SKIPTON’S weekly Monday rearing calf sale saw no less than five bulls among the 42-strong entry achieve joint top price of £400, among them a trio of British Blue-cross from John and Rob Marshall, of Dacre, Josh Lancaster, of Horton-in-Craven, and John Blackwell in Gargrave. The overall Blue bull average was £373.

The other two £400 performers were both Charolais bull calves from David Smith, of Sutton-in-Craven, whose tremendous run of youngsters averaged £393. The overall Continental average was £366.52.

A handful of native calves met a sturdy trade, with Aberdeen-Angus bulls selling to £265 for an entry from AJ Lee, of Lothersdale, with an Angus heifer from the same home doing better at £280. Some younger natives also found homes at £100-£150, the section averaging £164.14.

With just six dairy bull calves to pick from, competition for black and whites was fierce, producing a very strong trade, with a top of £190 from Sutton-in-Craven’s Richard Spence and a section average of £150.

The mart’s latest weekly Monday sale of 1,628 Spring lambs represented a much larger entry - the quality was mixed, with commercials to the fore and very few smart lambs on offer, which was reflected in an overall selling average of £90.85 per head, or 217.92p/kg.

But heavy lambs again sold well, with a top price of £130 per head for 60kg Texels consigned by Clitheroe’s John Barnes, which returned to Lancashire when claimed by Rossendale wholesale butchers A and D Meats.

JW Stockdale, of Burnsall, made £124 each for 56kg Texels sold to Kendall’s Farm Butchers in Pateley Bridge and Harrogate, while Steeton’s Mark Evans produced a great run of Suffolk lambs, which topped at £120 for 50kg entries and sold locally to Swaledale Foods in Skipton.

John Mellin, from Black Lane Ends, was towards the top end of the prices again with both Texel and Suffolk lambs, selling 49kg at £119, 48kg at £115, 51kg at £115 and 50kg at £114. FW and JM Eddington, of Bell Busk, sold 52kg Texels at £119 to Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop and Restaurant in Lancaster, with James Spensley, of Elslack, also chipping in with 52kg Suffolks at £118.

Per kilo prices peaked at 256p, or £105, for 41kg Beltex lambs from Linton’s Thomas Boothman, which fell to regular wholesale buyer Hartshead Meat Co in Mossley, who also paid a section-topping £113, or 251.1p/kg, for 45kg Beltex from Tim Robinson, of Longridge. GA Hewitt and Sons, of Giggleswick, also caught the eye with 42kg Texel lambs at 252.4p, or £106, to Leonard Wood and Sons in Scammonden, Huddersfield.

The majority of three-quarters bred lambs achieved 230-250p/kg, with heavier45-50kg lambs mainly around 220p/kg or above, this weight category averaging a tidy £105.71 per head. Handy weight and lighterweight lambs saw commercial entries mainly selling from 210p to 225p per kilo, the 36kg to 45kg weight bracket averaging £90.30 per head.

A handful of hoggs met a very sharp trade, topping at £120 for Charollais crosses from the Houseman family, who trade as Church Farm Enterprises in Burton Leonard. Also penned for sale were 263 cast sheep and both cull ewes and rams again performed well, the former averaging £77.56 per head across the board for all breeds, the latter £95.75.

The best heavy ewes made £100 to £130.50, these for Texels from Hellifield’s Paul Watson, with other good Continental and Suffolk crosses selling in the £90s.

Heavy, but lean Mules were in the £80s, the next grade in the £70s. Horned ewes were a nice trade, John Addyman, of Skipton, selling Swaledales to £72.50, others trading in the late £50s to mid £60s. Cast rams peaked at £137.50 for a Texel from I Barrett and Son, of Summerbridge.

Sheep with lambs at foot continue week by week and the latest turnout of 60 breeding sheep comprised 20 outfits, all hill-bred, with 3 and 4-shear Cheviot ewes, correct with twins, selling at £175 per outfit.

Regular vendors and retail butcher buyers from both sides of the border were again in attendance for Skipton Auction Mart’s weekly Monday sale of 14 under 30-month prime cattle. Demand for cattle was fair against a steady factory price.

Top gross price of £1,411, or 256.5p/kg, was paid by Countrystyle Meats for a 550kg British Blue-cross heifer purchased from the Critchley family in Hutton, Preston. It was among four Countrystyle acquisitions.

Keelham Farm Shop in Skipton took home three cattle, among them the top gross priced steer, a 590kg Limousin-cross from Threshfield brothers, Charles and Richard Kitching, at £1,407, or 238.5p/kg.