Dedication pays for Border & Lakeland sales

Teamwork: Border & Lakeland sales committee members, left to right, chairman John Hodgson, Ian Mallinson, Stephen Brough, Matt Fisher and Stephen Morley. Missing from the photograph is Robert Emerson.

Pedigree dairy cattle trade at Borderway is booming, with the Border & Lakeland events earning the reputation as one of the best Holstein club sales in the country.

In general, auction sales of pedigree Holstein dairy cattle across the UK are commanding excellent prices even though the commercial buyers who re underpinning the market are receiving low milk prices.

Key to this is supply and demand. However, the excellent working partnership between the Border & Lakeland Holstein Club and Harrison & Hetherington's dairy sales and marketing team is capitalising on this, achieving results in both increased numbers of vendors and purchasers - as well as in solid prices.

Six years ago, pre the UK's 2001 foot and mouth epidemic, pedigree dairy cows and heifers at auction were making anything from 50 to 70 per cent of prices currently being achieved.

Sales for the Border and Lakeland Club at Borderway Mart, Carlisle, more than reflect this upturn. The January 2006 sale for the Border and Lakeland Club at Borderway Mart, Carlisle, Cumbria, was a total sell-out averaging nearly £1,150 for all cows and heifers with six making over 1,500gns and two over 2,000gns.

At the following month's sale 61 animals averaged £1,110 to a top price of 2,000gns. And the March sale hosted another great turn out by all consignors involved. Demand, paralleled with a reduced supply maintained a strong trade. The champion made the top price of 1,850gns. Heifer averages again topped £1,000 with 39 heifers in milk making £1024.69 and 11 cows in milk at £947.86. On the same day at the spring bull sale the champion made the second highest price of 3,100gns with the reserve champion making 3,000gns with a sale top price of 3,600gns. The top price of the day was 3,600gns for one of six straight generations of Excellent from the renowned Gornal Spot Ada family, one of the best British families for overall index, type and production. The sale averaged £1925.63 for 28 bulls.

The figures reflect the undoubted success of the club's sales during the last year and more. The number of cattle sold during 2005 went up by 8.3 per cent on 2004 from 763 to 826. while average prices rose by 18 per cent over the period from £804 to £949.46. Both buyers and consigners have increased. Those selling cattle have increased from 105 to 113, up 7.6 per cent while the number of buyers has gone up from 203 in 2004 to 221 in 2005 - 8.9 per cent more.

The sales are run by H&H's dairy team - auctioneers Edward Brown, Glyn Lucas and Andrew Templeton and sales and marketing co-ordinator Alison Millar in conjunction with a dedicated team of pedigree breeders who make up the club's sales committee. Sales committee chairman John Hodgson said:
"Producers are working hard to increase cattle numbers and we are finding that the average buyer is now looking for a volume of cattle to buy. It's all about the economics of the dairy industry. "But, in turn, our members are prepared to put forward good heifers for sale."

The location of the sales venue at Borderway is a prime advantage, right on the junction of the M6 motorway with major trunk roads filtering west and east. Recognising that breeders' time is precious, the team will help with organising the marketing of cattle from haulage, preparation and showing to the fall of the hammer.

Taking advantage of the latest technology, catalogues are available for download from the H&H Group website - www.livestock-sales.co.uk - as well as up to date comprehensive sales reports.

Vendors and prospective purchasers can also receive the latest information on all pedigree dairy sales as well as club show and sales entry reminders through mobile phone text messaging. "Border & Lakeland sales are maintaining a premium for high quality stock," said Alison Millar. "Breeders who have a surplus of animals to sell need to maximise their profits and go to the best sales centre to achieve this."

Auctioneer Glyn Lucas agrees that dairy farmers are looking at the current economics and they are capitalising on low quota prices to fill national quota which is under production for the second year running.

The return of the market for cull cows with an 880kg cow fetching £500 and the prospects of achieving up to £650 a head with the opening of export markets was also underpinning trade for dairy replacements. "A high percentage of buyers of these pedigree females are commercial producers wanting replacements, many of them now milking upwards of 200 cows, some 500 cows, who are looking at 20 per cent replacement rates compared with say five to seven per cent for a 60-cow herd.

"Some commercial buyers will pay attention to a particular sire but they are also looking for animals that have longevity on their side so they are looking at the pedigrees to find cow families which have been proven to give a lot of clean, healthy milk over at least three or four lactations. "If you can see from the pedigree that the family has been profitable that's worth a lot of money. After all, they are in the herd to produce the white stuff!"

Holstein UK's Simon Gee added that purchasers of pedigree Holsteins were guaranteed the provenance of the product. "It provides the ultimate in farm assurance and traceability."

Demand for UK-bred dairy cattle has been further buoyed by the realisation that they are equal in genetic quality, if not superior, to imported cattle.

"We have noticed a renewed interest in pedigree dairy cattle since foot and mouth. While a lot of our pedigree breeders run their herds on commercial basis, more non-registered breeders have invested in some pedigree animals and they are finding an interest that they had not realised before," he says.

Harrison & Hetherington’s dairy sales team can be contacted on 01228 640924 or Alison Millar moblie 07734 043599.

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