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Mr Fielden, who farms 600 white-faced ewes, as well as hill sheep, secured the title with his first prize Continental pen, five home-bred 42kg Beltex-cross-Texel, all by tups bought out of Skipton. They sold for £99 each to regular wholesale buyer Hartshead Meat Co, based in Mossley, Greater Manchester.

Hartshead made a clean sweep of the Continental show class prize winners, claiming the second prize and reserve champion 44kg pen from Scott and Laura Robinson, of Barnoldswick, for £98 per head, along with the third prize 41kg pen from Ellis Bros, of Addingham Moorside, at £115 each, these being the top price per kilo on the day at 280.5p/kg.

In the Suffolk-cross show class judge James ‘Amos’ Dewhirst, from Winterburn, awarded first prize to a 46kg pen from D&A Livestock in Haverah Park, Harrogate, with Frankland Farms in Rathmell runner-up with a 41kg offering. Both pens fell to the same retail buyer, Paul Ellison, of Ellisons Butchers in Cullingworth, at £95 and £83 per head respectively.

The third prize 48kg pen from James Earnshaw, of Flasby, sold at £90 to Worsley Wholesale Meats, while in the North of England Mule show class the 46kg red rosette winners from the Wilson family in Blubberhouses made £76 each when joining ringside regular Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe

In the mix, the day’s leading per head price of £119 fell to a pen of 51kg Beltex lambs from Neil Tattersall, of Ellerton, York, claimed by George Cropper Jnr for his Sandersons Butchers shop in Baxenden. He also purchased the same day’s prime cattle champion.

Back with the lambs, of the multiple £100-plus pens falling to both regular retail and wholesale buyers the Scrivin family, from Elslack, also caught the eye with £117 per head Beltex purchased by Vivers Scotlamb in Annan.

The 3,132 Spring lambs on offer sold to a much improved overall average on the week of £84.12, a solid rise of £5.70 per head, or 194p/kg, itself an increase of 14p. This was deemed a great result, considering the huge turnout of lambs.

Also penned for sale were 511 cast sheep, which again sold well, notably lowland ewes, which topped at £110 each for Texels from WH Marsden, of Cross Gates, Leeds, with others at £109.50 from Richard Wilson, of Beckwithshaw. The better end of the Mules sold into the £70s, producing an overall cull ewe average of £52.89, up by £1 on the week. Cast rams averaged £63.86.

Skipton’s sheep sale season continues with the annual show and sale of shearling gimmers on Tuesday, August 20, when the Edgar Boothman Trophy will again be awarded to the best pen of 10 North of England Mule shearlings. Store lambs are next up the following day, with prize shows for both Mule wethers and Down-cross lambs.