A BANK holiday Skipton entry of 2,195 prime and cast sheep were of mixed quality and, while attracting the usual complement of buyers, prices for spring lambs were not as strong as the previous week, with heavier lambs harder to place.

Conversely, trade for the 1,860 prime and lightweight hoggs forward was generally dearer on the week, with the lightweights and mainstream export weights among them especially keenly contested - some were 10p/kg up on the week.

Heavy hoggs were generally a very similar trade, although some nice runs proved better to sell. As is usual at Skipton, the very smart Beltex types were again good to sell, with five pens topping £3 per kilo.

Two of them came from Trawden’s Hayley Baines, one producing the day’s by-weight high of 323.1p/kg, with others from Fellicliffe’s Henry Atkinson, also top price on the day at £130 per head, Andrew Phillips, of Burton Leonard, and Paul Simpson, of Bolton-by-Bowland.

The 32 spring lambs forward sold to an overall average of £90.31 per head, or 223.1p/kg, with Robert Towers, Easter spring lamb champion the previous week, again leading the way when selling Charollais pens to highs of £117 per head and 248.9p/kg.

Cast sheep trade continued on a high note, with 288 ewes averaging £91.34 per head and 15 cast rams £101.43 each. Respective section highs were £139.50 per head for a Suffolk pen from Steeton’s Mark Evans and £149.50 for a Texel ram from John Cowperthwaite, of Eldroth.

Skipton’s weekly breeding sheep sale attracted a 362-strong turnout, comprising 135 females with 227 lambs at foot, and with young sheep again in keen demand.

The overall selling average was £71.74 per life, or £192.37 per outfit, with some Mule pens from Andrew Bailey, of Bailey Farms in Eldroth, selling to a day’s high of £255 for shearlings with twin lambs.

In the Texel classes, P and AN Simpson, of Dacre, sold correct outfits with twin lambs to £250, while Beltex entries from Coverdale’s David Findlay also performed well, selling to a high of £240 for females with twin lambs. Rosie Dunn, of Stockton-on-Forest, sold Charollais ewes and twins to £220, along with a Suffolk-cross pen at £210 per outfit.