NIDDERDALE’S Rob Marshall, of Monk Ing Farm, Dacre, notched up a first time prime lambs championship success at Skipton Auction Mart’s July show. on Monday as the mart enjoyed another good turnout for sellers and buyers.

He clinched the title with the first prize Continental pen, five 46kg Beltex-cross-Texel lambs.

All his entries were home bred and the majority by a tup bought out of Skipton last year from Chipping’s Richard Seed.

He proved his worth after they sold for £106 per head to Vivers Scotlamb in Annan.

Vivers also went to £97.50 per head to claim the reserve champion 42kg Beltex-cross pen from Red Rose husband and wife, David and Laura Coar, of Darwen.

The the third prize 44kg Beltex-cross pen was from Ellis Bros, of Addingham Moorside.

They made to £99 each when knocked down to William Rathmell, manager of Brayton Farm Shop, in Selby.

Show judge was Joe Bosworth, from Rossendale, who awarded first prize in the Down-cross show class to 39kg Suffolks from father and son, Richard and Jonathan Frankland, of Frankland Farms, in Rathmell.

The farm recently hosted the NSA North Sheep 2019.

They made £88 each when falling to regular buyer Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe.

The buyer also paid £77 per head for the second prize 37kg pen from Richard Shepherd, of Bewerley, Pateley Bridge.

Standing third with 42kg lambs were the Beamsley-based Hartley family, these falling at £82 each to Hellifield’s Paul Watson.

The same buyer also went to £73 to claim the first prize 43kg Mule pen from Joe and Nancy Throup in Draughton.

Another solid entry for the day’s trading comprised of 1,840 prime sheep including 1,657 Spring lambs.

And, w hile these turned out to be less money on the week, an overall Skipton mart average of 197.2p/kg, or £83 per head, represented a very good result on the day, particularly when compared against the countrywide average, which settled at 191p/kg.

The heavier retail and wholesale butchers lambs again found a good following from buyers eager to take them away.

The top price per head of £116 was achieved by JR Taylor & Son, of Winterburn, for Texels eventually being knocked down to Worsley Wholesale Butchers, Dewsbury.

The same vendors also clinched a successful sale when they hit £110 with a second pen of Texels claimed by A&D Meats, of Rossendale.

On the day, fifty pens of lambs made a creditable £100 or more.

DA&SA Fort, of Glusburn, achieved £115 with Texels, purchased by J&E Medcalf Ltd in Halifax.

The seller pipped the next highest price of £114 paid for Texels from JB Hacking, of Clitheroe, by L Wood & Sons, of Scammonden.

RJ Lambert, of Wigglesworth, made £110 per head for Continentals.

Vendors with lambs at £109 were John Mellin, of Black Lane Ends, and Steeton’s George and Gladys Emmott.

Top price per kilo was the 260p paid to the Spensley family in Thorlby.

This was for 40kg Beltex -crosses purchased by Vivers Scotlamb.

Other better lambs on the day were mainly 230p-240p/kg.

Heavier lambs were good to sell all day and were short of buyers requirements. Smart skinned three-quarters Continental lambs were quickly bid for, most making 210p-225p/kg, regardless of weight.

Heavy first cross lambs were generally above £2 per kilo, with the 46kg-52kg weight bracket averaging a strong 211p/kg, or £101.12 per head.

Handyweight 40kg-42kg lambs needed to be the smarter sorts to make over £2, while a commercial type of Continental was around 190p/kg and Suffolk Mules in the 180s, though a 37-39kg lighterweight lamb was in comparison in good demand at generally 5p/kg more.

A slightly smaller turnout of 183 cast sheep was still a decent trade.

These were seen peaking at £120.50 for Texels from Glusburn’s David Towell, with other nice ewes trading from the mid £80s to just over £100.

Better Mules were mid to late £70s, with Swaledales selling into the mid £60s for good types and in the £50s for nice lean meat ewes.

The overall section selling average was £70.28.

Cull ewes were averaging £70.16 while cast rams saw £82.70.