CALVES

The weekly sale of rearing calves at NWA Lancaster saw a strong and competitive trade for all classes and types. The sale peaked at £440 for a British Blue bull from GH Sanderson & Family, Catforth with this price being matched by AD & RL Milner, Claughton on Brock also selling a British Blue x. Other beef bull calves regularly sold at £350 – £420 to include an Aberdeen Angus x achieving £410 from JK & BJ Birkett & Son, Ltd, Morecambe.

There was keen interest in heifer calves today which saw British Blue x sell to £410 from JP & C Robson, Preston who sold others at £400 and GH Sanderson & Family also selling British Blue x heifers at £410. An entry of young Aberdeen Angus x heifers sold to £250 from EW & RM Towers, Hornby with very young sorts to £160 from TL Baldwin & Son, Forton.

A large entry of dairy bulls sold to £180 for a Holstein Friesian from JE & J Pye & Son, Quernmore, with others at £120 from JR Newsham & Son, Conder Green and Barker Farms Ltd, Warton. All black and white bull calves today averaged £92. An entry of recently weaned calves from EW & RM Towers, Hornby saw British Blue x steers sell to £350, Fleckvieh steers £320 with others regularly £245 – £295.

STORE CATTLE

The Fridays store cattle trade was hotter than the weather this week, as buyers see a lift in prime beef prices, giving them the confidence to get on and bid for the cattle on offer, much to Garys delight. Top of the charts today was GA & A Atkinson, Cantsfield with a well bred and expertly fed Limousin steer at £1700, just proving that Lancaster is the place to sell your strong stores and that there is no need to go past our gate to other centres. Not far behind was TJ Lloyd, Settle with a pair of powerful Charolais steers at £1630, who also sold Hereford steers at £1580. K&DE Woodhouse, Ellel had a good run of cattle topping at £1540 for a trio of British Blue steers, J&JM Walmsley, Pilling also sold a pair of British Blue steers to £1500. Aberdeen Angus steers from TJ Lloyd, Settle made £1540, with EW & CR Clegg & Sons, Stalmine at £1440 for a pair. Many more Aberdeen Angus steers, to many to mention sold in the £1300-£1400 bracket. TJ Lloyd, Settle continued his good trade with Friesian steers at £1370, CE & MA Hewitt, Forton sold at £1200 for a pair and a pen of four from EE Thornton, Heaton-with-Oxcliffe at £1180. All steers today averaged £1200.
Aberdeen Angus heifers topped the heifers trade, with a pair of well grown beasts at £1460 from EW & CR Clegg & Son, Stalmine, with others from JD & GM Bracken, Catterall at £1370, L Parsons & Son, Levens was not far behind at £1300 for a pen of three. L Parsons & Sons also went on to sell Limousin heifers at £1320. K & DE Woodhouse, Ellel continued his good day, selling a pair of British Blue heifers at £1360 with others at £1250 from R Oldfield, Yealand Redmayne. All heifers today averaged £1060, which included a large number of younger cattle.

OTM CATTLE

The weekly OTM cattle sale saw no let up in trade today, averaging 142p/kg this being 8p up on the week previous, with buyers having orders for all types of cattle. Friesian OTM cows today topped the sale at £1322 from SW&K Metcalf & Son, Whittington with other Friesians at £1243 from AW & AW Park & Sons, Ellel. Other dairy bred cows sold to £1132 for Fleckvieh from B&AC Barnes, Middleton. Prices per kilo today saw OTM Friesian cows to 174.5p/kg from EE Thornton & Sons, Heaton-with-Oxcliffe with Fleckvieh at 166.5p/kg from B & AC Barnes, Middleton. Continental cows from RM & PM Simpson, Troutbeck sold to 179.5p/kg.
OTM heifers saw a top price of £1227 or 209.5p/kg for Aberdeen Angus from PG Thornton, Scorton, with Friesians at 184.5p/kg or £1005 from RM Mason & Son, Levens.
A larger show of OTM steers saw 217.5p/kg or £1328 achieved by A Kirkby & Co, Cockerham for an Aberdeen Angus. Herefords sold to 194.5p/kg or £1128 from RJ Holgate, Redmayne. More OTM bulls on the market today, topping at £1307 for a Montbeliarde from JM & AG Swarbrick, Out Rawcliffe. Limousin OTM Bulls sold to £1258 from K Thomas, Firbank.
More OTM cattle are required to fulfil our buyers’ requirements.