A SMALL show of 35 rearing calves at Skipton Auction Mart’s weekly Monday sale produced a top price of £400 for a British Blue-cross bull calf from John Wright, of Airton, and a section average of £326 per head.

Heifer calf prices peaked at £390 for another Blue-cross from Hayton and Stocks in Bolton Abbey. The overall Continental average was £302.60 per head.

Native youngsters averaged £172.50 each, with top prices of £170 and £160 falling to Shorthorn heifer and bull calves from the Lawson dairy farming family from Arthington.

In the majority were black and white calves, which regularly made £70-95, selling to an overall average of £71.20.

A much bigger turnout of 80-plus calves is anticipated at this coming Monday’s weekly sale.

Meanwhile, Skipton Auction Mart’s final Tuesday breeding sheep sale of the season produced a healthy turnout of 512 head and healthy trade to match for all types of ewes, especially older sheep, as buyers sought suitable late additions to their flocks.

Young sheep were also a reasonable trade, with Stuart Hodgson, of Glossop, making £108 each for a pen of Texel-cross shearlings, and Sheila Foster, of Arncliffe, hitting £100 per head with Mule shearlings.

Old sheep met with a trade that kept both vendors and buyers happy, with sheep that have one more lambing season in them selling at between £40 and £65, and topping in the late £70s for all types.