RETAIL butcher buyers were again prominent at the prime cattle ringside at Skipton Auction Mart on Monday.

Saltaire butcher Dick Binns paid the day’s leading by-weight price of 253.5p/kg, or £1,176, for a 465kg Limousin-cross heifer from Ben Townsend, of Laneshawbridge, while Keelham Farm Shop secured the top gross price 565kg British Blue-cross bullock from Malcolm Metcalfe, of Baldersby Park, at £1,348, or 238.5p/kg.

Of the 13 over 30-month cattle presented for sale, Keelham bought six for its Skipton and Thornton shops, with Stanforths Butchers in Skipton making three acquisitions, while another entry fell to Shipley butcher John Kearns.

Cast cattle met a very similar trade on the week, with the overall average of £594, or 89.82p/kg, for the 45 cull cows on offer said to be distorted by an increased proportion of lean beef cows. The black and white average of 90.77p/kg - 66 per cent of the sale comprised dairies - against 91.23p/kg the previous week confirmed continued firm demand in the face of heavy marketing of dairy culls.

The Downs family, from Bingley, had the top price dairy animal at £830, while the top performing beef-bred entry was a British Blue at £886 from Matthew Harrison, of Elslack. A brace of mature bulls sold to £986 for an Aberdeen Angus from John Marshall, of Dacre.