Rearing Calves to £420 (106) Good show of calves forward again today with 106 through the door. Black and Whites were certainly dearer today with middle of the road calves a lump dearer today with the best calf from John and Rob Marshall of Dacre reaching £120. British Blue bulls topped the days proceedings at £420 from Church Farm Enterprises however Limousin’s from Pickersgill Bros and Simmentals from Hayton and Stocks both saw £410 for their consignments.

Georgina Fort champion at Craven Dairy Auction Georgina Fort, who runs her own small dairy herd at her father Edward’s High Bracken Hill Farm on Silsden Moor, clinched championship honours with her first prize newly calven heifer at the opening October Craven Dairy Auction at Skipton Auction Mart. (Mon, Oct 2) Bought at Skipton last year out of Andrew Ayrton’s Hawbank dairy herd in Embsay, the 17 days calved title winner, giving 26 litres, sold for £1,700 joint top price to the show judge, Bishop Thornton’s Shaun Sowray.

Rearing Calves to £410 B&W av £57.50 Cont av £328.8 Native av £240.58 Healthy show of 75 calves today considering it being Nidderdale Show day, despite this calves sold away well with Native bulls a particularly strong trade with AA bulls to £380 and averaging £347.50. Continentals were a touch easier on paper but a cracking trade for the goods on offer today with plenty of 4 week old calves and under, steaming past £300. Alan Middleton from Beamsley topped proceedings with a belting BB heifer at £410. Fleshy B&W calves sold nicely with a lot of small young calves about making good money.

Rearing Calves to £435 (30) A quieter show this week with three big shows recently hampering numbers, however prices were good with buyers still out in abundance and bidding well for calves. Black and Whites were in another gear today averaging £86 and best Continental bulls no different to last week topping at £435 for a 5 week old bull from Church Farm Enterprises. Natives in storng demand yet again with Angus Bulls averaging £328 and topping at £380 for a 4 ½ week old bull from Church Farm again.

A MASSIVE GATHERING FOR THRESHFIELD HOLSTEINS - Saturday 16th September saw a great gathering at Toft House Farm, Threshfield, Nr Skipton for the production sale of the Threshfield Holstein herd, with numbers fit to bursting, the time had come to hold a sale to reduce the pressure at the farm. The Dean family have over the years built a great herd by securing cattle from leading breeders and this has provided a great base for the herd.

Rearing Calves to £555 (150) A scintillating trade today for the Autumn Calf show with exactly 150 calves through the door. The Show was a hard fought contest with Matthew Dibb of Dob Park, Otley picking Alan Hartley’s 7 week old Bull as Champion over a tremendous Suckler Bred Limousin heifer from John and Tom Carlisle of Cracoe. It was a hard choice to choose a winner, and it was a close run affair in the sale ring also with just £5 between them. The Champion from The Hartley Family of Beamsley saw £555 for their consignment selling to the Judge with the Reserve Champion from the Carlisle Family selling to Jonathon Townley, Clapham for £550.

Craven Dairy Auction (47 head) The 2nd Yorkshire Holstein Club sale of the Year had a cracking turnout with 40 Milkers in the Shippon with the pre –sale judging ring brimming with heifers for Stephen and Malcom Abbott to Judge, and after much deliberating they chose the heifer from Alan and Susan Throup of Higher House, Silsden Moor.

Dalesbrad herd bags Yorkshire Holstein Club Skipton title Skipton Auction Mart staged its second show and sale of the year for pedigree and commercial Holsteins on behalf of the Yorkshire Holstein Club, which attracted a robust turnout of 40 milkers in the shippon, notably some strong newly calven heifers. (Mon, Sept 4) The championship fell to the first prize pedigree heifer from Allan and Susan Throup’s Dalesbrad herd at Higher House Farm, Silsden Moor. Their May, 2015, Dalesbrad Hugo Boss Profit is a well-bred daughter of their home-bred Dalesbrad Hugo Boss Bull (EX90), himself a son of the highly regarded Genus dairy sire, Bassingthorpe Bossman.

Rearing Calves to £440 (47)

Rearing Calves to £460 (80 head) Another healthy number of calves through the door today with the top price calf belonging to Hayton and Stocks of Bolton Abbey. Fred Houseman saw a flying trade with blue heifers at £450 and £440 with Hayton & Stocks seeing their strong limousin heifers reach £415 and £400. Native bulls were a premium today with the calves on offer flying away with young calves nudging the £300 mark all the time. Black and whites touch easier on the week, again a mixed show of quality hampering the average but overall a straight trade for the better end topping at £105 for a nice calf from Robert Throup of Bradley.

Rearing Calves to £455 (94) 94 calves through the ring today, with a 4 month old Stirk from George and Pauline Fleetwood topping the day at £660. Fred Houseman topped the female calves at £455 for a tremendous British Blue heifer selling to regular buyers Stephen and Malcom Abbott. A run of Flekvieh calves on offer today met a strong trade with Colin Bentley of Thirsk selling the top price of £255. Natives were the most hard fought over with Michael Heron topping the bulls at £300 for a 26 day old bull and Richard Spence of Sutton in Craven topped heifers at £305 for a Angus heifer out of a Friesian.

Craven Dairy Auction (23 head) David Lawson of Arthington saw his two heifers win the newly calven heifer class this morning with his first prize heifer taking the championship in front of a handy Pedigree 2nd Calver from Wilson Stewart of Carlisle. Both Champion and Reserve found a new home with regular supporter Brian Blezard of Ribchester at £2000 and £1800 respectively. A healthy show of Incalf heifers were on show today with John Ireland, Thorpe Bassett taking first prize however it was the second prize heifer from Jeff and Judith Throup of Silsden Moor, Incalf to Aberdeen Angus bull duster and due September sold to Roger and Jack Naylor for £1380 with a section average of £1208.

Lawsons return to land another Craven Dairy Auction title With more first calvers now coming through, the Lawson family, who run the Newbirks pedigree Holstein Friesian herd at Arthington in Wharfedale, made a welcome return to Skipton Auction Mart to win their first Craven Dairy Auction championship of the year with a heifer from their long-established and milk-rich Jazz family. (Monday, August 7)

Rearing Calves to £515 (106) B&W av £61 Cont av £378.34 Native av £264.29 Summer show and sale of calves was a superb day for all attending with a cracking trade right throughout the day. Native calves were certainly good to sell today with a number of buyers forcing a strong trade for both bulls and heifers with bulls stopping at £380 and heifers to £330 both from the Griffiths family of Penistone.

Sowrays champions again at Skipton rearing calf highlight The Sowray Holstein Friesian dairy farming family from Bowes Green Farm, Bishop Thornton, won yet another rearing calf title, doubling up with the reserve championship, at Skipton Auction Mart’s summer show. (Mon, July 31) Brothers Shaun, Peter and Paul Sowray took the leading honour with their first prize six-week-old British Blue-cross heifer calf, a Dazzle daughter which went on to sell for the day’s top call of £515 to Ian Ibbotson, of Oakworth.