THREE new buyers turned up for Gisburn Auction Mart's sale of rearing calves and stirks on Thursday.

Alan Bowker’s trio of British Blue bulls topped at £472 each, just ahead of Richard Brigg who made £470.

Several lots made over £400.

Mr Bowker also jointly topped the Blue heifer section with a trio at £440, matched by JR Dinsdale & Sons. Again there were plenty of animals in the £350 to £400 range.

Black and white bulls were a tremendous trade, averaging £115 for all quality.

The monthly Hereford calf sales topped at £350 for a six-week-old Hereford bull, closely followed by £345, £330 and £305 and four more at well over £200. The average for Hereford bulls was £261, with heifers just missing the £300 mark at a high of £298 and an average of £221.

The mart's weekly dairy sales are still strong with pedigree dairy sales on the third Thursday each month bringing extra customers who are keen to buy quality high health status cattle from a TB4 area.

Its fortnightly Saturday sales of store and breeding cattle, sheep and pigs are also a big success story.

Thousands of head of stock pass through the market at Saturday sales and the recent addition of prime sheep and cull ewes has boosted sales even further. Rachel Capstick recently auctioned a Texel ewe with twin lambs for The Brain Tumour Trust. It first made £1,530 and was resold, to a standing ovation, for £800.