The North Craven-based Smearsett flock of WA and A Booth clinched its third successive championship at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual registered show and sale of Blue Faced Leicester females.
Father and son David and Robin Booth, of Old Hall Cottage, Feizor, secured a memorable hat-trick with their first prize gimmer hogg.
It created intense interest at the ringside, before falling for 1,300gns (£1,365), top price of the day by some way.
The Booths also entered a full sister to the champion, which was chosen as the second prize gimmer hogg by show judge Neil Heseltine, of Malham Moor. She commanded the day’s second highest price of 700gns.
Both the champion and reserve fell to the same buyer, Derbyshire’s C Davies, who also paid 300gns for the second prize ewe from Joe and Nancy Throup, who run the Chelker flock in Draughton. The home-bred two shear has been scanned in lamb with triplets.
Reserve champion was the first prize ewe from the Oddacres flock of John and Claire Mason in Embsay. The home-bred two-shear comes from some of the renowned flock’s best breeding lines.
Scanned with a single lamb, the runner-up sold locally for 370gns to the Ilkley Moor flock of Ellis Bros in Addingham Moorside.
The show formed part of Skipton’s fortnightly sale of 1,360 head of breeding sheep.
Among them were 925 store hogs, which were good to sell, achieving an overall average of £56.34 per head. Breed per head averages were: Texel £65.24, Beltex £65.14, Suffolk £63.32, Mule £56.60, Blue Faced Leicester £45.17, Dalesbred £40.13, Gritstone £40 and Swaledale £37.23. Another pleasing show of 411 in-lamb sheep saw strong older sheep sell well, with a good number of pens making three figure prices. Both three and four-crop Mules sold to £120 per head, while three-crop Texels sold to £118 and Texel shearlings to £115.
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