FULL clearance of all 22 head forward was the order of the day at Skipton Auction Mart’s opening March Craven Dairy Auction on Monday with Margaret Goldie, Wiskemanor herd, Danby Wiske, Northallerton, presenting a good batch of four fresh heifers for the second successive fixture, these forward following the sale last summer of the family’s then 200-head milking herd.

Represented by Margaret’s eldest daughter Rachel and granddaughter Lily, it was their first entry, Wiskemanor Select Aster, bred from four generations VG or EX, calved on Valentine’s Day and climbing from 24kg per day on silage and conc alone, who caught the eye of pre-sale judge David Smith, Riffa Farm, Skipton.

She led the heifer in milk class and went all the way to secure the Goldie’s first Skipton championship, the adjudicator later backing his decision when purchasing Select Aster at £2,000. The Wiskemanor quartet of February-calving heifers averaged £1,800.

Also at £2,000 was the second prize heifer and reserve champion from Brian and Judith Moorhouse, Bell Busk, selling to Will Oldfield, Gisburn. Backed by an unbroken nine generation pedigree, Aireburn Redcarpet Echo, came from the 2022 National Premier Pedigree herd, as did another heifer that sold for £2,100 to Alan and Emily Middleton, Beamsley.

Top price of £2,250 went to the last heifer from this year’s crop of father and daughter, Robert and Ellie Crisp, Calton. Sired by Charming, nine days calved and already at 27kg, she stood third in a class that saw 13 heifers forward for judging, before returning to nearby Airton with the Wright family.

The Bolland family, also from Airton, consigned four more as part of their ongoing dispersal, taking first and second prizes in the cow in milk class with a pair of second calvers, their trade topping at £1,850 for an early February-calved Pune Tree Verona heifer that also headed home with the judge, the volume buyer with five purchases.

The sale finished with a batch of six in-calf heifers, topping three times at £1,400, one due in July from Peter and David Stevenson, Saltburn, and two of four from Chris Drake, Thornton, Bradford. Fourteen heifers in milk averaged £1,729, two cows in milk £1,560 and six in-calf heifers £1,350.

The next Craven Dairy Auction on Monday, March 18, will again include entries from both the Goldie and Bolland herds, plus others, while the following sale on April 1 includes youngstock, with the April 15 fixture also featuring a coloured breeds sale.

Back at Skipton on Monday, the dairy-bred rearing calf sale attracted a larger entry on the week, with buyers for all classes of goods, the Airton Crisps repeating their top price dairy coup when also heading the calf prices with a £490 Limousin-x bull, chipping in further with the £410 top price Aberdeen-Angus bull.

British Blue-x bull calves sold to £475 from Colin Whitelock, Gargrave, Blue-x heifers to £465 from CJ&DD Drake, Thornton, while Charolais bull calves peaked at £400 from J Peel, Gisburn, who also consigned the £390 top price Charolais heifer calf.