Market reports
BLACKMOOR GATE
Exmoor Farmers report on December 21 a total entry of 1,566 sheep selling to a 100% clearance, which was surprising with all of the disruption caused by the
Dover / Calais port closures, causing some uncertainty with the process and export of lamb to the Eurobloc. A short number of grazing ewes sold to a top of £69.50 for A Kift and £69 for O Robins, with a pen of three from East Ilkerton Farm Partnership hitting £66.50, and a pen of seven from M J & R S M Barrow to £66. A better than expected trade on the ewes with plenty of competition still for all types forward. Cull rams to £80 from M Rawle for an Exmoor Horn, also selling a further pen of Scotch rams to £66.50. An entry of 1,530 store lambs sold to 100% clearance as stated, with a top of the day at £88 for a pen from A Vile. Much better than anticipated, but certainly down on previous weeks. Stitchpool Farm Partnership saw their run with three pens through at £81.79 and £78.50; M Rawle closely followed at £78, with a run from E R Dascombe & Son to £77.50 and a second pen at £77. M J & R S M Barrow saw their top pen to £77.20 and a run from R Cowling saw a pen of 56 away at £76.50, which was followed by D J Kennard with a pen of 54 making £76. Plenty of demand still and some fresh faces in the buying line-up never got started as their anticipations had been for a much reduced trade than was achieved on the day. We would like to take the opportunity to sincerely thank all of our vendors and buyers for their continued support over the past 12 months and we look forward to a healthy and more straightforward 2021. The sale on January 4 saw a total of 542 sheep sold which were met with an absolute flyer of a trade; a jump in confidence from buyers following the deal reached with the EU has certainly given confidence and prices reflected this. A much shorter supply of grazing ewes, with only 14 forward. Cull ewes topping at £80 for a ewe from P Huxtable and cull rams topped at £73 for an Exmoor Horn from G South. Just 528 store lambs which sold to a top of the day at £100 for a pen from J O C Dyer, with a second pen to £98. Others from Little & Son hit £91.50 and a run from C Raffe saw his first pen away at £91, a second to £87 and a third to £86, with many of these going to be a couple of months away from finishing. Others to break the £90 mark included a pen from C J Facey at £90.80, closely followed by pens from Stitchpool Farm Partnership, who saw their first pen at £86 and a second at £85.80, with others to £86 from Rackenford Manor Farms for a bunch of 31. Many, many more lambs required to meet demand. The next sale will be on Monday, January 18. We anticipate a larger entry and continued buyer support, so we would be grateful for any lambs you have left to be entered on the 18th. Please contact the office by Monday, January 11 with your entries in order that we can ensure you are included within the catalogue.
NEWTON ABBOT
Rendells report on December 21 from their ever-popular Newton Abbot Town Christmas Dead Poultry Sale, held under strict coronavirus restrictions. Special thanks to the cooperation of the Newton Abbot Community Transport Association, Devon Highways, Teignbridge District Council Car Parks and Markets departments. Numbers of entiries where a lot less compared to previous years due to many vendors selling out before the sale day, which pushed prices to well above past year’s averages. Numbers of geese were very short making all the entries in very high demand. Top price was £105 for a 17lb goose (£6.18 per lb) from Mr J Skevington of Lower Washborne Farm, Harbeton. Best price per lb was from Mr R Quantick at £7.85 per lb closely followed by Josh Quant reaching £7.50 per lb and Mr J Milton of Orchard Farm, Crediton at £7.29 per lb! Even under the Covid-19 rules, the turkey auction met a brisk trade from start to finish, with the top price being £80 for a 25lb turkey from Mr J Milton of Orchard Farm, Crediton. With the average sale price per pound being over £3.50, the top prices were seen by M Slade of Rosamondford Farm, Aylesbeare at £4.80 per lb, £4.77 per lb, £4.73 per lb and £4.67 per lb. This was closely followed by W Gerry of Hood Barton Farm at £4.50 per lb and £4.33 per lb, with the best weights between 11-15lb making the best prices. Mr T Curtis of Coombe Farm, Cadleigh attained the top duck price of £18 for his bird, while Mr P Cole of Crediton attained the best price per pound at £3.70 per lb for his bird. Once again Mr. Boyne of Dawlish had his usual consignment of boned and rolled duck breast that attracted keen interest hitting £8 per pack. Mr Boyne of Dawlish had a good run of boned and rolled pheasants which attracted bids of up to £9 per pack, while braces of pheasants in feather reached £2. Rendells Newton Abbot would like to thank all the vendors and buyers for their continued support and wish everyone a prosperous and healthy New Year.
