Suckled Calves

North West Auctions held its first prize autumn show and sale of Suckled Calves that had a catalogued entry of over 350 which attracted buyers from throughout the northern counties and further afield, including Wales and Scotland. The prize show was judged by Mrs Janet Sheard, Skipton and was kindly sponsored by Westmorland Accounts, Agri Lloyd and Northern Boiler, for which we are grateful for their support.

The Championship rosette was awarded to a 9-month-old British Blue x steer from M & D Hatton, Broughton-in-Furness, which later sold for the sales top price of £980. The reserve Champion Rosette was awarded to a 9-month-old Limousin x steer from MW & M Hodgson, Cartmel Fell which later sold for £850. The heifer class was won by G & ID Postlethwaite, Howgill for a 5-month-old Limousin x which sold for £715. The show for bulls was won by GR & A Foy, Lancaster showing a 5-month-old British Blue which later sold to £705.

Vendors must be complimented on the quality of cattle presented at todays sale and this was reflected in the strength of today’s trade with all cattle selling to full value.

Well-bred steers, 6-9-month old, generally sold between £700 and £850 with the younger steers, 4-6-month-old selling between £620 and £700. Heifers nicely sold between £650 and £720 with the younger sorts selling between £550 and £640. A strong entry of bulls today sold to £735 for a Charolais x from C & S Dickinson, with well-bred bulls generally selling between £660 and £720 for 5-7-month-old.

Native sired calves sold to £560 for Aberdeen Angus x steers with others selling between £500 and £550 with heifers selling to £510 for Luing x.

The next prize show and sale for suckled calves is Thursday 23rd October, in which vendors are encouraged to pre-enter cattle with confidence as purchasers are requesting another large entry to meet demand. Should you wish to discuss cattle sale at NWA J36 please contact Matthew Probert on 07540 446667 or Bradley Thompson on 07867 00244.

Calves

There was a larger entry of calves this fortnight with 95 forward. Calf prices were easier than previous weeks with the finished beef price continuing to drop and filtering through to the calf trade. The very best calves were still sought after, with a Limousin bull topping at £355 from MA & JA Winn, Burneside with Blue heifers from the same good home selling to £295. A young show of British Blue bulls forward this morning, with a run form DR & C Galbraith, Selside topping at £275 and £270 with others to the same price from B Mallinson & Son, Levens. All British Blue bull calves averaged £202.

It was nice to have a few Simmental heifers forward from Messrs Fell, Barron-in-Furness selling to £270 with Blue Heifers selling to £200, twice from R Morris-Eyton & Son, Whicham.

There was a bigger show of dairy bred bulls forward with stronger types well bid for, topping at £135 and £100 from Messrs Wilson, Allithwaite with others to £85 from Messrs Dennison, Ulverston. Raring types sold in the region of £75 to £115, mediums sold between £55 and £60 and the lesser types very hard to place this morning.

Just a couple of stirks in this morning from JE Wharton & Son, Appleby who sold Hereford Bullocks to £565.

More calves are required to satisfy over ever-growing ringside of buyers.

Cast Cows

There was another large entry of cull cattle as farm now look to lay cattle in with the recent weather change, cows with flesh and weight still achieving competitive prices, with leaner cows harder to place. Beef cows sold to 124.5p/kg for British Blue x from S Procter, Selside with others to 119.5p/kg for Simmental x from Messrs Fell, Barrow-in-Furness. Beef cows for further finishing were generally 105-115p/kg. Dairy cows sold to a top of 107.5p/kg for Holstein Friesians from Messrs Dennison, Ulverston, with ex-parlour cows a more selective trade with the best-selling between 85-95p/kg and the leaner sorts selling between 50p/kg to 80p/kg, the leanest sorts at realisation.
Top-grossing cow today was British Blue x from S Procter achieving £1064 with dairy selling to £881 from Messrs Dennison.

Several OTM Heifers forward, all being dairy bred sold to 119.5p/kg from B Mallinson & Son, Levens with others selling between 95-110p/kg. Top-grossing £647 for a Shorthorn x from S Procter.

Cull bulls sold to a top price of 109.5p/kg and £1105 for a Charolais from MJ Waller, Lupton.

Store Cattle

Store Cattle sold to a top price of £940 for a Limousin x bullock from M & L Preece, Kirkby Lonsdale who sold others to £905. MJ Waller, Lupton sold a run of British Blue steers to £900 with others £860. Native bred steers sold to £880 for Aberdeen Angus x from G Cuthbertson with Hereford x to £710 from GM Redmayne. Heifers sold to £825 for Limousin x from M & L Preece, with British Blue x achieving £750 from MJ Waller and Aberdeen Angus x selling to £730 from JF Robinson.

Well-bred cattle continue to attract keenest interest with cattle falling ‘out of spec’ a more selective trade.