THE 21 cast cattle forward at Skipton Auction Mart, on Monday, sold to an overall average of £796.15 per head, or 119.5p/kg, a further improvement on the week.

Threshfield’s Angus Dean led the way when selling a trio of black and white cull cows at three-figure prices, and to highs of £1,101 and 129.5p/kg.

The pick of the Continental entries, a British Blue from John and Alison Spensley, of Thorlby, made £972, or 155.5p/kg, while a mature British Blue bull from Stephen Horsefield, of Mytholmroyd, sold at £1,257.58, or 134.5p/kg.

A small turnout of clean cattle saw the pick of the over 30-month entries, a black and white heifer from Ken and Lynne Throup, of Silsden Moor, sell for a per head high of £1,000, with a by-weight top of 159.5p/kg for a Limousin-cross heifer, again from the Spensleys.

A total of 40 rearing calves were also on parade and Fred and Mark Houseman, of Church Farm Enterprises in Burton Leonard, were once again the top price performers with a British Blue-cross bull calf selling for £430.

The Housemans were also responsible for the £415 top price Blue-cross heifer calf, along with the best performing Aberdeen Angus bull and heifer calves, sold for £240 and £220 respectively. Native breed prices peaked at £270 for a Hereford bull calf from Sutton-in-Craven’s Richard Spence.

Black and white youngsters again performed with credit, with a strong average of £90.11 per head and a high of £170 for a Friesian bull calf from the Heron family in Bramhope.

With continuing demand for good, straight, quality calves, Continental entries averaged £344.40 per head and native breeds £204.20 each.