SEDGEMOOR
Greenslade Taylor Hunt report on January 2 a very short entry of 191 store cattle, part of 263-head with the stirks and few sucklers, met a flier. The weather was chilly but the trade was scorching. Numerous buyers in attendance, far too many for the number of cattle on offer and most went home empty. More cattle wanted next week. Top was a tremendous
£1425 for a grand Charolais steer (23m and FA) from AT Smith, Badminton, who sold a very shapely yet lean Blue steer at £1355 (27m and FA). More well grown, forward Blues at £1355 (21/22m and FA) £1305 (3x 20/24m and FA) £1290 (3x 19/23m and FA) and £1260 (31m and FA) from JPT Reed & Son, Southleigh, who also sold good Charolais steers at £1335 (2x 23m and FA). Smart, longer term feeding Blues at £1260 (28m and FA) TJ Samways & Son, North Perrott; £1215 (24m and FA) Arscott Partners, Upottery; £1190 (3x 29m and FA) SJ & AM Reed, Uplowman; £1175 (22m and FA) K & N Crang, Mudford; £1090 (23m and FA) CM Parker & IF Burnett, Templeton and £1040 (3x 18m and FA) P & D Symes, Misterton. Limousin steers peaked at £1260 (27m and FA) from TJ Samways & Son again. The two black Limousins (18/19m and FA) pictured earlier in the day on Facebook, from AG Hinks & Son, Nyland, achieved £1250. Further good Limousins £1195 (24m and FA) K & N Crang, Mudford; £1130 (28m and FA) £1100 (2x 20m and FA) and £1070 (18/20m and FA) CM Parker & IF Burnett again. Further Charolais £1095 (32m and FA) L & A Maddock & Co, Wiveliscombe. Native steers in short supply to £1245 for big framed, lean Angus (23/25m, FA and sire) from Arscott Partners again. Further Angus to £1130 (18m, FA and sire) AG Hinks & Son again. Framed Herefords to £1095 (21/22m, FA and sire) from K & N Crang again. Frame again at £1070 (27m, FA and sire) TJ Samways & Son. Blocky types £975 (5x 17/18m, FA and sire) from AG Hinks & Son again. Dairy breeds rose to £1065 for a lean Montbeliarde from TJ Samways & Son again. Big frame Holstein at £995 (22m and FA) Arscott Partners again. Blocky Fleckvieh and Holstein at £950 (15/18m and FA) from AG Hinks & Son again. Well framed Holsteins £900 (3x 20/23m and FA) from KJ & CP Dunn, Dinder, who sold another smaller at £850 (20m and FA). Heifers in short supply and £1220 was achieved by two vendors. Firstly with a nice, three quarter meat Blue (29m and FA) from SJ & AM Reed again and again at £1220 for two warm Blues (20/27m and FA) from
JPT Reed & Son. More good Blues £1175
(23/24m and FA) and £1110 (24/25m and FA) from K & N Crang again. Also £1050 (15/17m and FA) CM Parker & IF Burnett again. Charolais to £1200 for a near fit type from JPT Reed & Son again. Best feeding Charolais £1070 (2x 20m and FA) from RW Fry, Long Sutton, who also sold good feeding Limousins at £1165 (twice (2x 22m and FA) and (19/20m and FA). The shapely red and black Limousin heifers pictured earlier in the day on Facebook (bottom left) shot to £1100 (4x 21m and FA) for SJ Williams, North Newton. Others £1050 (18/19m and FA) AG Hinks & Son again and £1035 (20m and FA) CM Parker & IF Burnett again. Native heifers to £1060 for the only Angus (26m, FA and sire) on offer. Hereford heifers to £1025 (21/22m, FA and sire) from K & N Crang again. Others £1020 (21m, FA and sire) CM Parker & IF Burnett and £1010 (16m, FA and sire) SJ Williams again. Cracking trade. Fortune again favours the brave once more. More wanted for next week. Grazing cows sold to £630 for a Hereford cow from PA Ford. A small entry of sucklers sold to £910 for a Hereford cross cow and her Limousin cross bull calf from B Roberts. A short New Year entry of 68 stirks met a strong trade for the best. Top price of £940 (2x 13m) for Limousin steers from AJ Barrett, who sold further good steers to £890 (10m) £860 (2x) £825 (2x 13m) £800 (only 8m) £795 (2x 13m) and £785 (11m). Further Limousins to £730 (13m) RS Spiller & Son. Fleckvieh to £740 (2x 14m) CJ & J Lang, who sold another at £700 (14m). Good dairy bred British Blues to £705 (2x 12m) RM Coombes & Sons Ltd, who sold others to £665 (3x 12m) and £660 (2x 12m).
