FALLING milk prices again impacted on trade at Skipton Auction Mart’s main monthly Craven Dairy Auction. With milk cheques now starting to make a dent in the buyers’ pockets, the 22 head forward sold for less than of late.

Newly calven heifers again had the best of the exchanges, with Jeremy Taylor, who runs the Smellows Holstein pedigree herd in Broughton, achieving joint top price of £1,860 with his second prize newly calven heifer and reserve champion, Smellows Linda 11.

Fourteen days calved, she came to market giving 32kg and was bought by Alf and Andrew Townsend, of Burnley.

Robert Crisp, of Calton, also made £1,860 with his third price commercial newly calven heifer, which joined Nantwich’s Wick Williams.

The Newbirks pedigree Holstein herd of the Lawson family, from Mill Farm, Arthington, returned to championship-winning ways with their first-prize newly calven heifer, Newbirks Blueblood 861. Four weeks calved and giving 27 litres, she returned home.

David and Pauline Brown, of Ramsgill, were again present with a nice selection of five newly calven Brown Swiss heifers, which landed first and second prizes in a standalone show class. They averaged £1,664, selling to a high of £1,820 for the red rosette winner, which fell to Derbyshire buyer Neil Mycock.

A newly calven home-bred pedigree Jersey heifer from Bell Busk’s Brian Moorhouse was third in class, selling for £1,520 to Rebecca Fort on Silsden Moor.

Pedigree newly calven heifers averaged £1,675 and their commercial counterparts £1,608, with an overall average on the day of £1,641 per head.

Craven Cattle Marts’ auctioneer Sam Bradley said: “While prices were down, this represented a straight trade, with buyers and sellers satisfied with the outcome in the dairy industry’s current difficult trading conditions.”

The opening November Craven Dairy Auction takes place on Monday, with the high profile Christmas show and sale scheduled for Monday, November 24. Catalogue entries for this close on November 18.