Livestock & Dairy: Bakewell Market

A real ‘haymaker’ market with grass down in nearly every field and harvest work taking priority over livestock sales.

496 cattle and 914 sheep on offer with trade for finished lambs on the slide and demand for finished cattle also down on the week.

The store & breeding cattle section was short of numbers with only 223 head on offer.  A few new faces around the ring and trade very strong with no allowance being made for the poor results available for the finished cattle.

Steers sold to £2,480 ave £1,507, heifers to £2,200 ave £1,498, feeding bulls to £1,900 and cow & calf outfits to £3,020.

How long these prices will hold is anybody’s guess, but store cattle vendors were certainly happy with today’s returns.

If you have store or breeding cattle to sell and want a word before you make a decision, give Alastair Sneddon a call on 07973 982441.

Finished cattle

A decent entry of 138 head with trade distinctly steady.  The best on offer crept over the £4 mark to 404p/kg and the top gross price was £3,087, but the average for the 72 heifers at 336.8p was 10p down on the week.

The per head average at £2,127 was around £50 lower than last week.

Let us hope that the hot weather and the prospect of a barbecue assists the meat trade.

The OTM section reported a better trade for the 78 head on offer with top figures 316p and £2,981.

The average looked good too at 251.3 pence and £1,710 per head, figures almost identical to last week.

Calves remain in great demand with 57 on offer this week.  Bulls sold to £875 and heifers £690.

Over in the sheep department there were 642 lambs forward with prices on the way down as you would expect for the time of year.  Top figures 456p and £211.68.

The SQQ average was a solid 413p making a typical lamb in the 39-45 kg weight range worth £176.61.

Hoggs gave dried to a trickle with only 73 for sale.  Top figures 350p/kg and £225 per head.

The average for a very mixed lot was 286.0 pence.

Cull sheep were in short supply with only 199 on offer and the lack of numbers drove trade making the top price for ewes £273 and the average £178.26.

DISEASE PRECAUTIONS

The authorities have asked us to pass on the message to everyone to be vigilant with regard to Bio Security.

May we respectfully ask that you use the footbaths and boot wash in order to reduce the risk

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Forthcoming Fixtures

Thursday 25^th June – Thursday Lunchtime Sheep Sale

78 BARREN, OTM AND FEEDING COWS overall ave 251.3 pence or £1710

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

Exactly that same price as last week but hard to find any numbers.  With the current BBQ weather upon us we would expect cows to remain a strong trade for the next month or so.  Best bred Limousins sold to 300p or £2064 for a feeding cow from PV Hawkins with the majority of the better end 280-296p.  Plenty of feeding buyers still looking for cows to keep.

Results:

Gross Prices:

35 Black & Whites averaged 228p/kg

1 OTM clean 280p

Best end cows 245-257p

Big Holsteins 230-245p

Plainer parlour sorts 210-230p

Bottom end under 210p

The best today

6 OTM Bulls

2 OTM Steers

135 FINISHED CATTLE Ave 331.8p/kg

(Auctioneer Oliver Hiles)

Similar numbers to last week with the average 4 pence less on the week with the buyers very lacklustre with their bidding.

21 Bulls Ave 321.8p

Competitive bidding for all but certainly no records broken today.  Ben Jones sold dairy bred Blues to 380p (£2622) with the best end 340p plus.

Results:

Gross Prices:

45 Steers Ave 329.3p/kg

More bullocks about and strong bidding at generally lower levels than last week.  Messrs Hazledine Farms won the race to the top at 390p for a posh suckler bred Limmy, the better end over 350p.  14 Natives sold to 340p for an Angus and 336p for a Hereford.

Results:

Gross Prices:

70 Heifers Ave 336.8p/kg

The best end remains the best to sell with the top 4 over £4 and up to 404p for a posh suckler bred Limmy from Nick Hollinshead to gross the maximum price of £2642.  3 others at £4 from Ben Langton x2 and Phil & Emma Watson with all 4 selling to Butchers shops in Bakewell, Mickleover and Stoke on Trent.  Better end over 350p. 18 Natives saw Angus to 353p and Herefords to 347p.

Results:

Gross Prices:

STORE & BREEDING CATTLE – (Auctioneer Alastair Sneddon)

With fine conditions for grass harvesting and the temperatures heading for 30 degrees it is hardly surprising that the entry was modest at 223.

Plenty of buying power in operation with trade good from the off.

Some fine specimens in the entry both individuals and bunches which attracted a distinct premium.

The sale started with a couple of cow & calf outfits:

Then came 2 feeding cows at £1,220 and £1,260.

24 Feeding Bulls

102 Steers Averaged £1507

Plenty of trade for the mixed selection on offer.  All types finding a ready market.

Sample Results:

91 Heifers average £1498

Strong prices from start to finish with typical results as follows.

Sample Results:

57 CALVES (Auctioneer Ivor Lowe & Tash Hall)

An increased entry of calves with some real quality entered as reflected by the prices below.

Bulls up to £875 for a B Blue from J & J Walton & Sons, closely followed at £870 for a Lim from RS Torr.

Heifers topped at £690 for a B Blue from TN Palfreyman & Son.  B/W’s to £190.

Bulls

B Blue                 £875     J & J Walton & Sons

B Blue                 £875     TN Palfreyman & Son

Lim                      £870     RS Torr

B Blue                 £790     GS & L Wheeldon Ltd

B Blue                 £790     TN Palfreyman & Son

Hfrs

B Blue                 £690     TN Palfreyman & Son

AA                        £425     RS Hall

Hfd                       £420     GJ Tideswell

B Blue                 £410     DJ Metcalfe & Co

B Blue                 £410     W Bradbury

715 Lambs &199 Ewes & Rams

(Auctioneer Peter Oven)

A total entry of 914 sheep included 642 new season lambs.  Demand still very brisk for all, but prices in line with other centres at the end of last week.  Best butchers lambs peaked at 456p/kg and £211/head with an overall average 413.97p/kg.

Leading Prices

Averages

Old Season Lambs to 350p/k ave 286.21p/kg, top gross £225.

199 Ewes & Rams

Auctioneers Mark Elliott & Holly Swift

With the weather hot and sunny and the grass ready there were fewer ewes forward but the vendors that brought sheep today were well rewarded with a fast trade from start to finish.

Definitely strong demand in all sections and new purchasers looking out for grazers.

Top Texels at £273 and £256 for Bernard Archer with the best 10 lots averaging £244.80, only 8 sheep under £100.

Bigger end Mules around £160 with a variety of stronger horned types £120 plus.

The tups a very strong trade with 3 purchasers trying to fill orders and spirited bidding.

Strong heavy Suffolks and Texels £240 plus to a top of £272 for the Garner family.

Ewes ave £178.26

Rams ave £227