Simmental to £660 (7m) SJ Williams. Herefords to
£605 (4x 9m) AJ Calloway, when another sold to £590 CJ & J Lang again. Heifers sold to £762 for a Limousin (14m) AJ Barrett, who sold others to £655 (2x 13m). Further Limousin to £565 (8m) and £560 (2x 10m) SJ Williams. British Blues to £695 (2x 13m) BM Coombes & Sons Ltd again, who sold others to £675 (4x 12m). Further British Blues to £665 (2x 13m) RS Spiller & Son; £645 (2x) and £630 (3x) CJ & J Lang again. Simmentals flew to £670 (4x 12m) RS Spiller & Son again. A good entry of 372 non-export calves for the first market of 2021 saw trade strong for the middle quality, although lacked the sparkle at the top end, when some calves looked well bought. Top of the day was £355 for a superb month old Lmousin bull from HT & ME Quick. Other Limousins to £280 from MA & NR Bowditch and £230 from Foxcombe Farm. Blues topped at £335 for a month old calf from G Bickham. Others £290 (2x) from CD & KD Briggs and CD Griffin & Partners; £280 from MC Powell and £275 from EC & LK Parker. Charolais to £335, £330 and £325 from SM & DM Turner Ltd. Others £255 from CE Veysey. Only two Simmentals forward both to £275 from RJ Edwards. Natives to £325 for a month old Angus from The Cornock Partnership. Others £278 from F & S Aplin and £250 from Paul Kostyla. Herefords to £260 from Higher Farm Manston Ltd; £238 from Lilylane Farms Ltd; £230 from NP Gibbons and £230 from AC & JH Loxton. Continental heifers to £275 for a young Blue from RA Wilkins & Son. Others £260 from VJ Thomas & Son Ltd; £250 RL & ME Trott and £245 (2x) from MA & NR Bowditch. Super young Limousin to £250 from HT & ME Quick; £242 from DJ Spratt and £225 from CG & KD Briggs. Charolais to £220 (2x) for SM & DM Turner Ltd and CE Veysey and £195 from Foxcombe Farm Somerset Ltd. Only two Simmentals both sold to £190 from PT Bale & Sons. Native heifers to £242 and £232 (3x) for reared Angus from Richard Willcox. Younger Angus to £200 from Graham Heard; £200 from The Cornock Partnership and £190 from E Davis. Herefords to £200 from Higher Farm Manston Ltd; £175 (2x) from Lilylane Farms; £170 from M& S Powell, £160 PJLS Farms. The 75 dairy-sired bull calves met a very similar trade. The change in the Arla calf scheme came into force and thank you to all the vendors that marked their calves, with an orange dot on the forehead. Please ensure that you also enter details on your entry forms as well, as it was valuable in ensuring we all work together.
