THE Baines farming family from Trawden wrapped up a prime cattle championship and reserve championship double at Skipton Auction Mart’s February show with a brace of home-bred heifers.

Multiple past champion Jim Baines and his son, Paul, were on hand to see their title-winning 540kg British Blue-cross heifer fall for £1,455, or 269.5p/kg, the leading by-weight price, to multiple past buyer James Robertshaw, of Keelham Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford.

The outlet hit the headlines at Skipton last year after it bought every single monthly prime cattle champion, including the high profile Christmas show victor, a feat never before seen at the North Yorkshire mart.

Multi award-winning Keelham, which remains on track to open its brand-new Skipton farm shop adjoining the auction mart site in Gargrave Road this summer, also snapped up many monthly prime lamb champions, plus a multitude of other prizewinners in both sections, throughout 2014.

Mr Robertshaw was again a prolific buyer at the latest renewal, successfully making seven prime cattle acquisitions. His other buys included the third prize British Blue-cross heifer from Brian Lund, of Walshaw, for £1,588, top gross price, or 242.5p/kg, and the first prize Limousin-cross steer from Silsden Moor’s Simon Bennett at £1,424, or 243.5p/kg.

A total of 28 cast cattle featured in their own show classes, with the first prize beef-bred cow presented by M Bentham, of Thornton, Bradford, selling away at a price-topping £1,252, or 155.5p/kg.

Jeremy Taylor, who runs the Smellows pedigree dairy herd in Broughton, made a clean sweep of the prizes in the show class for dairy-bred cull cows, selling to a high of £914. The top price per head black and white at £979 came from S and PE Bowker and Sons, of Earby, with a by-weight high of 122.5p/kg for an entry from Robert Metcalfe, of Brearton.

The overall cull cow average showed a healthy rise on the week at £734.38 per head, or 107.85p/kg. A mature Limousin bull from DL Mudd, of Buckden, made £1,227.