Livestock & Dairy: Bakewell Market

Rather warm today, but even at 23 degrees a good deal cooler than the trade that was red hot in all sections.  Numbers were good for the time of year with 570 cattle and 1,285 sheep on offer.

Not as many store & breeding cattle forward after last week’s bumper crop, but still a respectable turnout with 273 in total.

Records were broken with greater frequency than at the Olympics with the overall store cattle figure £1,138 per head.  Steers averaged an astonishing £1,292 with heifers £1,025 these figures being for ‘all comers’ and included weanlings and reared calves.

As far as top prices were concerned steers reached £2,010, heifers £1,560 and feeding bulls £1,190.

Just a few breeding cattle which included a mature Lim x stock bull at £2,300.

There are special entries of cows and calves over the next 2 weeks with Herefords on the 12^th August and 2 consignments on the 19^th August comprising 30 pedigree Longhorns and 30 Cont x Cows with Lim x calves at foot.  See full details elsewhere in the report.

There were 125 finished cattle with trade very strong indeed, top figures for both steers and heifers was 324p with gross figures topping at £2,750 for the best bull.

The average for the 51 heifers was a hefty 290.3p.

More OTM cattle than expected with 105 selling on a great trade to reach 249p and £2,237.

The average looked good at 183.9p.

The calf department reported a decent entry of 67 calves and a fantastic trade with bulls to £502 and heifers £432.

Over in the sheep department there was plenty of buzz.  983 lambs on offer with the best to 344p/kg and £200.10 per head.

The SQQ average just over the sound barrier at 304.1p a remarkable figure for early August.

Finally, cull sheep, another story of great prices with 268 forward and ewes selling to £236 to average £136.19.

FORTHCOMING FIXTURES

Thursday 8th August: Thursday Lunchtime Sheep Sale

101 BARREN, OTM AND FEEDING COWS overall ave 183.9p/kg or £1229

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)     

More cows and a better show of quality with a few extra pure Limmy and well fed and bred cows about.  Trade equally as good as the last few weeks.  Who would have thought that cows would lift in July and remain strong at the start of August.  Top call today was a superb 277p for a 41-month-old pure Limousin from Boden & Davies, Mellor to gross £2044, with 2 more big cows from the same home at £2237 and £2134.  13 best over 230p with plenty more 200-220p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

36 Black & White and ex dairy cows ave 169.2p

3 OTM Heifers 191-208p

Better fed cows 182-188p

Big Holstein types 165-175p

Leaner parlour cows 150-160p

Only the plainest cows under 140p

The best today:

5 OTM Bulls

1 OTM Steer

125 FINISHED CATTLE ave 277.9p/kg

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

More bulls but less steers and heifers and an unbelievable trade again.  Some big weight in the bulls today certainly added up.

35 Young Bulls

Best 5 comfortably over £3/kilo with the Wells family at 322p (£1995) and Messrs Boden at 320p (£2750).  B/W’s to 235p for Chris Beever.

Results:

Gross Prices:

39 Steers ave 280.9p/kg

A better average and a stronger trade overall and some superb sorts at the top end, Steven, Steff & Owen Wells topped the steers as well as the bulls with their B Blue x at 334p with a superb run from Ben Langton at 328, 326, 325 and 322p.  Weight added up well with the youngest vendor of the day, Hayden Hulme at the top of the gross list at £2245.  10 Natives saw Angus to 280p and Herefords to 270p with a B/W at 238p for David Gyte.

Results:

Gross Prices:

51 Heifers ave 290.3p/kg

A better average for more heifers and some superb sorts about but they are better to sell.  Peter Gaunt had a lovely run of weight again and topped at 334, 330, 328 and 326p with 11 best over 320p and 11 also over £2000.

Results:

Gross Prices:

STORE & BREEDING CATTLE – (Auctioneers Alastair Sneddon & Meg Elliott)

A useful entry of 273 head with plenty of buying power in operation and outstanding prices achieved.

Some excellent cattle on offer, which complied with an incredible trade producing averages for steers of £1292 and heifers £1025.

There were several large consignments allowing cattle to be sold in decent bunches with buyers working very hard to secure them.

The sale commenced with a few Breeding Stock which included:

33 Feeding Bulls

Sample prices as follows:

126 Steers ave £1292

A good selection of both individuals and bunches with prices at levels never seen before.

All types wanted with Angus & Hereford crossed attracting plenty of interest.

Sample Results:

96 Heifers ave £1025

A mixed entry with all types finding a ready market at all ends of the age, quality and price spectrum.

Sample Results:

67 CALVES (Auctioneer Mark Elliott)

An absolute flyer from start to finish and the calves were certainly one of the highlights of the Monday market.

Top call £502 for a blue bull, 26 days old from regular exhibitors the Walton family whose blue bull entry averaged £460.66.

The best 7 continentals bulls averaged £479.50 and included Limousins and Blues.

Heifer calves a very similar story with a top of £432 for a 30-day old Blue heifer from Jim & Mark Pickford at £432 to top the day.  Plenty of strong continental heifers between £290 and £325 per head.

Best Native Bulls again a strong trade with Mr Tideswell at Marchington receiving £355 for a named sire Hereford at 26 days.

More calves required to fulfil demand, every breed and creed can be sold well.

Bulls

Sim                      £390     DG & JA Ball, Fulford

Blue                     £502     J & J Walton, Tideswell

Blue                     £500     TN Palfreyman & Son, Flagg

Blue                     £465     GS & L Wheeldon, Atlow

Lim                      £448     TN Palfreyman & Son, Flagg

Lim                      £345     GS & L Wheeldon, Atlow

S Horn                £285     DG & JA Ball, Fulford

Hfd                       £355     GJ Tideswell, Marchington

Mont                   £338     J & J Walton, Tideswell

Fries                    £238     J & L MacPherson, Yoxall

Hfrs

Hfd                       £195     AP Critchlow, Wheston

AA                        £100     T Farrington & Sons, Abbotts Bromley

B Blue                 £462     JD Pickford, Leek

Lim                      £325     BD Hudson, Ipstones

1285 SHEEP INCLUDING 1009 LAMBS, 268 EWES & RAMS & 8 STORE SHEEP

(Auctioneers Peter Oven & Mark Elliott)

A total show of 1285 sheep included 983 new season lambs.  Demand very brisk right from the start with early vendors seeing some outstanding prices especially for the bigger types.  Bernard Archer topping the day at 344p/kg with best big lambs grossing over £200/head.

Overall average 304.81p/kg.

Leading Prices: –

Averages:

268 Cull Sheep

In the cull sheep less forward with only 268 on offer, but trade as good as ever with a pen of 7 pedigree Texels topping at £236/head with Texel x ewes to £190, Beltex x to £190, Mules to £158 and horned ewes to £95.

Ewes to £236 Ave £136.19

Rams to £188 Ave £149

Just a few store sheep well bid for with Texel ewes and lambs to £252 and Shropshire x to £200.