THE fortnightly sale of store lambs at Craven Cattle Mart attracted 66 buyers, with long-keep wintering lambs noticeably dearer than two weeks ago.

A show-stopping pen of 25 Swaledales by CCM yardsman Gordon Banks, of Barden, took the red rosette and sold at £38 per head.

Gordon, who has 350 sheep at home, came second in the same show last year and has been a yardsman at CCM for 27 years.

The top-placed Dalesbred pen was shown by Messrs Hayton and Stocks, of Bolton Abbey, selling for £45 per head.

Mule lambs averaged £50.97 with a higher percentage of small lambs in the sample, but there was plenty of competition for medium-keep mule lambs. They topped at £59 per head from AE Schindler, of Thorpe.

Continental lambs were also noticeably dearer for the longer-keep lambs with anything fleshy working into the late £50s and early £60s. TB Moorhouse, of Dacre, topped at £72 per head for a pen of Beltex lambs, with Brian Lund topping the gimmer lamb trade with a pen of Beltex at £89 per head.

The next sale is on Wednesday, with a huge entry of 10,000 expected.