.

Calves are out in greater numbers with 58 this week.  Bulls sold to £450 and heifers £345.

In the sheep department there was a good entry of 1,107 lambs perhaps the result of rather better ‘sorting’ weather on Sunday.

The best on offer at 327p/kg and £161.87 per head with the SQQ average emerging at 270.4 pence.

Not a bad turnout of 353 cull sheep with ewes to £176 to average £98.

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

Thursday 10th August: Store Lamb Sale & Regular Lunchtime Sheep Sale

Saturday 12^th August: Collective Machinery Sale, Wardlow, SK17 8RP

Wednesday 16^th August: Farm Sale at Sebastapol Farm, Shirland

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

New TB Rules starting 1^st August

Please do not worry yourselves about the changes.  Most people will not have to do anything different except to supply us with a little extra information.

The new rules will be in place next Monday and we need everyone selling cattle & calves to tell us their Parish TB Testing Interval by ticking the box on the entry form. Just to confuse things, this might be different from the actual TB testing interval on your particular holding.

It is easy to check this on-line using the TB Hub – Parish testing interval checker.

In simpler terms:

All Staffordshire is 6 months

All Cheshire is 6 months

All Nottinghamshire is 12 months

All Leicestershire is 12 months

Where there is most confusion is in Derbyshire which is split between 6 months and 12 months.

The Ministry have not been able to provide us with a map showing the border.

When you enter your store cattle in future, please supply your county and parish holding number and we can check for you and provide the information to buyers on the Early Warning List.

Whilst the new rules look complicated, they will only affect a few buyers from the 12-month edge areas.  For everyone else there will be no change other than the need for us to display the information at the time of sale.

If you have any questions about all this just ring us at Bakewell and we will explain the changes and check your parish interval for you.

Bakewell Market Office on 01629 812777

Alastair Sneddon on 07973 982441

78 Barren, OTM and Feeding Cows overall average 151.1p/kg or £985

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)                    

Consistent numbers and trade very much similar this week.  No records broken but what we can offer is good, strong competitive trade for the cows with buyers keen but at prices appropriate to quality and not the dizzy high levels that we saw in May.  Top call today was 220p/kg (£1513) for a 4-year-old Blonde x heifer from DC Hoggard, Newark with the better x bred cows generally 160-186p today.

Results:

Gross Prices:

30 Black & White and ex dairy cows ave 140.9p/kg

Similar to last week with a lot of hard worked cow about.

1 OTM Heifer 188p/kg

10 better cows 155-167p/kg

Holsteins 135-150p/kg

Leaner Sorts 120-130p/kg

Very plain under 110p/kg

The best today:

3 OTM Bulls

133 FINISHED CATTLE ave 249.6p/kg

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

More than last week and indeed more than the same week last year when we had 109 cattle to average 233p.  47 vendors of finished stock today and a strong competitive trade throughout.

28 Young Bulls ave 230.1p/kg

All buyers present and wanting bulls with the best 4 over 270p and up to 277 for Mark Sweetmore with a couple from Nigel at 275 and 271p and Ben Jones at 270p.  7 B/W today sold up to 223p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

47 Steers ave 244.9p/kg

All shapes and sizes with quality very good to sell and buyers needing more than they got.   Steven, Steff & Owen Wells topped the bullocks at 310 for a lovely Blue x with 4 from Paul Hazledine 278-288p.  12 natives today saw Hereford 256p, Angus to 267p and Red polls to 229 with 5 Holstein today (mostly white) sold up to 204p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

58 Heifers ave 262.7p/kg

Some lovely quality throughout at the top and towards the end of the sale.  10 best heifers today topped £3/kg with a Keith Harrop special at the top of the pile at 328p (£1981) that sold to 10-year-old Katie Kemp on behalf of her Uncle Joe and his butchers shop in Hayfield.

Nigel Birch had 321p with Stuart Wainwright at 317p and proving that the best are no different to where they have been.  7 Natives sold to 240p (Hfd) and 249p (Angus).

Results:

Gross Prices:

STORE & BREEDING CATTLE – (Auctioneer Alastair Sneddon)

266 head of store & breeding cattle with all regular buyers present and operating.

The new TB rules have been grasped by most parties, however, if you have any concerns about the situation on your own farm give us a call and we will check the facts for you.

The sale commenced with a few Breeding Cattle.

Prices as follows:

Feeding Bulls

Only a handful which included:

141 Steers ave £952

A good selection with plenty of interest and customers present for all types regardless of age and quality or TB status.

Trade was just as strong as last week with some excellent results achieved.

Sample Results:

95 Heifers ave £844

A mixed sample with some cattle on offer very small for age.

All sorts, however, found a ready market with plenty of highlights.

Sample Results:

58 CALVES (Auctioneer Ivor Lowe)

Trade a bit sharper than last week, especially for the better end with a larger gathering of prospective purchasers present.

Top call today was a smart B Blue bull from Palfreymans at Flagg, followed by another one at £430 and heifers to £345 from the same home.

Plenty of interest also in the B/W’s with these to a top of £155.

Bulls

B Blue                 £450                    TN Palfreyman & Son, Flagg

B Blue                 £430                    G Matkin, Idridgehay

Hfd                       £235                    D Fotherby & Son, Wormhill

Angus                 £178                    JW Lynam, The Common

Fries                    £155                    WB & DE Gyte, Barmoor Clough

Hfrs

B Blue                 £345                    TN Palfreyman & Son, Flagg

Hfd                       £195                    D Fotherby & Son, Wormhill

1122 Lambs & 353 Ewes & Rams (Auctioneer Peter Oven)

A very good entry of 1475 sheep included 1107 new season lambs.  Meated stronger sorts a very good trade with prices up 20p/kg on last week, although, a larger proportion of plain sorts within the entry.  The first pen of the day a pen of Blue Texels topped the market at 327p/kg with Texel x to 324p/kg.  Heavy weight butchers lambs peaked at 305p/kg with overweights to 279p/kg.  Top gross of £161.87 and overall average 271.47pkg.

Leading Prices: –

Averages:

353 Cull Sheep

A very good show of 353 ewes and rams saw trade very brisk with best Texel ewes peaking at £176 with the top ten pens averaging £162.70.  Heavy Suffolks sold to £130 with Mules in the £190-£110 bracket.  Best Woodlands to just over £100 with Swales in the £60-£70 bracket.

Ewes to £176                Ave £98.00

Rams to £172               Ave £136