Calves
The calf sale peaked at £300 for a British Blue bull calf from JR Senior, Cartmel with other blue bulls to £270 from JW & TE Sharp Ltd, Lyth. A young show of heifers forward with a top of £260 for British Blue from HJ Robinson& Son. Native bred calves were a very strong trade with month old Aberdeen Angus bulls to £240 from FB Dunning & Son, with Hereford heifers to £230 at the same age. Young beef calves noticeably dearer on the fortnight with a 3-week-old Blue bull topping at £265 from FB Dunning & Son.
Black and white calves were a strong trade with many more could have easily been sold to the advantage of the vendor. The sale topped at £115 from CM & CS Chappelhow. Medium types were £40 to £60.
Plenty of customers are looking for young stock as replacements at the moment so take full advantage of the auction ring as more calves are required at each sale to fulfil buyers requirements.
Cast Cows
Cull cows continue to sell to a fast trade with all classes and types in keen demand. Beef cows sold to 141.5p/kg from Forest Hall Farm Partnership, Selside with others regularly 125p/kg to 135p/kg and leaner types between 110p/kg and 120p/kg depending on age and quality.
Dairy cows sold to 129.5p/kg for Holstein Friesian from A & B Pickthall with other heavy and well-finished dairy cows between 115p/kg and 125p/kg. Leaner and parlour type cows were keenly bid for and regularly sold around the 95p/kg to 110p/kg. All cows averaged 110/kg. Top-grossing was £1112 for a Holstein Friesian from C Preston, Millom.
OTM heifers sold to 151.5p/kg for a Hereford from DJ Dickinson, Haverthwaite with OTM dairy heifers selling to 129.5p/kg from R & A Galbraith, Crooklands. All OTM heifers averaged 125p/kg with top-grossing £935 for a Holstein Friesian from Messrs Sowerby, Appleby.
OTM steers sold to 169.5p/kg and £979 for a Hereford x from GM Redmayne, Ings with a Dairy Shorthorn bull from Messrs Robinson, Old Hutton achieving 134.5p/kg and £703.
Beef Breeding Cattle
The monthly sale of Beef Breeding Cattle commenced with a 22-month-old Pedigree Hereford bull from G Redmayne, Ings which sold for a final bid of £1200, finding a new home in Co Durham. Heifers with calves at foot sold to £1750 for a homebred Limousin with a Limousin x heifer calf from TLB & J Knowles, Selside who also sold a British Blue heifer with a Limousin x bull calf at £1600 with others selling to £1250.
A consignment of Luing in-calf cows, due mid-March to a Simental bull, from Low Moor Howe Farm Ltd, Windermere attracted keen interest selling to £980 for 2nd calvers and to £880 for older cows. Bulling heifers sold to £1080 for a Simental x from GE & JA Hayhurst, Ellel.
Store Cattle
A large portion of today’s sale was made up of heifers which found keen interest for both feeding and breeding. Hereford x heifers from S Forde, Clapham lead the sale achieving £950 for Simmental, £930 and £910 for Limousin x. Aberdeen Angus heifers sold to £915 from R & YE Pennington, Carnforth.
Younger heifers sold to £765 for an Aberdeen Angus x from J Perrem, Grasmere, £745 Limousin x from JE Wightman, Lupton, 7-month-old Charolais x £650 from TW & BH Woodhouse & Partners, Roeburndale and £600 for Beef Shorthorns from PJ & JB Wilson, Flookburgh.
A nice entry of steers sold to £970 for Beef Shorthorns from S Forde, Clapham who also sold Limousin x steers at £930. An entry of mainly younger steers sold to £860 for Limousin x from JE Wightman, Lupton with 10-month-old Simmentals achieving £760 from S Porter, Field Broughton. Beef Shorthorns at 8-months-old sold to £730 from PJ & JB Wilson, Flookburgh. Several black and whites sold to keen interest achieving £620 from JH Barker & Son, Haverthwaite.
A small number of store bulls were forward today selling to £690 for 7-month-old Limousin x from JH Barker & Son, Haverthwaite with 7-month-old Beef Shorthorns to £590 from J & E Lancaster, Ulverston.