927 Breeding Sheep (comprising 396 Sheep with 511 lambs at foot and 20 Geld Gimmer Hoggs) A big entry of nearly 400 outfits following the show week, and older sheep for grazing and feeding were a decent trade but younger sheep proved a shade harder to cash this week.

Breeding Sheep 2,987 Breeding Sheep comprising 713 Geld Gimmer Hoggs, 1,031 Hoggs Shearlings and Ewes with 1,243 Lambs at Foot A huge show of breeding sheep today at Skipton sold away at prices that understandably were less on the year. Anything with power and style was easily sold, some great runs of Mule and Continental Hoggs in the £200 - £230 region, very best making more, whilst nice sorts £160-£180, and a more commercial type for farming could be picked up for less. In the geld hogg section there was the largest entry seen for several years, and buyers were selective but still there was a good clearance rate.

555 Breeding Sheep (comprising 224 Sheep with 331 lambs at foot) Numbers exactly the same as last week but generally lambs on the ewes were stronger so prices looking a bit better too. A few more travelled buyers helping to fill up the ringside, and many were looking for young ewes or hoggs with lambs. Best today for Hoggs was Ian Manning of Wrexham with the first of his weekly consignments topping at £195, with others ranging from £150 to £190. Richard Caton of Stainforth and John Mawson of Elslack jointly topped the sale at £205 for Texel Ewes with Twins.

613 Breeding Sheep (comprising 228 Sheep with 385 lambs at foot) A very similar entry to last week and trade fairly similar as well. More young sheep with lambs beginning to come forward now and offering good choice to farmers who want to increase find sheep to include in their flocks. Top of the shop this week was John Atkinson who sold a pair of Texel Ewes with 3 Beltex cross lambs for £240 the outfit.

734 Breeding Sheep (comprising 269 Sheep with 465 lambs at foot) A much larger entry sold away to a better trade this week with a good crowd of buyers assembled looking for sheep. Two pens shared the top price of £265 per outfit, the first were Texel cross Shearlings with Twins from David White at Hebden, and this was equalled by Rosie Dunn from York who consigned a pen of 2&3 crop Texels with strong lambs. General trade was £2 to £5 per life better on the week, but there was a smaller proportion of those outfits with young lambs as vendors look to bring strength.

Breeding Sheep - 343 Head comp 129 Sheep with 214 lambs at foot. A smaller entry this week and probably a sharper trade with a few different buyers at the ringside looking to source stock. Young Ewes with strong lambs keenly bid for, topping at £225 for 2 shear Texel Ewes with Twins from Johny Metcalfe of Linton, whilst older outfits were £5 per life dearer on the week.

1,053 Sheep comp 382 Sheep with 671 lambs at foot. The largest show of the season so far on Bank Holiday Monday attracted a good ringside of customers, however they were more cautious than of late with grass still in short supply. Anything with strong lambs was best to sell, but more commercial types were cheaper on the week by around £5-£8 per life. Today we held the Easter Show and judging was undertaken by Mr John Turner of Draughton. His choice as first prize pen of Continental Sheep with lambs were top price of £255 per outfit consigned by Mr Thomas Boothman of Linton. Thomas Boothman had a further 9 pens selling for £200 and £235 per outfit & Johnny Metcalfe selling for £200 per outfit. Full list of results below.

Boothman repeat bonanza at Skipton ewes with lambs opener Linton’s Thomas Boothman was once again the leading performer by far at Skipton Auction Mart’s opening show and sale of ewes with lambs at foot when retaining both the championship and reserve championship. He was also lifting the title for the third year in succession at the bank holiday highlight. (Mon, March 28)

263 Breeding Sheep A smaller show of sheep and lambs were dearer on the week, but there were some stronger outfits on offer too. Top price of the day went to Paul Watson of Hellifield who sold Texel Shearlings with Twins at foot for £220. Johny Metcalf of Linton had 2 pens of 8 Texel 2crop ewes with twins making £210 and £200 per outfit, and for the third week running James and Deborah Ogden of Austwick were amongst the top prices with a pen of 10 Texel 3 crop Ewes with Twins selling at £205 per outfit. Best of the single outfits came from Andrew Bailey trading as Ivanhoe Livestock of Hunton, Bedale whose 3 shear Texels with Blue Texel Lambs sold to £170.

440 Breeding Sheep An increased entry of 440 head for this week’s sale as numbers begin to grow quickly. The entry was slightly more varied and trade also as well. Anything with strong lambs was good to sell as buyers definitely look towards quality and these would generally upkeep last week’s trade. However anything with young lambs at foot were cheaper on the week. Another good entry promised for next week, and there is a show and sale in two week’s time on Easter Monday.

MARKET REPORT – MONDAY 14th MARCH 2016 Forward: 63 Prime cattle comprising 13 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 3 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 47 Cast Cattle incl. 2 Mature Bulls. 3,033 Prime Sheep comprising 22 Spring Lambs 2,693 Old Season Lambs, 318 Cast Ewes & Rams. 440 Breeding Sheep. 64 Rearing Calves B&W av £69 Cont av £318.42 Native av £223.4 to £435. 27 Dairy Cattle: Newly Calven Heifers (18): av £1188 to £1780 M Baul & Partners. 13 Loads of produce.

The weekly sale of Sheep with lambs @ foot got into full swing today and attracted a larger entry of 319 head and on a nice sunny morning buyers were out in force. Frankland Farms from Rathmell led the sale at £205 per outfit with Texel cross ewes with twins, other pens at £200 at £195. Others at £200 included Richard Umpleby selling Suffolk x Ewes b/m with nice Texel lambs, whilst James and Deborah Ogden from Austwick sold 4 crop correct Mules with Strong Charollais lambs at £200 and £190.

MONDAY 29th FEBRUARY Sales of Breeding Sheep, including Ewes with lambs at foot, in lamb ewes and store hoggs have now reverted to the traditional season sales of weekly Mondays at Skipton, and will be sold at 12noon in the sheep ring. The normal online catalogue service will run and this will be posted every Friday afternoon so please log entries where possible with the Mart Office by 12noon on the Friday prior to sale.

Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of Store Lambs and Breeding Sheep Forward: 1,226 Head comprising 785 Store lambs & 441 Breeding Sheep CCM Auctions held their fortnightly sale of sheep at Skipton Mart on Wednesday with an entry of 1,226 forward for sale. Store Sheep saw a sharp trade for the strongest end whilst the small, end of season types, were just a similar trade. A good run of lambs from Ken Flintoff topped at £76 for a pen of 20 with four further pens of 40 Texels at £71 twice, £70 and £69. Inlamb sheep however were an indifferent trade and appear good value against geld price. Messrs Downs sold the first half of their dispersal today with the second half booked in for next fortnight.

Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of Store Lambs and Breeding Sheep inc Annual Sale of BFL Females Forward: 1,149 Head – 951 Store & Gimmer Lambs, 190 Inlamb Ewes & 8 BFL Females. CCM Auctions held their 2nd Fortnightly Sale of Store Hoggs and Breeding Sheep at Skipton on Wednesday where another tidy entry of 1,149 head were presented for sale. Store Sheep sold to a very fast trade with strong hoggs in good demand. There was a reduction sale of inlamb ewes held on behalf of Thomas Binns from Downham, Mule Shlgs sold carrying twins sold at £140, 2+3 crop sheep £110-£120 and Correct sheep £95-£98.