Top of the day was £135 from RC Pratt. Others £130 from F & S Aplin; £110 from AK & CM Quick and £90 from VJ Thomas. Best rearing calves £80 plus, mediums £40-£60 and mostly over £20. Fleckvieh to £112 from Dillington Farms. Norwegian Red to £130 from J & D Tilbee. A grand entry of 93 dairy cattle, mostly milkers, to start the year, which included 62 freshly-calved heifers, saw a good trade for the better end. The customers are looking for strength, so the two-year-old smaller heifers were more difficult to place. Several over £2000 to £2160, £2150 for pedigree heifers from FG Summerhayes & Son. Others to £2150 and £1860 for a non pedigree heifer from Adrian Ractliffe; £1900 Alston Sutton Farms; £1880 Anton Smith; £1860 MC Powell; £1850 and £1750 from Arrijan Farming; £1820, £1800 and £1780 from Snook Ltd; £1780 RJ, HA & MR Popham. Best cows to £1840 (fourth calver) from GWO Marsh & Partners’ dispersal, who had others to £1620 and £1580. £1820 and £1600 M & K Churchill & Son; £1720 MC Powell; £1680 A & W Vigus; £1620 for a Montbeliarde from RL & ME Trott. Ayrshire cross cows to £1500 and £1200 from M A& NR Bowditch. Guernsey heifer £1320 RJ Edwards. In-calf heifers to £1500 and £1300 David Luff. Calves to £160 (3x) MC Powell. Dairy Shorthorn calves £100 (2x) BS & SG Kingston. In the sheep section, a tight entry of 859 store lambs sold to a much brighter trade, when the most forward types met with spirited bidding. Top call was £116 achieved by EJ Gwyn and PJ Holloway. Other best types to £109 from S & J Willis; £107 from RJ & AM Pedrick; £99 from M Pickford; £97 from RJ Taylor; £96.50, £95.50 and £94 from P Athay; £94 from PJ Holloway; £93 from BB Hooper and GM Veysey. Overall average rising sharply to £78.78. Another large entry of 1252 cull ewes and rams sold to a firmer trade, despite a large proportion of hill types being presented. Best of the day to £140 from JW & JA Wotton. Other topping ewes to £134 from RJ & AM Pedrick; £120 from JC Salmon; £109.50 from S Bye & Son; £105 from L Williams; £103 from RP & JA Brendon and CA Churchill; £102.50 from SJ Dallyn; £102 from S Bye & Son. Best of the rams to £128 from D Sheldon. Others to £122 from JC Salmon; £121 from ECD Norfolk; £120 from Pike Farms; £111 from L & A Maddock & Co and £110 from JC Salmon. Overall average £71.37, which would have been higher, if not for the large proportion of hill types forward. A handful of 25 breeding ewes forward sold to £122 for 6T/FM scanned in-lamb North Country Mules from DR Dymond. Overall average £114.18. A reasonable entry of 44 ewes with 66 lambs at foot sold to a competitive trade. Best of the doubles to £225 (£75/life) from SE & TL Lye. Others to £190 (£63.33/life) from PA & DE
Wyatt. Singles to £174 (£87/life) from SE & TL Lye. Others to £152 (£76/life) from PA & DE Wyatt. Overall average £61.52/life. A good entry of 131 pigs for our first sale of the year. Trade far better than anticipated when the smaller butchers were looking to restock after the festive holiday period. An entry of 34 weaners met a level trade, with no real first class pens forward. The best sold to £38 from D Ballard. One breeder saw a Gloucester Old Spot gilt to £62. A good entry of 96 forward stores with the best heavy pigs from Mitchell Partners to £122. Others from LE Miller & Son to £116 and £115 from AA Hubbard. Lighter weight (55-75kg) Gloucester Old Spots sold to £67 from RJ Everitt and £82 from TJ & SM Hobbs.
