A FIFTH Craven Dairy Auction championship of 2019 was clinched by the Ravensgate pedigree herd of Bishop Thornton’s Peter Baul at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest fortnightly Monday show and sale (Oct 28)

It fell to Ravensgate Pesky Blossom 199, a 20 days calved, 32 litre heifer by the Genus sire, Welcome Armitrage Pesky, which claimed top call of £2,100 when knocked down to regular local buyer John Howard, of Heslaker.

Another 32 litre heifer from the same home, Ravensgate Modelman Honesty 182, this one calved for 23 days and by the Cogent sire, Diepenhoek Model Man, also sold well at £1,800, while the third prize heifer from Calton’s Robert Crisp, by another Genus sire, Seagull Bay MVP, which was also responsible for the same vendor’s show winner at the previous fixture, made £1,720.

A standalone show class for maiden heifers was won by South Yorkshire’s Alan Dickinson, who runs the Roydmoor pedigree herd in Thurlstone with his four sons, all partners in the business, which currently has 170 milkers on the ground. It was one of four yearling entries, which sold to a top of £720, averaging £680 overall.

Show judge was Cowling’s Martyn Jennings, with National Milk Records again sponsoring

Another busy Monday at Skipton again featured weekly rearing calf and primestock sales, with 75 youngsters on parade in the former, when more calves could have been sold, especially quality four-week-olds.

Overall, trade was very similar to the last couple of weeks, with British Blue-x bulls again doing best when selling to a day’s high of £370 for one from the Hartley family in Beamsley, with the ten on offer averaging £270. Nineteen Blue-x heifer calves averaged £190, with a top of £270 from the Sowray brothers in Bishop Thornton.

Limousin-x bull calves also did well, peaking at £350 for an entry from Hayton & Stocks in Bolton Abbey and averaging £263, and while Limousin heifers were a little harder to place they still averaged £158. The overall Continental-x selling average was £241.

Of the native calves, Aberdeen-Angus bulls met a storming trade, Hayton & Stocks again leading the way with a £360 sale, as the section produced a strong overall average of £252. Black and white calves sold to £75, averaging £53 per head.

In the prime cattle sales ring, the 17 under 30-month entries were keenly contested by butcher buyers, with Robertshaw’s Farm Shop’s priority in putting local stock through its Thornton store again demonstrated with the purchase of the highest priced per kilo entry, a 520kg Limousin-x heifer from David Bamforth, of nearby Wainstalls at 258.5p/kg, or £1,344.

Barkers Yorkshire Butchers, which runs its wholesale supply operation at the auction mart, paid top gross price of £1,371, or 234.5p/kg, for a 595kg Limousin-x steer from the Hutton-based Critchley family.

Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop & Restaurant in Lancaster again accounted for a number of high quality entries, among them the top price heifer, a 550kg British Blue-x from Jim and Christine Scriven in Elslack at £1,345, or 244.5p/kg, and the joint highest priced per kilo steer, a 545kg Limousin-x at 234.5p/kg, or £1,278, from Threshfield brothers, Charles and Richard Kitching.

Skipton’s Keelham Farm Shop was also well to the fore, claiming the other joint highest priced steer, a 535kg Blue-x again from the Scrivens, for 234.5p/kg, or £1,255.

A mixed entry of 28 cull cattle, all but one cows, came with a shortage a meat, which was reflected in the overall selling average of £516, or 82.82p/kg. Dairies with finish sold in the mid 90s and an odd young cow in the 120s.

While the turnout of 3,456 prime sheep saw the 2,929 prime lambs among them a more mixed selection than usual for both meat and quality, lowland lamb trade was a shade better on the week, while hill lambs were generally 5p-10p dearer, the weekly turnout producing an overall selling average of £72.91 per head, or 163.4p/kg.

Brian Church, from Askwith, presented some nice butchers type lambs and topped the sale at £105 and £100 for pens of 56kg and 50kg Texels both claimed by Kendalls Farm Butchers in Pateley Bridge and Harrogate. James Garth & Son, of Keasden, headed the per kilo prices at 243.6p/kg, or £95, for 39kg Beltex, plus others at 235p and 225p, all to Vivers Scotlamb, Annan.

Hill-bred lambs were better to sell, 48kg Texels from horned ewes consigned by John Robinson, of Foulridge making £78, or 163p/kg, other better sorts selling around the 160p mark. The better end of Mules and Mashams made the top side of 150p, peaking at £73.50, or 156p/kg, for the former from PL Metcalfe, of Otterburn.

Cast sheep were forward in larger numbers at 527 head, with a similar trade seen across the board. Cull ewes averaged £51.11, selling to a top of £100 each for Texels from Felliscliffe’s Henry Atkinson. Cast rams averaged £47.71.