Hexham Auction Mart reports strong demand across cattle, ewes and store lambs

Hexham Auction Mart reported a strong day of trading across its store-cattle, cast-ewe and store-lamb sections at the sale held on Friday 21 August 2026. The report covered cattle and weaned calves, cast sheep and a substantial entry of store lambs, with notable prices achieved across several breeds.

The store-cattle section produced an average of £2,089.40 for steers and heifers together. That result came despite a “vastly reduced entry” compared with the previous week’s Anniversary sale, which the mart described as phenomenal. A total of 226 store cattle and weaned calves was catalogued.

This was also the mart’s special monthly sale for native-bred cattle. The entry was predominantly native bred, with 80% described as mainly Angus-bred beasts. Despite the smaller number of cattle forward, the mart said a great trade was seen across the section.

Fitches Grange cattle lead the sale

The leading cattle consignment came from R H Thompson & Son, Fitches Grange. Their big, hefty Charolais-cross steers sold to £2,580, £2,560 and £2,550. The leading figures were part of a broad set of strong results across the store-cattle catalogue.

Angus-cross steers reached £2,480 from RF Rogerson, Harbottle Grange. A second Angus steer achieved the same price for DA, P Burn & Sons, Aydon Shields. The leading Aberdeen Angus-cross prices in the detailed results included £2,480 from Harbottle Grange and Aydonshields, alongside further sales at £2,360, £2,330, £2,290 and £2,200 from named farms.

The highest-priced heifer was a Charolais cross from Telfer Brothers, Make-Me-Rich, which sold for £2,470. Other Charolais-cross heifers from the same home reached £2,380, £2,290, £2,240, £2,200 and £2,060. Limousin-cross heifers from Make-Me-Rich and Blackburn sold to £2,390 and £2,170 respectively.

The leading native-bred heifer was an Angus cross from RF Rogerson, Harbottle Grange, at £2,010. A further Angus-cross heifer from Hill Head reached £1,940, while two from the same home sold at £1,910.

Wilson Bros brought a pen of 15 well-matched 15-month-old Angus-cross heifers fresh out of Ingram Valley. That group sold at £1,700, while a second pen of six heifers from the same home reached £1,900. The report described the pen as one of the highlights of the sale.

Among the younger cattle, 10-month-old Charolais-cross steers from J Herdman, Edlingham Newtown, reached £2,110. The detailed results also recorded strong prices for cattle aged between 11 and 17 months, including Limousin-cross steers at £2,360 from Coldwell and Aberdeen Angus-cross steers at £2,270 from Wingates Wholme.

Other notable results included British Blue-cross steers at £2,380 from Aydonshields, Hereford-cross steers at £2,300 from Harbottle Grange and Belted Galloway-cross steers at £2,200 from Ricknall Grange. In the younger heifer section, Limousin crosses reached £2,340 from Blackburn, while a Galloway heifer from Little Bavington made £1,810.

The mart said more cattle were needed and could be sold readily through the centre. Entries and enquiries were invited through Drew Patrick on 0785361967 or Andrew Hutcheson on 07955275403.

Cast-ewe trade better than expected

Hexham and Northern Marts sold 1,453 cast ewes and tups. The report described the trade as better than expected in the context of a national downturn.

The sale topped at £300 for a pair of Texel ewes from W J Scott Ltd, Low Leam. A & D Proctor, Swarland Old Hall, sold five Texel ewes to £262, while a pair of Dutch Texel ewes from J & A Moralee, Hard Riding, reached £250.

A pen of 20 Beltex ewes from A J & T Snaith, Great Tosson, sold for £198. Suffolk-cross ewes reached £182 from W Walton & Son, Ogle Castle. Other breed results included Charollais ewes at £178 from Great Tosson, Cheviot ewes at £140 from Nunwick and Cheviot-cross ewes at £150 from Chesters Brae.

Heavier Mule ewes met more resistance than some of the other sheep. The top price for Mules was £150 for a trio from Ogle Castle. North of England Mules also reached £149 from Elrington Hall and £148 from Low Leam. Blackface ewes sold to £130 for six from W Walton & Sons, Troughend.

The mart encouraged vendors to continue entering ewes. There was only a very small show of cast tups. Suffolk tups reached £175 from Gilside, while Texel tups topped at £250 from W Walton & Sons, Ogle Castle.

Store lambs average £124.41

The store-lamb sale involved a catalogued entry of 6,099 lambs and was described as a fast trade. The all-in average was £124.41, with the number of lambs more than 1,000 higher than in the same week the previous year.

Beltex-cross lambs topped the section at £169. That price was achieved by a lamb from R Rutherford, Kingswood, and a pair from M & N Gray, Low Espley. Beltex lambs averaged £140.99 overall.

Texel-cross lambs reached £160 from P Clifford, Lamberton Gardens. The strength of demand was also reflected in the number of pens achieving higher prices: 128 pens of Texel-cross lambs made £128 or more. The detailed results included further Texel-cross prices of £158 from Stobby Lea and Errington Red House, £156 from Stobby Lea and £154 from Moss House.

Suffolk-cross lambs peaked at £158 for seven from H & T V Walton, Settlingstones. The section contained 788 Suffolk-cross lambs, which averaged £127.83. Other Suffolk-cross results included £149 from Great Bavington, £140 from Howick Estate and £139 from Howick Estate, North Churchlands and Upper Samiestown.

Mule lambs were also keenly sought after. They reached £124 for 18 from D Collingwood, Intake. The same home sold 17 shapely Texel-cross lambs at £146. A further pen of 20 Mule lambs from J D Walton & Sons, Burnbank, also made £124.

Fourteen pens, representing 314 Mule lambs, reached £120 or more. W & H I Watson, Sanders Close, made a successful first visit to Hexham by selling a pen of 60 Mule lambs at £120. Cheviot Mule lambs reached £134 for a pen of 40 from J Loder, Upper Chatto. Cheviot-cross lambs reached £124 from Moorhouse Gate, while Dutch Spotted crosses reached £144 from Grange House.

The mart said all breeds, shapes and sizes continued to attract competitive bidding at Hexham. The report also announced a sale of 2,000 store lambs at St Johns Chapel on Saturday 22 August, starting at 10am, and invited further entries for future sales at Hexham.