A large company of buyers attended Mike Sheldon’s pig unit dispersal sale on June 8, which was conducted jointly by auctioneers Peter Crichton and Will Abbott.
A large and varied selection of indoor pig equipment met plenty of enquiry from more than 100 registered buyers who travelled to the sale from as far afield as Yorkshire, Humberside, Devon and Kent. There was also a good following of buyers from East Anglia and the local region.
The sale was conducted without any reserve prices and every single lot was sold with buyers in a generally more confident mood on the back of recent improvements in pig prices and reducing feed costs.
Over 150 lots of sundries met plenty of enquiry with pregnancy testers selling to £200, a large selection of grower hoppers met a ready enquiry selling to up to £40 and finisher hoppers met an even stronger demand selling to £160 each. Piglet hoppers sold to £26 each and single space hoppers to £30 each.
Eight piglet Rescue Decks with associated milk heaters and equipment raised £2,200, a Trojan diesel hot and cold pressure washer £700, a set of electronic pig scales £240 and 2 humane killers with cabinet £465. A cold water pressures washer sold to £480, feed barrows to £34 each and many other useful items of sundry equipment met a ready enquiry.
Among the fixed equipment there was a large selection of galvanised gates sold in the main between £35-70 each according to quality and size. A total of 13 bulk bins were easily sold with 8t types selling to £820, 9t bins to £620, 6 x 10t bins saw three selling between £1,350 and £1,720 with older types between £400 and £820, and 12t examples making between £550 and £580.
Autofeed systems also proved popular with buyers looking to refurbish rearing and finishing units with complete runs selling anywhere between £300 and £820 according to condition.
A large selection of flat deck equipment sold on a per room basis made between £260 and £300 to a west country buyer and two complete farrowing houses saw 16 crate rooms making anywhere between £550 and £790.
Machinery and equipment proved popular with local and long distance buyers with a 13-year-old Caterpillar TH62 telehandler selling at £7,550, a Bobcat Skidsteer loader £2,750, a Kubota B1610 mini tractor £1,620, a Leyland 245 Synchro tractor showing its age fetched £600, a Browns bale grab £620, a Tanco 1600 slurry tanker £760, a Richard Western dump trailer in need of refurbishment £600, a road brush £620, a Strimech muck fork £980, a Cat muck grab £410 and many other useful items of equipment also sold readily.