TOTAL clearance of females was achieved at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual early season show and sale of pedigree beef breeding cattle.

Top price at 3,100gns for Mel Pickard, of Bolton-by-Bowland, was a Limousin, Prietec Nutmeg, bred in Mewith by Terry and Elaine Priestley and a 2017-born daughter of the Gallois son, Oddacres Landlord, from the Mason family in Embsay. She sold with her Lodge Hamlet heifer calf at foot and run with Tallyrock Jerry to R&A Easterby, of Westhouse,

Miss Pickard also achieved 2,600gns with Prietex Hildamay, another product of the Priestley herd and a 2012-born daughter of Norman David. She sold with her Tallyrock Jerry-sired heifer calf to LJ Penter, of Litton. A third entry from the same home made 1,900gns.

Thor Atkinson, who runs the Arrodfoot pedigree Limousin herd in Newlands, Ulverston, won the show class for pedigree bulls with a 21-month-old shown by stockman Richard Cleasby. The home-bred Arrodfoot Ojai sold for 1,715gns to Queensbury’s R Hall. Show judge was Fiona Jowett, also from Queensbury.

In total, over 900 cattle were penned for sale on a busy day, which incorporated Skipton’s fortnightly store cattle sale, also including 892 feeding cattle – 262 young bulls, 89 beef feeding cows and bulls, and 541 bullocks and heifers.

Feeding bulls met another strong trade, with pen after pen of high quality in all ages and breeds. Lots of bulls two months off the cow looked particularly well sold at £850-£950, while the strong 400kg 10-12 month-old bulls received particular interest from feeders experiencing a good liveweight trade for finished cattle. Angus-sired bulls continue to sell nicely if strong enough and an unusually strong entry of pure Charolais bulls, with a fair proportion over 16 months, sold well to average £1,100.

There was a cracking trade for strong feeding cows and while more meat was on offer it was the lean improving cows that produced the trade of the day, the better end making £1,200-£1,400, though the average of £893 per head all through clearly showed the strength of the trade.

Stores also met a tremendous trade, from the first beast right through to the last. A full ringside of buyers from throughout the UK included good representation from the east of the country in particular, with some returning buyers after a break from both Derbyshire and Scotland.

Every spec of cattle entered was met with a fierce audience battling to fill wagons, with a nice turnout of cattle coming from South Yorkshire as Skipton proves to have the men forward to take large quantities of cattle.

Native cattle topped the trade at £1,140 for three Aberdeen-Angus steers from Tony Binns, of Clint, while a run of cattle from Keith Downs, of Bingley, included 16 black and white steers averaging £898 and topping at £1,055.