2021 - A record breaking year for GTH Dairy Team

RECORD BREAKING YEAR AS GTH DAIRY TEAM SELL OVER 13,000 CATTLE 2021 commenced under lockdown with attendance at sales still restricted for the low input crossbred herd from Stuart Durston when trade exceeded expectations in particular with 38% of the cattle being purchased on Marteye, our online bidding portal.

Our first Holstein Dispersal of the year was for J & J Waldron with an average of over £1600 it set the tone for the year with a strong demand.

The spring was unprecedentedly busy as we

Derek Biss 07850 932555

were instructed to conduct a large amount of dispersals including organic cattle from GNB Farms, Holstein dairy herds from Kent and Sussex, the heart of the herd from Y Farms and the major 1300 head sale for Denhay Farms.

Auctioneer Derek Biss commented "At the start of our spring sales we were unsure of the trade remaining strong due to oversupply but with the ease of access from across the whole of the country these large sales drew buyers from West Wales, to Shropshire to Cornwall and most counties in between!"

Andrew Clements 07769 904704 GREENSLADE TAYLOR HUNT www.gth.net

Sally Mitchell 07764 817998

The Denhay Sales saw an excellent collaboration between GTH and the farm staff to enable the sale of over 1300 cattle through Sedgemoor in under two weeks.

Notably the trade continued to get stronger as the sales continued with the youngstock sale featuring incalf heifers averaging over

£1500, which at the time was far ahead of the trade elsewhere. We were obviously very pleased to be instructed by this large estate who ceased milk production and not only did we disperse the cows we also held two machinery sales. The first was online to sell all of the dairy and livestock equipment which generated an immense amount of bidding activity in the last few minutes of allocated time. The second was the on farm machinery sale which attracted the largest crowd we have ever seen at such a sale.

Once again crossbred dairy cattle produced one of the strongest demands of the year with trade for the Edmunds Family’s dispersal of mainly Fleckvieh cross cows flying with 40 over £2000 to top at £2625.

The prestigious Dinnaton Sale for Derek and Jeremy Dennis from Devon generated considerable interest with buyers again from across the whole of England and Wales being attracted by the generations of breeding, the Dennis’s are regular consignors to our monthly sales and their cattle were highly regarded for having performed well in their numerous new homes.

The “Peeve” Dispersal for Paul Vicary and family travelled from Kent to an exceptional trade featuring 76 over £2000. The theme this year has seen much larger sales with GTH conducting 12 Sales over 300 head and 5 of them over 450 head. Our July Collective Sale was over 400 head and featured cattle from Kent, Sussex, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Devon, Dorset and Somerset, we find these monthly sales are the ideal way of marketing any number of animals from 1-400, sharing the costs of marketing with other vendors and ensuring any purchaser can travel safely in the knowledge that they have the number and choice of cattle necessary to satisfy their requirements.

For our annual Spotlight Sale the star attraction of the day was Willsbro Tropic Sharon, part of a large consignment from the Wills Brothers she sold to the Mitchell family in partnership with Chris Martindale (Laram Holsteins) for 6400gns. It’s extremely positive to see the animals purchased in our summer sale performing well at the National Calf Show. This year the highest result was Stowey Altitude Glory Red who sold for 5500gns and was second in both the June July Calf Class and also the Red and White Class.

Stowey Altitude Glory Red

Willsbro Tropic Sharon

with the autumn calving, loose housed herd from DB Dunford and Sons drawing an exceptional crowd and an incredible average of £1550.

Christmas Cracker Champion from Dinnaton Milkers topped at 3900gns with 54 out of 76 over 2000gns

A host of Dorset sales kept us busy during the summer from KAM Farming, MJ Hooper & Son as well as the on farm sale at Stalbridge, Dorset for the Jeanes family who’s commercial cattle sold to 2400gns. We also had the Hadlow Dispersal sale on behalf of North Kent College.

The autumn featured three large flying herds for the Reed and Dart Families and Shayes Farm LLP which all attracted good numbers of successful purchasers. Once again the crossbreds continued to exceed expectations

To conclude the year we held our annual Christmas Cracker Show and Sale which is the culmination of 12 months of Collective Sales and the trade was electric for the fresh milk topping at 3900gns for Dryfal Adrienne who sold into Carmarthen with three over 3000gns, the cows averaged £2371 with the heifers at almost £2100. Our Online Christmas Spotlight sale topped at 5200gns with Erie Denver Savoire Fare selling to Bill Sampey from Ontario, Canada.

Derek Biss, Andrew Clements and Sally Mitchell, being the GTH dairy auctioneers have sold a record breaking 13,000 dairy cattle in 2021 and we would like to thank all of our staff and the vendors and purchasers who have supported us and made us the leading Dairy Auctioneers in the country.

SEDGEMOOR AUCTION CENTRE 01278 410250 | livestock@gth.net

Derek Biss 07850 932555

Andrew Clements 07769 904704 GREENSLADE TAYLOR HUNT www.gth.net

Sally Mitchell 07764 817998