A USEFUL show of 15 prime cattle under-30 months saw both Keelham Farm Shop and Stanforths Butchers again in the thick of the action.

Keelham acquired five cattle in total, among them a Limousin-cross heifer from Malcolm Metcalfe, of Baldersby, at £1,268, or 261.5p/kg, and a British Blue-cross heifer from TB Moorhouse & Son, of Dacre, at £1,195, or 251.5p/kg.

Stanforths bought a pair of 600kg plus Limousin-cross steers from CD and RF Kitching, of Threshfield, for £1,428 and £1,427, or 219.5p/kg and 211.5p/kg.

An increased entry of 86 cast cattle featured a higher number of lean dairies and demand remained strong, notably for assured, dry, dairy cattle carrying flesh. Cull cows sold to an overall average of £647.21 per head, or 99.16p/kg.

The rearing calf arena attracted 85 youngsters, over half of which were black and white calves, which averaged 36 days of age. The younger end proved the strongest performers, producing an overall selling average of £96.68 per head, with a high of £180 for a bull calf from the Whitaker family in Bolton Abbey.

Continentals were also good to sell, with heifer calves looking as strong as bulls. A Blue heifer calf from Richard Sutcliffe, of Queensbury, was top on price at £400, with the same vendor also presenting a Blue bull calf which made joint top price of the day of £440, equalled by another Blue entry from Cononley’s James Gooch.

Four to five-week-old Blue heifer calves from David Hall, of Coniston Cold, also caught the eye when averaging around £360.

The overall Continental-cross selling average was £362.33 per head, with another strong native average of £320. Both Continental and native entries averaged 43-days-old.