HOLSWORTHY
Kivells report on December 30 a good number of 523 lambs forward, with trade very similar. Best lambs topping at 224p/kg from Chris Heard of Stratton. Top prime per head £105 from John Grigg of Weare Gifford. An overall average of 211p/kg reflected the quality on offer. An entry of 209 draft ewes with the best ewes still in strong demand, albeit less than previous weeks. Top price of £96 from Mike Kirby of Milton Dameral. A really good end to 2020 in the calf pens with an entry of 112 calves and stirks, which saw a top call of £385 for the pick of 12 Angus and Blue bull calves (70 days old) from James & Ed Weeks of Hartland with others at £365 & £345 from the same good farm. Topping the under 42 day olds was a supreme 27-day-old Blue bull from Mike & Pearl Hopper of Whitstone which saw the hammer come down at £332 and going home with the Rogers family of Barnstaple in North Devon. Chris Bond of Buckland saw his best of four Limousins (37 days old) to £320 with Messrs James of Halwill doing well with their Limousins at £300 and going off to Bodmin with the Williams family. Best Herefords came from Messrs Morrow of Truro in Mid Cornwall whilst Messrs Wellington of St Kew topped the Simmentals at £122. Heifers sold to an exciting trade with the best Blue heifers from RJ Weeks & Son of Baxworthy at
£345, whilst the best Hereford heifers hit £210 for the Baker family and going off to Launceston. Holstein bull calves sold to a ‘stand on’trade with Grenvill & Martyn Heal of Torrington topping at £110. 47 bulls averaged £199.60, 41 heifers averaged £187.30 and 17 Holstein bulls averaged £91.30.
SOUTH MOLTON
Stags report on December 29 a really strong number of 1054 prime lambs forward for the week between Christmas & New Year and as expected a dearer trade. All lambs meeting strong demand especially the 42-46kg leaner lambs with more buyers in attendance than at our normal Thursday markets. The entry was very mixed with a number of Mule wether and native bred lambs bringing the SQQ back. Also, a number of lambs showing the weather and just beginning to need bellying. This being the last sale of the year we look forward to getting going again with our regular Thursday sales in January. Hopefully, with the Brexit deal done the lamb trade will be allowed to continue as strong next year as it has been this year. Best pens to 235ppk to 39.1kg Charollais crosses from Mr HJ Dart of Bishops Nympton with 234ppk to 40.1kg Texel crosses from Messrs CP & CA Guscott of Dulverton. 232ppk to 40.5kg Charollais crosses from Mr GR McLeod of Swimbridge with 230ppk three times; the first to 40kg Suffolk crosses from Messrs SL & S Cole of Calverleigh; the second to 42.7kg Texel crosses again from Messrs Guscott and the third to 40.3kg Texel crosses from Mr L Gillbard & Son of Black Dog. 229ppk to 42kg Texel crosses from Mrs M Tapp of South Molton with 228ppk to 39kg Charollais crosses from Mr GC Thomas of Burrington. Two pens rose to 226ppk; the first to
43.6kg Texel crosses from Messrs Irwin & Sons of Mariansleigh and the second to 42kg Texel crosses from Mr MJ Hooper & Son of South Molton. 225ppk to 41.8kg Texel crosses from Mr R Butt of South Molton with 224ppk five times; the first to 44.6kg Charollais crosses again from Mr McLeod; the second to 43.9kg Texel crosses from Messrs Beer Brothers of Warkleigh; the third to 43.4kg Texel crosses from Messrs D & L Folland of Barnstaple; the fourth to 44.2kg Suffolk crosses again from Messrs Cole and the fifth to 46kg Texel crosses from Mr RW Tapp & Son of South Molton. Topping the lambs at £112 to a super 68kg Charollais cross from Mrs M Tapp of South Molton whose other 60.6kg Texel crosses rose to £110.50. £109 twice; the first to 56kg Suffolk crosses from Mr RW Tapp & Son of South Molton and the second to 58.9kg Suffolk crosses from Messrs DW & J Jones of Heasley Mill. £108 to
54kg Charollais crosses from Mr R Butt of South Molton with £107 twice; the first to 55kg Charollais crosses from Messrs BW, MR & SW Cottle of Okehampton and the second to 55.7kg Suffolk crosses from Mr BWJ Lavis also of Okehampton. Two further pens at £106; the first being 53kg Texel crosses from Messrs DW & J Jones again and the second to 53.5kg Suffolk crosses from Messrs Cook Partners of Georgeham. £105.50 to
