Oddacres Masons clinch crown at CCM Skipton BFL females highlight John and Claire Mason, and daughter Annabel, who run the long-established Oddacres Blue Faced Leicester flock in Embsay, improved on their reserve championship success the previous year when stepping up to take the champion’s crown at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual winter sale of Bluefaced Leicester females. (Wed, Feb 12)

Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of Store Lambs. Forward: 2,374 Head, Overall av £69.36. A large entry of lambs for the New Year Sale and a flying trade today with buyers coming from all over to keep stocked up with the current demand for fat lambs holding up.

8th WINTER SALE OF IN LAMB PEDIGREE BELTEX ON BEHALF OF THE NORTHERN BELTEX CLUB Forward: 27 head of Pedigree Beltex Mathew Burleigh from Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh again took the championship rosette at the Beltex Sheep Society’s Winter sale of Pedigree females at Skipton Auction Mart on Saturday.

Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of Store Lambs, Feeding Ewes & Breeding Sheep Forward: 5,574 Head, Comprising 4,854 Store Lambs (av £63.18) and 720 Ewes, Rams and Gimmer Lambs. A great sale at CCM Skipton on Wednesday with trade on a high note following the rise in prime lamb trade, and there was a sale average for 4,854 Store Lambs of £63.18 per head. Good lambs for short to medium keep were in high demand, and Mule/Masham Wethers were especially good to sell with strongest end in the £70’s up to £75.50, Mules av £64.58 and Mashams £68.27.

FORWARD: 434 Breeding Sheep & Rams. A flying finish at the Final Tuesday Breeding Sheep Sale of Ewes and Rams. Topping the trade of Mule Shearlings was J Brown from Thirsk, selling a pen at £130 and a pen at £122, then J Robertshaw sold a pen of Texel x for £130.

FORWARD: 2,233 Breeding Sheep & Gimmer Lambs. (2,107 Gimmer Lambs and 126 Dalesbred Sheep). CCM Auctions conducted their fourth fortnightly sale of Gimmer Lambs at Skipton on Tuesday where 2107 head were forward for sale. Trade was not as buoyant as seen at the third sale, however, the lambs were a far more seasonal selection representing vendors last round up of gimmer lambs for this year. Better lambs on the day were in the 70’s, best runner in the 60’s, middle types of runners either side of £60 and smaller end or commercial sorts generally in the early to mid 50’s. An overall sale average of £60.39 was recorded. The sale of Hill rams saw a nice selection forward and better end of rams on offer at 200gn to 300gns.

Hirds hit 780gns high with shearling ram at Skipton Dalesbred highlight A solid top price of 780gns was seen at the Dalesbred Sheep Breeders’ Association’s final seasonal show and sale of rams and females at Skipton Auction Mart. (Tuesday, October 22) It fell to the second prize shearling ram, sired by a home-bred ram from Yorkshire Dales father and son, Stuart and Edward Hird, of Yockenthwaite. Himself a son of a tup bred by John Harrison in Blubberhouses, he has been successfully used for several years.

FORWARD: 1121 Breeding Ewes & 87 Rams. A good sale today with ewes of all classes in nice demand. Older Mule ewes in good condition from late 70’s to early 90’s, whilst commercial Mule shearlings were around £120. Continental bred sheep were a mixed show, some good Blue Texels as part of a dispersal from Ronnie Bailey, Reeth topped at £180 for shearlings and £160 for Ewes whilst R Sadler topped the sale at £200 for gimmer lambs.

Ryder Herdwick dispersal a highlight of CCM Skipton Saturday sale Skipton Auction Mart’s latest monthly Saturday livestock collective fixture had the added interest of a dispersal sale of the complete Herdwick flock from Chris and Christine Ryder, of Scaife Hall Farm, Blubberhouses. (Oct 12) The flock was first established in 2013 and the Ryders had decided it was time to reduce their multi-breed livestock holding, consigning the remaining 36 head, which were all sold successfully, 11 older ewes falling to Brian Church, of Askwith, Otley, while ten more were claimed by Arncliffe’s Michael and Carol McKenzie.

Forward: 4,009 GIMMER LAMBS. The total entry of 4,009 Mule Gimmer Lambs av £65.90 per head Comprising – 2130 North of England (NEMSA) Mule av £71.14 (+£12.02 on 2018) 530 Mule Lambs (Non Members) av £68.78 (+£10.62 on 2018) 297 Dales Mule av £65.07 (+£0.13 on 2018) 167 Masham Lambs av £70.07 (+£7.15 on 2018) 860 Swaledale av £50.73 (+£0.32 on 2018) 25 Others Blue Texel to £102, Suffolks to £79

Kevin Huck strikes again at annual Skipton gimmer lambs highlight Skipton Auction Mart’s October gimmer lamb highlight produced an overall selling average for the 4,009-strong entry of £65.90 per head, a tidy increase on the previous year’s £59.39. (Tues, Oct 8) The popular annual fixture again featured four standalone breed shows for pens of ten Swaledale, North of England Mule, Dales Mule and Masham lambs. The Swaledale show class fell to Kevin Huck, of Knowle Bank Farm, Bordley, fresh from standing champion and claiming £2,200 top price at the previous evening’s annual Swaledales rams showcase.

Forward: 60 Registered Swaledale Rams A nice show of Swaledale Rams produced 7 sales at four figure prices and a good clearance rate with buyers keen to secure strong quality rams of all ages. It was the champion ram from Kevin Huck of Bordley that took the top price on the night of £2200. A homebred 3 shear by his Sealhouses ram out of Nattrass ewe it received keen bidding before being knocked to Messrs Hopkinson of Fairplace Farms, Cowling.

Kevin Huck aged ram champion and £2,200 top price at Skipton Swaledale showcase Local breeder Kevin Huck, of Knowle Bank Farm, Bordley, put in another outstanding performance at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual evening fixture for registered Swaledale rams. (Mon, Oct 7) He consigned the first prize aged ram for the third year in succession, thought to be the first time such a high profile hat-trick has been achieved at the breed highlight, before seeing his 3 shear progress to become overall show champion,

CCM Skipton Swaledale females up by £15 per head on year Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Saturday Swaledale females highlight for gimmer shearlings and draft ewes attracted an entry of 2,671 head, which sold to an overall average of £86.39, a solid rise of £15.10 on the year. Gimmer shearlings levelled at £104.93, genuine draft age 3 crop ewes at £80.52. (Oct 5) Trade was said to be very sensible, with ewes in nice condition and buyers keener than the previous year, buoyed by a more positive North of England Mule lamb trade and plentiful grazing.

Forward: 2,671 head. Overall Average was £86.39 (+£15.10) CCM Auctions conducted their Annual Sale of Swaledale Draft Ewes and Gimmer Shearlings at Skipton Mart on Saturday. Trade was very sensible with ewes in nice condition, and buyers in better form than last year buoyed by a more positive Mule lamb trade and grazing plentiful.