A FIRST-TIME prime cattle exhibitor claimed the May show championship at Skipton Auction Mart.

Bill Cowperthwaite, of Tennant Gill Farm, Malham Moor, was awarded the honour for his 630kg pure-bred Limousin steer, got by a bull bought from Proctors Farm in Slaidburn.

The supreme champion was sold to Phillip Gregory, of D and A Gregory & Sons Butchers in St James Street, Bacup, for 230.5p/kg, or £1,452.

Reserve champion was a 565kg Limousin-cross steer shown by Brian Lund of Walshaw, Hebden Bridge, which joined Keelham Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford, for the top by-weight price of 238.5p/kg, or £1,348.

Meanwhile, Mark Townley, of Claughton, near Lancaster, seized the prime lamb championship with his pair of Continentals, weighing 39kg, which were sold for £108 each to Yorkshire Halal Meat Suppliers, from Ossett.

Another pair of Continentals, weighing 41kg, from Tim Robinson, of Longridge, clinched the reserve championship, courtesy of show judge Mick Etherington.

They were sold to regular Skipton buyers, Binns Family Butchers in Saltaire, run by Dick and Barbara Binns, for £110 per head, who also bought the first-prize-winning pair of Down-cross lambs from Robert Towers, of Farleton, Lancaster, for £115 each.

Yorkshire Halal picked up the third-prize-winning pair of Continentals, also sold by Tim Robinson, for £98, while Keelham Farm Shop also took away the second prize winners in the Down-cross category, again from Robert Towers, for £105. Another regular Skipton buyer, Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe, bought the third placed Down-cross pair for £106.