PRIME sheep numbers continue to hold up well at Skipton Auction Mart.

The first of the new season’s spring lambs, 22 in number, appeared at Monday’s weekly sale, when two strong Charollais pens among a quality consignment from Robert Towers, of Camp House Farm, Farleton, near Lancaster, topped at £123 and £122 per head.

The former were purchased by Lane Ends Farm Shop in Tong, Bradford, run by Martin Hare, and the latter by Saltaire retail butcher Dick Binns.

Charles Marwood, from Whenby, York, had the top prices per kilo, both for pens of 43kg Charollais lambs, the first at 279p/kg, or £120 per head – these too fell to Mr Binns - and 274p/kg, or £118 per head, which were also purchased by Lane Ends Farm Shop. Spring lambs averaged 258.7p/kg, or £116.32 per head, overall.

The 2,693 old season lambs among the 3,000-plus entry stepped up another gear when achieving an across-the-board selling average of 196.67p/kg, the highest of the current season, or £83.69 per head.

Father-and-son Nicky and Robert Capstick, of Bolton-by-Bowland, who the previous week had won their first-ever Skipton prime lamb title, returned to take the day’s top price of £123 per head with a Texel pen purchased by Skipton regular Thomas Shepherdson, of Slaithwaite, Huddersfield.

Close behind at £122, £119 and £116, with a by-weight high of 305p/kg, were Beltex pens from Kath Saffrey, of Halton West.

In total, 53 pens sold for £100 or more.

Commercial types of lambs saw handy weights sell at 200-220p/kg, with heavies trading at 185-210p/kg, depending on quality. The 46kg to 52kg lambs on offer averaged 193p/kg for all breeds, including a large amount of Mule wethers.

An increased entry of 440 breeding sheep reflected the significant growth in numbers, though both quality and trade were said to be slightly more varied. However, submissions with strong lambs proved good to sell, as buyers looked towards quality, producing trade similar to the previous week, though entries with young lambs at foot proved cheaper.

Texel-cross ewes with twin lambs from Chris and Thomas Heseltine, of Bolton Abbey, headed the trade at £185 per outfit, while correct Mule shearlings with twin lambs from James and Deborah Ogden, of Austwick, sold to a section high of £180 per outfit