WITH 46 through the ring, selling to a top of £450, Skipton Auction Mart’s opening New Year Show and Sale of rearing calves proved a success for many, with plenty of younger calves forward.

A&E Middleton of Beamsley proudly took both 1st and 2nd Prize in the British Blue Bulls class, with both calves going on to be named Show Champion and Reserve, selling to a top of £450. Local dairy farmers, husband and wife Alan and Emily Middleton run a herd of Holstein Friesians in Beamsley. Regulars around the ring at Craven Cattle Mart, Alan and Emily buy cattle and sell calves through Skipton Auction.

Following closely behind the top price, other strong British Blue bulls sold at £400-£445, whilst medium, 4-week-old goods sold at £350-£380, and the younger end got away at £260-£320.

Limousin bulls sold to a top price of £385 from C&SB Whitelock of Gargrave, and Charollais bulls at 4-5 weeks old averaged £367, topping at £395 for GD&A Midgley. Averaging £210, Angus bulls sold to a top of £330 from A&SL Throup, Silsden Moor, who took 1st Prize in the Native Bull Class.

Though JR Wellock and GD&A Midgley took 1st and 2nd prize, respectively in the Black and White Bulls call, it was RM Shackleton of Broughton who reached the top price of £150. Other strong calves got away £100-£150, with younger calves £52-£70 and some dark Friesian goods — at 4-5 weeks old — selling at £100-£130.

The 1st Prize win in the British Blue Heifers class went to P&RM Sutcliffe, Queensbury, who sold to a top of £380. Blue Heifers averaged £304 for the day; plenty of nice heifers with good shape sold well at £320-£370, with the younger end selling at £200-£280.

Over in the main ring, auctioneer Ted Ogden described “a tighter show of lambs this week, keeping the live trade along similar lines to last Monday.

“Good heavies and overweights received strong interest and a smaller show of smart lambs sold at fast rates. Meated light and export weights found a nice following, whilst commercial medium outdoor lowland lambs proved a shade easier on the week. In general, Monday showed a nice trade for meat and fed lambs.”

Averaging £106.74 per head, or 263.2p/kg, Scotch Black Faced Hoggs sold to £144 for two heavy pens from EP&JM Hutchinson of Faceby, whilst handier weights were around 270p/kg. P Holgate of Rathmell sold Cheviots to £120 and Brian Dibb sold Gritstones to £113 for 42kg.

Mules were a nice trade, seeing J Baines of Gisburn make £144 per head for heavies and others of at £135 from the same vendor. Also selling Mules at notable prices – EP&JM Hutchinson reached £140, J&K Harker of Pateley Bridge made £137, and Brian Dibb sold at £133. Handier Mule lambs got away nicely at £115 to £121, or 255p/kg to 270p/kg, topping at 274p/kg for goods from J Pickles, who sold a pen of 20 Mules at 43kg for £118/head. GF Harker & Son of Pateley Bridge sold 44kg Mashams for £117.50.

Lambs of over 52kg averaged £154/head (270p/kg). Monday saw a great run of overweight and heavy lambs from regular consignors EP&JM Hutchinson of Faceby. His two 61kg pens made £178 and a 3rd made £175. Four other pens in the run achieved from £160 to £168 for lambs from 51kg to 54kg. Another vendor with multiple lots of overweights was R Emmott of Silsden, who sold lambs at £172, £167 and £164. Others at £160+ included TR Thwaite & Son at £164 (58kg), M&S Eddleston of Great Harwood at £164 (53kg), BC Ashby, Norwood at £162 (58kg) and B&K Wellock of Eshton at £160 (59kg).

Goods weighing 46kg to 52kg averaged £135/ head or 279p/kg (including heavy Mule Wethers). Another top price EP&JM Hutchinson, reaching £178 for a 46kg Beltex. Others from this farm got to £161, £160 and £158, weighing 50kg and 51kg. John Brotherton of Addingham sold pens at £174 £170 and £167, weighing 47kg to 52kg. M&S Eddleston sold a 51kg Beltex at £169. MJ&GC Dobson of Hartlington made £159 of 52kg.

Making it a hat trick of Continental top prices, EP&JM Hutchinson sold lambs weighing 39kg at £170 – making them the top price per kilo at 435p/kg. Messrs RH&MR Ireland of Whalley sold two pens of 45kg goods at £163 and £160 and J&M Blakey of Bolton by Bowland made £161 of 44kg.

Four pens of 42kg’s sold for £158 from 4 different vendors: A&SJ Sugden of Laycock, J Brotherton, Addingham, RH&MR Ireland, of Whalley and EP&JM Hutchinson, Faceby. Well-fleshed lambs at the lighter end of the weight bracket again sold well, while commercial lambs were a shade easier on the week.

Full report available at www.ccmauctions.com.