WITH an average weight of 660kg across both the steer and heifer sections, prime cattle were again in ready demand at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest weekly Monday sale, with a solid Easter trade driven by the need to restock fridges. .

Steers averaged 677kg in weight, producing an overall section selling average of 289.26p/kg, or £1,958, with Bradford wholesalers Ralph Pearson paying top per head price at £2,033, or joint top 292.5p/kg, for a 695kg Limousin-x from Hargreaves Farms in Walton-le-Dale, the other joint top of 292.5p/kg going to a 630kg Limousin-x from Threshfield brothers Charles and Richard Kitching, which grossed £1,843.

The Kitchings also presented a smart 595kg British Blue-x heifer which made 303.5p/kg, or £1,806, with their top gross heifer, a 625kg Limousin-x, knocked down at £1,853. All joined Pearsons, who took home eight of the ten under 30-month entries.

Continental heifers averaged 287p/kg, while a single black and white under 30-month heifer from Jeremy Taylor in Broughton made 191.5pkg, or £1,264. Trade looks set for this coming Monday, with numbers short and demand still strong.

A light turnout of cull cows comprised only dairies, with heavies selling to 165p/kg-plus and steaking cows to 155p/kg, while feeding cows sold to 150p/kg. The overall section average was 151.16p/kg, or £908.04 per head.

The same morning’s sale of 29 rearing calves, comprising mainly youngsters aged three to seven-weeks-old, produced a flying trade and with a packed ringside many more could have been sold to the advantage of all vendors.

British Blue-x bulls traded to a sale-topping £420 from M Fewster, of Cleckheaton, while Blue-x heifers peaked at £400 from Gargrave’s Colin Whitelock. Nice style bulls sold at £380-£420, with plainer end mediums £355-plus, while the best heifers exhibiting style made £340-£400, the next grade down selling at £300-£330.

Pure Friesian bull calves sold to £265 and £220 from JC&DJ Marshall & Sons, in West End, with Charolais bull calves from Wood Bros in Manchester trading to £405. A strong turnout of Angus heifer calves produced top calls of £330 and £325, again from the Marshalls.