Archive Article: 1997/11/28
After a hectic couple of months of dairy dispersals,
the busy spell is now drawing to a close. FW, armed
with an umbrella, called in on one Dorset sale last
week to get a flavour of the end-of-season trade…
The venue was Bungays Farm, Stalbridge – and on offer were 157 Friesian cattle for Mrs K M Eavis and Sons.
A glance at the catalogue showed that the cubicle-housed herd, calving mainly from September and October onwards, had an average yield of 6400 litres.
Overcoats were recommended…torrential rain before the sale left the car park flooded and meant some people had to be towed out. Tommy Stroud (left) avoided such problems by walking to the event. Here, he has a chat with old pal Malcolm Forte.
Luckily, the rain stopped during the sale, however. And retired farmer Dick Bennett took advantage of the break in the weather to dry out in the sunshine.
With the farm up for sale, a range of machinery and equipment was also up for grabs. Prices included £2000 for a Taarup 306 mower conditioner and £1600 for a Malgar 1300gal slurry tanker. But the top bid of £6400 came for this B-reg Ford 5610 tractor.
This visitor, like many, was looking for spring-calvers. And this is currently the vogue, says auctioneer Mark Lewis of Symonds and Sampson who, earlier this week, was at another auction at Wincanton, where spring-calvers averaged £750.
Dairy stock prices have held up well this autumn, according to the auctioneers, with cohort money, cheap fodder and the relatively weak quota leasing prices contributory factors. This was a day when prices rose to £1020, with an average of £550.