COMMERCIAL dairy farmer Mark Smith, of Rookery Farm, Winterburn, bagged a championship and reserve championship double for the first time with a brace of near all-white home-bred newly calven heifers at the opening August Craven Dairy Auction at Skipton on Monday.

The clue to their colour was in the breeding, as both heifers were by the aptly named Aireburn Snowman, acquired from Bell Busk breeders Brian and Judith Moorhouse.

The all-white bull was also responsible for another Skipton champion earlier this year for Mr Smith, whose herd operates under the Brackenlea name.

His latest victor was Brackenlea Snowy Spotty 4, a 22 days-calved 33kg heifer boasting a low cell count of 56 and out of a dam that had given more than 10,000kg in her first lactation over 305 days. She is still at home and now into her sixth lactation.

Mr Smith’s reserve champion was a heifer from his Brackenlea Snowy Stumpy line, 13 days-calved and also giving 33kg. Both frontrunners caught the eye of the same Wharfedale buyer, Langbar’s Roger Nelson, who went to £1,550 to claim the champion and £1,500 for the overall reserve.

The day’s top call of £1,650 fell to the Glusburn-based Fort family, who are conducting an ongoing dairy dispersal through their local auction mart.

Consigned by David Fort, the heifer, calved for just ten days to the Genus Sire Theory and giving 21kg, joined SM Liddle and Sons in Huby.

South Stainley’s Robin Jennings, champion at the previous show, also made £1,450 with a newly calven heifer, with the section producing an overall selling average of £1,320.

Show judges were brothers Malcolm and Stephen Abbott, from Dacre, with NMR again sponsoring.

Dairy-bred rearing calves, 61 in number, were also sold at the same morning’s weekly sale, which produced another useful trade, particularly for black and white bulls, among them a couple of runs of Friesian-crosses, which were greatly sought after at £120-plus up to a high of £150 for an entry from Dacre’s Rob and John Marshall. The section average was a shade over £87 per head.

While Continental-cross calves were of mixed quality, British Blue heifers still sold from £335 to a top of £400 for an entry from Beamsley’s Alan Middleton, with Blue heifers trading to £350-plus for the top end, producing an overall section average of £263.15.

Native calves averaged £145.86, with a high of £225 for an Aberdeen-Angus heifer calf from Arthington dairy farmer David Lawson.

Meanwhile, nine loads of produce were successfully sold at Skipton on Monday, with an increased supply a reflection of traders testing open market value once again concerning the escalating costs of both straw and hay.

It appears that more of them are now returning.

Straw was less money on the week, with wheat straw quads selling to £100 per ton and straw mini hestons to £35 per bale.

Hay loads - good quality hay sold extremely well - saw mini hestons sell to £56 per bale, rounds to £45 and second quality quads to £36.