THE handful of clean cattle consigned for sale on Monday, a non-show week at Skipton Auction Mart, achieved a very good trade, with Keelham Farm Shop again eager to put the best regional beef on the counters in their Skipton and Thornton shops by once more purchasing the highest priced animal, a 540kg Limousin-cross steer from Malcolm Metcalfe, of Baldersby, at 247.5pkg, or £1,337 gross.

Commercial cattle with finish were equally contested, with Stanforths Butchers in Skipton acquiring a 510kg Limousin heifer from Bingley’s Keith Downs for 219.5p/kg, or £1,119.

Cast cattle remain good to sell and, while 45 cull cows were on offer, there was a shortage of entries carrying finish, as dairy cattle are inevitably moved on at this time of year.

The Sowray brothers in Bishop Thorton led the cull cow prices with a black and white at £1,102, while, of the Continentals, TB Moorhouse & Son, of Dacre, achieved £1,077 with both British Blue and Limousin entries, with another Limousin from RJ Winterbottom, of Giggle, Oldham, hitting a by-weight high of 176.5p/kg.

Monday also saw a handy show of 65 rearing calves, with some small calves making serious prices.

A total of eight different purchasers at the ringside produced keen competition for black and white youngsters, which averaged 33 days of age and sold to a high of £270 for a cracking Friesian bull calf from Michael Heron, of Bramhope. A lot of good Holstein calves made above £150, with just a few planer sorts pulling down the overall average to £125.97 per head.

Of the Continentals, which averaged £375.60 per head overall, heifer calves were the pick of the day, with British Blue entries averaging £441.43 each. Prices peaked at £510 for a real eye-catcher from Alf Townsend, of Southfield, Burnley, with Blue bull calf prices also strong, averaging £376 each, with a high of £450 from Bolton Abbey’s JP and KE Hartley. The average age for all Blue calves consigned was 39 days.

Of the native entries, Aberdeen Angus bull calves met with a flying trade to average £323.33 per head.