Potato Kit in demand

An excellent crowd of potato farmers and other buyers gathered at Church End Farm, Little Hadham, Ware for an auction sale on behalf of Collins Bros. as a result of the dissolution of the partnership.

With a good range of grading and irrigation equipment on offer and over 1500 boxes the sale attracted buyers from the UK, Ireland and Europe. Arguably the sale was out of season but with a strong trade for potatoes, prices were keen particularly for boxes which topped out at £43/ box for 11 year old boxes to average £38/ box.
The Downs grading line was well received having been in use up until the time of the sale and included a 2001 Downs Proteus grader and screen sizer together with Rolaflow and various conveyors made £34,680. The reconditioned Walthambury bagger made £2300 and a 2002 Downs box tipper was eagerly bid to £3900. A Downs Moonraker fetched £5600 and a Spacemaker was purchased for £4000.

The irrigation equipment did not disappoint with a Green Crop Irrigation pump at a solid £10,000 and Bauer Pipes to £70/ pipe.

A small offering of potato growing equipment was on offer and notable prices included a 2002 Pearson Rotaformer at £2000 and a 1995 Grimme Variant DL1700 (without power axles) at £3400.

Other machinery was in demand including £7000 for a Lemken Vari-Diamant 160 8f plough and the £5300 paid for a set of Lely Vario 12.4m rolls. A 2004 Redrock low- loader was the pick of the trailers which was hammered down at a healthy £5500.

Clearly buyers were looking for more horsepower as a 15 year old John Deere 8400 with just shy of 6000 hours hit the mark at a thumping £28,800 and a well-used 1997 John Deere 6800 with 8800 hours recorded made £12,000.
Classic tractors are still very much in demand with a 1966 Ford 2000 at £2900 and a very original 1963 Fordson Super Major (with recently dented front grill!) at a strong £2950.

An unusual 1997 Clayton C4120 AWS 24m demount sprayer made £19,000 and a 1996 Matbro TR250 materials handler topped at £8800. Two Midi excavators were the talk of the sale as a 2000 Komatsu PL130 13t and a 2001 Volvo EC70 mini made £17000 and £14800 respectively.

Of the included items a 2009 MF 5435 4wd went to a farmer in the adjacent county for £25,000 and 2006 Hy- Spec feeder wagon from the same stable made £3,800.

A good trade which was dominated by farmers, which should give confidence to farmers when considering an on-site sale by auction.

For further information on selling by auction contact Bill King or Oliver Godfrey on 01223 213777.