SKIPTON Auction Mart’s late season bank holiday show and sale of single ewes with lambs at foot is a happy hunting ground for Derbyshire’s John Bland, who notched up a notable achievement in the hill sheep section when winning it for an unprecedented fourth year in succession on Monday.

He did it with a home-bred Swaledale ewe with her Mule gimmer lamb at foot, got by a Blue Faced Leicester ram bred by Gordon Rawsthorne in Nether Kellett, Carnforth. The outfit sold for £205 to Graham Jackson in Bentham.

In fact, Mr Bland, of Crowden House Farm, Crowden, clinched all three prizes in his show class, with the runner-up, a Swaledale shearling ewe and her Swaledale gimmer lamb, selling for £290, top price in sale, to a familiar local face in the NEMSA show arena at Skipton, Otterburn’s Ashley Caton.

The third prize winner, another Swaledale with her Mule ewe lamb – got by a ram from Richard Saxon, who works as shepherd at Crowden House Farm and has his own Blue Faced Leicester flock – sold at £110 to Joe and Nancy Throup in Draughton.

Linton’s Thomas Boothman, of Linton Hall Farm, who has already won multiple prizes at the mart this season with his ewes and lambs, including a clean sweep of the rosettes in the two show classes at the yearly opener in March, landed another one-two at the latest renewal with home-bred lowland entries.

His first prize winners were a pure-bred Texel hogg and her Beltex ram lamb, sold for £200 to co-judge Howard Kitching, of Northallerton, while the runners-up, a Texel-cross-Beltex hogg with three-quarters Beltex ram lamb, made £195 when joining Chris Craven in Kexby, York. Like the majority of his earlier prize winners, Mr Boothman’s latest consignment was by again by Beltex rams acquired from Skipton breeder Chris Windle.

The third prize hogg outfit, a Mule with single lamb from James Hall in Darnbrook, made £190 when also claimed by the Throups.

Hill sheep show classes were judged by Threshfield’s Charles Kitching, while the other co-judge in the lowlands was Dick Donaldson, from Snape.

A strong turnout of 215 outfits with 319 lambs at foot were forward for the weekly sale and, outside the show, anything with strong lambs was keenly contested.

JP Stirke, of Easingwold made £200 with his Texel shearlings with single lambs and £190 for Texel hoggs with twins, while Tracey Sutcliffe, from Horton-in-Ribblesdale, also hit £200 with Zwartble shearlings with twins.

Skipton’s John Stapleton achieved £195 with Texel hoggs with singles and John Handley, of Thornton-in-Lonsdale, £190 for Mule hoggs with singles. Commercial types of outfits, however, could still be bought for the equivalent of £45 to £50 per life.