ROBERT Towers, of Camp House Farm, Farleton, maintained his dominance of the annual Easter prime lamb show and sale at Skipton Auction Mart, securing a championship and reserve championship double and scooping every single prize in the continental show classes.

It was his third successive title win at the seasonal showcase, which again attracted a packed ringside.

Mr Towers netted championship honours with his first prize single lamb, a home-bred 44kg Beltex-cross-Charollais by a ram he purchased two years ago at the Beltex Sheep Society’s annual September show and sale at Skipton.

This and his second prize 45kg single lamb both fell to RC and B Binns Family Butchers in Saltaire for the same joint show-topping price of £138 per head, or 313.6p/kg.

The Bingley Road shop also snapped up Mr Towers’ reserve champions, the first prize 44kg pair, at £133 per head.

Binns Butchers also paid £130, or 283.7p/kg, again top price in class, for the first prize Down-cross single ram lamb from regular vendor and showman Mark Evans, of Tower Gate Farm, Steeton.

Mr Towers brought 20 lambs in total. His second prize 43kg Continental pair sold for £128 each to Roots Farm Shop in East Rainton, Northallerton.

Mr Towers’ third prize 51kg Continental pair fell for £134 per head to show judge Mick Etherington, of Wilsden, who was buying on behalf of Woodend’s Family Butchers in Otley Road, Adel, Leeds.

Mark Evans dominated the Down-cross show classes, also winning the red rosette in the pairs class with 43kg Suffolks, and taking second prize in the singles with another 42kg lamb. These sold for £122 per head and £116 respectively to Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe, Harrogate, purchasing on behalf of West Scottish Lamb in Carlisle.

The overall selling average was 252.95p/kg.

Champion in a standalone show class for prime hoggs was Michael Hall, of Scosthrop Farm, Scosthrop, with his pen of five 43kg Beltex-cross lambs, which sold for £104 per head to Vivers Scotlamb in Annan.

Second and third prizes with Beltex-cross entries both fell to regular vendors Martin and Val Brown, of Newton-le-Willows, selling to a high of £125, or 307.5p/kg, for a single lamb. This, too, joined Vivers.

The reduced entry of 2,285 prime and lightweight hoggs sold to an overall average of £83.24 per head, or 189.45p/kg. Handy weight sheep enjoyed reasonable trade, with some decent runs of Continentals still commanding 210-220p/kg, the best sorts 240-300p/kg, with commercial types 190-200p/kg.

However, anything out of the mainstream weighing 47kg upwards met with a very variable trade.

Cast sheep – 301 ewes and 15 cast rams - bucked the trend and were a stronger trade on the week, with ewes averaging £81.86 per head and selling to a top of £135.50 for a Texel pen from John Rushton in Elslack. Cast rams averaged £104.63 each, peaking at £145.50 for another Texel from E&AM Simpson & Son, of Pateley Bridge.