THE overall selling average of £80.42 per head, or 188.8p/kg, for the 1,519 prime lambs penned for sale at Skipton Auction Mart, on Monday, represented a slight increase in trade on the week, caused by tighter supply, with producers holding on to lighter goods to farm on and also buoyed up by better than expected store lamb trade the previous Wednesday.

With smart sorts in shorter supply, commercial first-cross lambs were 5-8p/kg dearer on the week, with two pens of Texel/Beltex-crosses from Mick Hewitt, of Giggleswick, seeing the trade of the day – the first at 41kg making £111 per head, or 270.7p/kg, the second at 42kg selling for £110, or 261.9p/kg. Respective buyers were Vivers Scotlamb, of Annan, and Kitson & Sons Butchers for its north-east outlets.

A good number of other pens sold at three-figure prices to regular retail and wholesale buyers, including Keelham Farm Shop, of Skipton and Thornton, Skipton-based Swaledale Foods, Vivers Scotlamb again and Hartshead Meats in Mossley

The better end of Suffolk and Texel-cross Mule lambs carrying that bit of extra weight were generally 180-190p/kg, a few making more, while a plainer sort was in the mid-170s. More Mule wethers are now being seen and these too were generally in the 170s, with very heavy lambs, depending on quality and breed, selling from 170p up to 225p per kilo.

Also among the weekly mix were 342 cast sheep. Continuing dry weather, coupled with the need to prioritise conditioning lambs, is causing customers to move ewes off farm, resulting in a lot of lean sheep suddenly hitting markets.

A stronger Texel-cross cull ewe made £80-£100, with the best Mules selling into the £70s, up to £80 per head for a consignment from John Mellin, of Black Lane Ends. Cull ewes averaged £64.06 and cast rams £61.33, with the overall average cast sheep sale price of £64.37 per head said to look strong.

Keelham Farm Shop was once more the leading buyer at the weekly prime cattle sale, snapping up ten of the 21 under 30-month clean cattle for its Skipton and Thornton shops, including the leading gross priced animal, a 580kg British Blue-cross heifer from the Hutton-based Critchley family at £1,395, or 251.5p/kg.

Leading price by weight was 256.5p/kg, or £1,283, paid by George Cropper for his Sandersons Butchers shop in Baxenden for a 500kg Blonde-cross heifer from Malcolm Metcalfe, of Baldersby Park.

The cull cow section attracted 38 entries and there were signs that farms are moving lean cows on because of prevailing weather conditions both locally and nationally. Meat, although scarce, was a shade easier on price, with the odd dairy with finish selling at 110-115p/kg. Plain cows remained surprisingly good to sell despite the numbers, with the section producing an overall selling average of £645.19, or 101.09p/kg, and a top call of £1,410, or 178.5p/kg, for a British Blue from Fiona Jowett, of Queensbury.