SKIPTON Auction Mart’s pedigree British Blue cattle showcase was staged alongside the fortnightly Wednesday store and breeding cattle sale, which attracted another very solid turnout of 848 head, with large entries in all departments and a fast selling trade throughout.

It also featured Spring shows for store cattle and beef feeding cows. In the former, judged by Brad Thompson, of Middleton, Pickering, the red rosette-winning British Blue-cross heifer came from mart regular Brian Lund, from Walshaw, Hebden Bridge.

His home-bred 13-month-old, by a Welsh-bred sire from Rhys Millichap’s Rhymill herd, and the second calf of a Limousin-cross cow, sold for the day’s leading heifer price of £1,400 to John Wood in Trawden. Picking up second and third prizes were the Fawcet family, from Drebley, with Blue-cross heifers both sold at £1,250. The beef-bred feeding cows show attracted 55 entries, and with some nice pure-breds among leaner cross-bred cows there was a larger company of buyers ringside. The three rosette winners did best on price, though in reverse order.

Trade topped at £1,460 for the third prize winner, a young British Blue cow from John and Gill Huck in Hubberholme, with the runner-up, another Blue from L Driver and Son, of Oakenshaw, making £1,450, and the class winner, a Limousin from Heywood’s Paul Fletcher, netting £1,350. The section achieved an overall selling average of £972 per head. An exceptional turnout of 222 young feeding bulls, with vendors released from lambing, saw a total of 19 bulls under 12-months-old sell for over £1,200 to a top of £1,290 and the overall average for this grade was up £40 to stand at £1,028. The top individual call was £1,390 for a Limousin-cross.