LONG Preston couple Clare Cropper and John Mellin pulled off a double at Gisburn Auction Marts’ Christmas prime cattle show and sale when they took both the championship and reserve.

Topping the entry of almost 40 show cattle was their 498kg red Limousin heifer which went on to make 400p/kg and gross £1,992 to Baxenden butcher Andrew Sanderson. And the same buyer paid 300p/kg (£1,548) for their reserve, a British Blue-sired black steer weighing in at 516kg.

The Cropper and Mellin duo also scooped another five prizes including second with a 508kg Limousin steer which made 275p/kg; first with a 516kg Blue heifer selling at 294p/kg; second with the 588kg Limousin heifer which had stood next in class to the day’s overall champion, and made 286p/kg; plus third in the same class with one at 656kg and also selling to Andrew Sanderson at 240p/kg. Finally, Clare topped the Young Farmers class with a 600kg Limousin heifer selling at 280p/kg to Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop, Lancaster.

The judge was Richard Mullaney of Hartshead Meats, Mossley, who commended the entries and said his champions both had superb fleshing down to hocks and tremendous thickness through the loin.

In the bulls, where premium grade animals were at record levels, the AA and E Critchley, Hutton, won the Blue class with a 424kg bull selling at 234p/kg to JE Medcalf, Halifax, while W and J Parkinson, Garstang, took a first with a 662kg Limousin selling at 234p/kg and grossing £1,549 to R Pearson, Bradford.

Meanwhile, dairy cattle sold to £2,220 and seven heifers topped the £2,000 mark in the marts’ ‘Dugdale’ Christmas show and sale.

Cheshire judge Wick Williams tapped out a heifer from James and Anne Rogersons’ 360-strong, pedigree Avenham herd at Singleton, Poulton-le-Fylde, as his champion, which went on to sell at £2,120 to NW and JM Coulthurst, Goosnargh.

The Welcome Armitage Pesky sired Avenham Pesky Rolls 3 was one month calved and on 34 litres daily.

The reserve champion was a non-pedigree heifer from T and C Robinson, Tosside. Just eight days calved and giving 26 litres, it had been bred in York but bought out of Gisburn by Messrs Robinson as a bulling heifer. The heifer went to the judge at £2,040.

In a sale which drew an entry of 68 milkers and where auctioneer Fred Spurgeon felt there were clear signs of gradually increasing confidence in the dairy sector, bidding peaked at £2,220 for a heifer from Jeremy Taylor, Broughton, Skipton. The buyer was Brian Blezard, Ribchester, Preston, who also paid £2,100 for another from the same home.