Christmas prime stock shows

They took the reserve supreme championship with 36kg Beltex-cross prime lambs, which fell for second top price of £175 each to Anthony Swales, who runs Knavesmire Butchers in York.

Mr Swales also bought two further prize-winning pens – the first prize 40kg Beltex-cross untrimmed lambs, again from Robert Garth and Kelly Armitage, at £155 per head, and the second prize 37kg Continental-cross untrimmed lambs from Stainforth’s Richard Caton, at £140 per head.

The championship was retained by the Brown family – husband and wife Martin and Val, and their daughter Hannah, of Beechwood House Farm, Newton-le-Willows.

They claimed the 2013 title with their first prize pen of three 36kg Beltex-cross trimmed lambs, also lowland champions, which sold for the day’s leading price of £420 per head to Lancashire butcher George Cropper.

The Brown family also sent out further prize-winning Beltex-cross pens – the first prize 36kg untrimmed lambs, the second prize 44kg untrimmed pen and the third prize 47kg trimmed pen. All three fell to Vivers Scot Lamb in Anan for £150, £140 and £135 per head respectively.

Robert Garth and Kelly Armitage chipped in further with the second prize 49kg Beltex-cross pen, sold for £140 each to John Summers Butchers in Clayton, Bradford, with the first prize in class falling to a 45kg pen from Stephen Pepper, of Oxenhope, which also sold to Vivers Scot Lamb for a class-topping £145 per head.

Vivers acquired two further third prize Continental-cross pens, 43kg untrimmed lambs from Richard Caton at £135 each and 37kg trimmed lambs from Sarah Eddleston, of Great Harwood, at £120 per head. Neil Caton, of Stainforth, sold his third prize pen of 38kg Continental-cross untrimmed lambs for £128 each to Ian and Mary Lancaster, of Clitheroe.

The Suffolk-cross show class saw first and second prizes fall to the Thompson family in Foulridge. Anthony Thompson sold his 40kg runners-up to Roy Schofield, buying on behalf of Hartshead Meats in Manchester, only to be surpassed by his young son Jack, who saw his 46kg red rosette winners fall for a class-topping £110 per head to Cross Roads butcher Paul Leadbeater.

In the show section for hill-bred prime lambs, the championship was awarded to the first prize pen of three 53kg Mashams from Kevin Wilson, of Blubberhouses. They sold for a section-topping £95 per head to Hellifield’s Paul Watson.

Swaledale Foods, now based in Keighley, but soon to move to a new unit in Skipton, bought the first prize and reserve champion hill-bred 50kg Mule lambs pen from Joe and Nancy Throup, of Draughton, at £88 per head.

The business also acquired two further prize-winning pens – the second placed 55kg Mashams from Michael and David Wilson, of Beckwithshaw, at £84 each, and the second prize 43kg Dalesbred lambs from David Verity, of Middlesmoor, at £74 per head.

The Wilsons were also responsible for the third prize 52kg Masham pen, sold for £79 per head to Halifax meat wholesalers J&E Medcalf, while Kevin Wilson stepped up with the second prize 52kg Mule pen, which also fell to Paul Watson for £79 each.

Further Watson acquisitions were the second and third prize 45kg and 44kg Swaledale pens from John Smith, of Carleton, and Skipton’s John Addyman at £76 and £70 per head respectively, the first and third prize 45kg and 47kg Dalesbred pens from Frank Carr, of Malham, and Joe and Trevor Stoney, of Pateley Bridge, at £72 and £75 apiece respectively, and the second prize other hill breed pen from Grain Farms in Wadsworth at £74 per head.

Another regular Skipton buyer, Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe, also acquired a number a prize-winning pens, the first prize 46kg Swaledales from Calton’s Robert Crisp at £74 each, the first prize 45kg other hill breed pen from Grain Farms at £80 per head, and the third prize 44kg other hill breed pen for £74 each.

Mr Crisp was also responsible for the third prize 46kg Mule pen, which joined Henry Atkinson, of Felliscliffe, for £80 each.