Calves and Stirks
There was an entry of 87 Calves forward in J36 today that saw the better types of calves in stronger demand and selling to a very good trade. British Blue bull weanlings lead the way selling to £490 from JAH Walton & Son, Kirkby Stephen. British Blue bull calves were certainly wanted today with the consignment from A Pickthall, New Hutton peaking at £480 at seven weeks old. A cracking run of Blue bulls from JW & TE Sharp, Lyth sold to £470, £465 and £440 with plenty more selling in excess of the four hundred mark. Limousin bull peaked at £405 from Kevin Wrathall, Broughton in Furness. The heifer trade peaked at £405 twice from SW & K Metcalfe, Whittingham and HJ Robinson & Son, Preston Patrick with plenty more selling in the mid to late three hundreds. Native calves very similar to the continental calves that purchasers very keen to purchase strong types but also more interest in the smaller younger types. Angus bull calves peaked at £455 from Colby Farms, Penrith with Beef Shorthorn heifers selling to £400 from JW & TE Sharp, Lyth.
Dairy beef bull calves met plenty of demand with the consignment from C Dent, Penrith selling Montbeliardes to £325 twice, £315 twice and £300. Black and white weanlings sold to £280 from JAH Walton & Son, Kirkby Stephen with calves to £165 from CM & CS Chappelhow, Penrith.
The stirks were met with a selective trade quality and grazing types good too sell with younger softer types a slightly stickier trade. Leading the way were suckler bred yearling Limousin bullocks selling to £1040, £1000 and £980 with Charolais heifers from the same home selling to £920 consigned by G Mcgregor, Carlisle. This was followed by Limousin bullocks to £890 from JH Atkinson & Ptnrs, Selside.

Store Cattle
North West Auction held its annual Grass Day show and sale which had a catalogue entry of 955 store cattle. The pre-sale show was kindly sponsored by Dugdale Nutrition, North West Limousin’s, The Farmer Guardian and The Rural Law Practice. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our judge Mr John Melling and our vendors for the quality of cattle forward for both the show and sale. After much time and deliberation, the judge awarded the champion rosette to JG&PH Thompson, Selside with the reserve champion rosette awarded to the first prize Limousin heifer consigned M&L Preece, Kirkby Lonsdale. A wonderful day was had by all vendors, with 93 active buyers accounts, with cattle selling to throughout the UK and Scotland which ensured a fast trade throughout the day. The top price of the day was achieved by the champion from JG&PH Thompson, Selside this wonderful Limousin bullock which sold to £1850. Today’s sale also included the young handlers over wintering competition which was kindly supported by Roast Mutton Butchers, Kendal with judging in the capable hands of Mrs Yvonne Willison, Levens. North West Auctions would like to thank all the young handlers for the cattle presented for sale, I’m sure you would all agree that they have done an excellent job of rearing the cattle and we hope that they have all enjoyed taking part. The champion animal was award to Ben Dodgson, Kendal which went on to sell to the top price of £1680.

Next highest price was another Limousin selling to £1690 from BJ Bowness, Kendal who also sold other bullocks to £1630. A run of strong Angus bullocks from JW&TM Metcalf, Gatebeck peaked at £1600. Yearling bullocks sold another fast trade at J36 with the best end regularly selling £1300-£1450 mark. Forest Hall Farms sold a run of 10 month old Galloway bullock to sell to £990. 450 bullocks averaged £1080.

New buyers around the ring looking to purchase the best end heifers resulting in some fabulous returns. Limousin’s sold to a top of £1540 from N Cooper & Sons, Broughton with others selling to £1500 from JA&J Harper, Killington, with blue heifers topping at £1480 from S&M Cooper, Lease. The best yearling heifers Limousin & British Blue were selling to £1250-£1400 mark. A run of Blonde heifers from MJ Whitworth peaked at £1340.native heifer saw a keen interest from all buyers with angus’s selling to £1350 from J Twigge, Grange Over Sands. 400 heifers averaged £1020.

All young bulls continued to be a strong trade at J36 with J Twigge selling Angus & Charolais to a top of £1230.

North west auctions would like to thank all vendors and buyers for supporting Grass Day..

OTM / Cast Cattle
NWA J36 had another large entry of 73 cull cows forward at the fortnightly sale with an overall market of 187p/kg with over half the entry been dairy cows. Sale peaked at 251p/kg for a young Limousin x cow from Messrs Hodgson, Windermere. Other well bred beef cows selling to 247p/kg from N Cooper & Son, Broughton in Furness with other regularly selling at 210p/kg-214p/kg. Keen interest in cows for further finishing with an active ring side of 9 buyers present. Top grossing beef cow today was £1697 for a Blonde from T Atkinson, Ulverston. Dairy cows sold to a top price of 194p/kg for a Fleckvieh from SJ&J Hodgson & Son, Colton with other dairy cows selling to 187p/kg from I&ME Askew, New Hutton and SM&CS Chapplehow, Penrith and RJ&ML Lowery, Holker. Top grossing dairy cow and also achieved the top price of the day was a Fleckvieh from SJ&J Hodgson, Colton achieving £1808, with dairy Shorthorns selling to £1361 from JR Handley, Whinfell and Holstein Friesians £1301 from JA&DE Batty & Son, Burneside.
OTM Heifers sold to 234p/kg on two occasions for British Blue x from I&AJ Armer, Burneside with Holstein Friesians to 189.5p/kg from RA&E Edmondson, Levens. Top grossing heifer was a Hereford from A&ED Booth, Settle achieving £1615 who sold others to £1601.
Several cull bulls today sold to 229p/kg for a Stabilizer from JA&R Geldard & Sons, Levens with a Hereford from RJ&J Gardner, Natland selling at £1703.