52.9kg Charollais crosses from Mr RJ Evely of Peters Marland and £105 twice; the first to 50kg Texel crosses from Mr MJ Hooper & Son of South Molton and the second to 53.3kg Texel crosses from Messrs Cook again. £104.50 three times; the first to 52.6kg Texel crosses again from Mrs Tapp; the second to 47.8kg Texel crosses from Messrs Jones again and the third to 47.9kg Charollais crosses from Mr RW Tapp & Son again. £104 to 53kg Suffolk crosses from Messrs PM & ME Smale of Burrington. Another solid number of 447 cull ewes and rams and what a trade. A lot of ewes look £3-4 per head dearer than before Christmas especially the leaner ewes with large contingent of buyers in attendance who were all keen to secure ewes driving the price upwards. Not many big ewes forward and a lot of medium sized ewes on offer. Best Suffolk Mules all over the £100 mark and best Mules all over the £80 mark. Top of the day at £123 to a super Texel ram from Mr MJ Hooper & Son of South Molton with a Suffolk cross from Mr TJ Webber of Atherington at £116. Other Texel rams from Messrs GJ & P Arscott & Son of Umberleigh at £108. Best of the ewes to £116 to a Texel from Mr J Ford of Tiverton with Suffolk Mules from Messrs GJ & P Arscott & Son at £110. Messrs Cook Partners of Georgeham sold a super run of Suffolk Mules to £108 and £107 for their best pens. Other Suffolk Mules from Messrs CP & CA Guscott of Dulverton rose to £106 with £104 to similar blackfaces from Mr RW Tapp & Son of South Molton. £102 to Suffolk crosses from Messrs FG & LA Nott of Meshaw and further similar bred ewes from Mr TJ Webber of Atherington at £101. Charollais crosses from Messrs Guscott again at £100 with Texel crosses from the Arscott Family at £99. £96 twice; both to Texel cross pens from Mr TJ Webber and Messrs BW, MR & SW Cottle of Okehampton. Closely followed at £95.50 to a super pen of Suffolk crosses again from the Cottle Family. £94 to Texel crosses from Mr P Morish of Cheriton Bishop with other Texels again from the Arscott Family at £93.50. Pure Dorsets again from Mr P Morish rose to £92 with other whitefaces from Mr TJ Webber at £91.50.
EXETER
Kivells report on January 4 prime cattle selling to 219ppk given for a 612kg Limousin bred heifer from Mark Davis of Burlescombe which realised £1337, whilst top total price for prime cattle was £1466
(758kg x 194ppk) for a heavyweight British Blue steer from Keith and Hilary Harvey of Bovey Tracey. More quality cattle saw a 640kg Blonde heifer from Michael and Stephen Harvey of Hennock draw 209ppk and £1334 with the best of a good run from Roger Adams, Cullompton (a 546kg Simmental steer) also rising to 209ppk. A couple of 550kg Aberdeen Angus steers from Adrian Bowden, Drewsteignton both took home 200ppk. Best of the barren cows topped at 178ppk for a 724kg Limousin from Mark Davis again, which grossed at a £1285. Further decent sorts saw South Devon barreners from Luke Knight of Ottery St Mary ease to 160ppk and £1309 whilst Aberdeen Angus cows from Graham Heard, Broadclyst sold to 136ppk and £919. Dairy bred cows saw Holsteins to £841 (716kg x 118ppk) for Steve Loud of Colyton and
Jerseys reaching £351 (472kg x 75ppk) for GCB Davis of Westleigh, Tiverton. A small New Year’s entry of sheep were another fiery trade with the prime lambs topping at £130 for Mark & Clare Davis of Burlescombe with overweight Texel’s whilst the best of the handy weights saw 45kg Beltex crosses from the Baxter family of Exwick at £110 or a sale topping 244ppk followed closely by Pollard Landscapes of Ashburton with 44kgs at 243ppk (£107) and the 40-45kg weight range averaged £101.69 and 233ppk. A high proportion of hill-bred hoggs peaked at £85 for Brian Vallance of Bickington who shared the top per kilo for hill hoggs of 229ppk with Peter Heard of Okehampton. SQQ 227ppk down just 6p due entirely to quality. The first of the new season prime lambs saw 38kg pure Dorset’s sell well at £95 or 250ppk for Three Valleys Livestock of Charlton Down. A very tight entry of ewes saw Anthony Carter of Dawlish top both the ewe and ram section with a Rouge ewe at £124 and Lleyn ram at £120, other ewes to £117.50 for Steve Webber & Jo Tucker of Umberleigh and £115, £107 and £104.50 for Mark Harvey of Slapton. The overall average was £4 improved at £81.