Hoggs and lambs sold slightly easier on the previous sale at Darlington Farmers Auction Mart’s second sale where a top price of £355 per life was paid for the champion pen made up of five Texel hoggs with single lambs at foot.

Judge, Tommy Smith, Barnard Castle, found his supreme in a pen from D Carr and Son, Highwood, Hexham, which he later bought on behalf of GB Howsam, Lincolnshire.

Texel hoggs and lambs averaged £140 per life while Mules sold to £270 per life for a pen of Blackface-bred hoggs from P Turnbull, Kildale, to average £122.

Older ewes and lambs were just as dear – strong twins often sold at £90-£100 per life with singles regularly reaching £100 and more. Top price was £305 paid for Texels with twins from TW Brown and Sons, Brokes Farm.

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A mixed offering of store cattle was led by a pair of yearling Limousin bulls from S and J Dent and Son, Great Burdon Farm, that sold for £1610 each.

Steers reached £1550 for a 20-month-old Aberdeen Angus from A Gregg, Low House Farm , while heifers sold to £1460 for a 26-month-old British Blue from F W Robinson and Son, Greenfield Farm, Lincolnshire.

Leading Prices

Hoggs with lambs – Cont – £355, £270, £265, D Carr and Son; £288, £285, F Johnson; £280, £250 A Tunstall; £265 TW Thompson; £250 I Spedding.

Mules – £270, £252 (x2), £248 P Turnbull; £255 (x2), £245, £235 HS Hutchinson; £255 TW Thompson; £235, £232 (x2), £228 MW Reed and Sons.

Ewes with lambs – £305, £300, £290, £250, £240 (x2), £235 (x2) TW Brown and Sons; £300, £278, £230 BR Lawson; £295, £285, £265 KF Raine; £285 C Longstaff; £280, £275 W and C Iceton; £265, £245 I Hedley; £250 CG Barraclough; £240 JH Johnson.

Store cattle – Bulls – £1610 x2, £1540, £1530 S and J Dent and Son.

Steers – £1550, £1400, A Gregg; £1470 IW Cairns; £1430 x3 GW and M Singleton and Sons; £1420 TE Dobson.

Heifers – £1460 FW Robinson and Son; £1430, £1380 IW Cairns; £1390 x2 W and J Herbert; £1360 PM Beveridge.