MORE than 2,500 sheep were on parade at this week’s busy Monday market at Skipton Auction Mart.

The 1,065 head of breeding sheep, among them 430 females with 625 lambs at foot, saw older sheep good to sell, especially those with strong lambs, but younger sheep and hoggs with lambs at foot proved harder to cash in than recent weeks.

Mule hoggs with single lambs from the Johnson family in Felliscliffe again caught the eye when selling to a section high of £200 per outfit, while Texel prices were headed at £192 per outfit, again for hoggs with single lambs from Sam Berry, of Bradley.

A turnout of 1,482 prime sheep saw numbers tighten on the week, which helped trade in the hogg section. The 138 Spring lambs sold away well all sale long, with 220-235p/kg easy to achieve for the 39kg to 42kg weights.

Some heavier lambs and inside-fed sorts made under 200p/kg, though an overall average of 218p/kg, or £92.34 per head, was recorded this week. The leading per head price of £103 fell to a Suffolk pen from John Key, of Stocksbridge, with a by-weight high of 243.6p/kg or a Texel pen from Basil Jarvis, of Marton-cum-Grafton.

In the prime hogg section, where 1,050 sheep were forward, there was a better show for meat and both handyweights and lightweights were quite a bit sharper on the week, though it was heavy hoggs that had the best of the trade, with several pens again the top side of £100 per head, peaking at £123 for a Charollais pen from Ian Marsden, of Hoylandswaine, Barnsley. The overall selling average was £77.95 per head, or 177.7p/kg.

Cast sheep – 294 in total - followed the trend of the hoggs and prices were significantly stronger on the week, with numbers tightening nationally. Cull ewes averaged £81,56 per head, with a high of £162.50 per head for a Texel pen from Bob Newby, of Wetherby. Cast rams averaged £109.11 each, peaking at £131.50 for another Texel from J Bradley, of Lothersdale.

Skipton’s weekly Monday prime cattle sale attracted an increased entry of 63 cattle ahead of turnout, with vendors drawn from as far afield as Lancaster and Yarm. All but three of them were cast cattle, with cull cows again proving in keen demand across-the-board when trading to an overall average of £718.82 per head, or 112.78p/kg.

Lean cows proved good to sell, while there was also plenty of interest in grazing cows for further feeding, coupled with strong demand for cows carrying flesh to satisfy the demand for manufacturing meat.

Top per head price of £1,207 fell to an Aberdeen Angus from Skipton’s Geoff Lawn, with a by-weight high of 140.5p/kg for a Limousin from John Beckwith & Son, of Gargrave. Martyn Jennings, of Cowling, headed the dairy-bred prices with a black and white cull cow sold for £1,050, with Robert Metcalfe, of Brearton, topping the class by-weight prices at 126.5p/kg.

A mature British Blue bull from Ian Barrett & Son, of Braisty Wood, sold for £1,268, or 133.5p/kg. The mart reports plenty of demand for stock bulls at the moment.