Aireburn herd Craven Dairy Auction champion sells at rock solid £2,400 The Aireburn pedigree Holstein Friesian herd of local husband and wife dairy farmers, Brian and Judith Moorhouse, of Hesper Farm, Bell Busk, secured their second championship of the year at the opening March Craven Dairy Auction at Skipton Auction Mart. (Monday, March 11)

Rearing Calves to £435 X2 (70) B&W av £75 Cont av £277 Native av £158.46 Decent show of calves on show this morning with a mixed trade throughout the sale. Some fierce bidding met the better end of the British Blue bulls with Joss Lancaster topping twice at £435 with the majority of the British Blue bulls £350 +. Aberdeen Angus bulls again made some healthy prices with £210 the average topping at £255 from Broadley Farms.

Rearing Calves to £415 (40) Dairy av £60 Cont av £250.96 Native av £161.33 A mixed entry of calves this morning with some very strong continentals on offer from N&R Sutcliffe and Church Farm Enterprises hitting £415 and £400 respectively, however a lot of young continentals brought the average considerably today. Young 10 to 14 day old continentals sold away to a straight trade of £170 to £200.

Aireburn herd bags another Craven Dairy Auction title Local husband and wife dairy farmers, Brian and Judith Moorhouse, who run the Aireburn pedigree Holstein Friesian herd at Hesper Farm, Bell Busk, picked up their first Craven Dairy Auction championship of 2019 at the year’s second fortnightly show and sale at Skipton Auction Mart. (Monday, Jan 28)

Rearing Calves to £440 B&W av £42 Cont av £302.49 Native av £226.5 A smaller show of calves forward this morning but a very handy trade for the calves forward. Topping the billing was the first calf in the market from Joss Lancaster of Horton in Craven with a strong British Blue bull rumbling its way up to £440. The natives found some strong bidding too, ending up at an average of £251.67 for AA bulls.

Robert Crisp milkers take principal honours at opening Craven Dairy Auction Malhamdale’s Robert Crisp, of Nelson House, Calton, was crowned both champion and reserve with a brace of newly calven entries at the opening Craven Dairy Auction show and sale of 2019. (Mon, Jan 14) He bagged the title with an eight days-calved 25-litre second calver cow, a daughter of Reagancrest S Isley, and the reserve championship with a 24-litre 11 days-calved heifer by Zelgadis. Both are Genus dairy sires. The principals headed the selling prices at £1,800 and £1,880 respectively, both heading to Queensbury with regular dairy buyer Richard Sutcliffe.

Rearing Calves to £460 (127) Dairy av £69 Cont av £303.65 Native av £170.5 A strong consignment of calves presented this morning after the three week Christmas break. However even more packed than the pens was the ringside of purchasers with no fewer than 25 different purchaser’s ringside. The pre-sale judging was carried out by the regular ringside face of Tom Heseltine of Bolton Abbey. The Champion was chosen from the pen of British Blue bulls with Shaun Sowray’s tremendous British Blue bull taking the top honours and the sale top price of £460. Throughout the sale calves were a good steady trade with the better end of the Continental cross bulls regularly past £400. Middle road of the continentals were a straight trade this morning however a lot less buyers on this type of calf today.

2018 principals again dominate at opening CCM Skipton calf show The opening rearing calf show of the year at Skipton Auction Mart saw the winning-most exhibitors from 2018 return to again land the principal honours with Blue-cross youngsters. (Mon, Jan 7) The Sowray brothers - Shaun, Peter and Paul - who run their Holstein Friesian dairy herd at Bowes Green Farm, Bishop Thornton, lifted another in a long line of title wins, including two last year, with the first prize bullock, a seven-week-old by the Norbreck Genetics dairy bull, Newton Blues Kracker, a recent addition to the Sowray breeding programme.

Rearing Calves to £405 (52) Dairy av £65.84 Cont av £296.3 Native av £250 A mixed trade for the last sale of the season with Natives and Best Continental bulls a nice trade throughout, however heifers and straight continental bulls were harder to place with a much more selective ringside than seen of late. Always a strange sale leading up to Christmas with some buyers bulk buying and some refraining till the new year, despite this a straight trade on the whole was received for today’s offering.

Peter Baul bags third Craven Dairy Auction championship at final show Skipton Auction Mart’s final Craven Dairy Auction of 2018 produced a third championship win of the year for Peter Baul, who trades as M Baul & Partners and runs the Ravensgate pedigree Holstein herd at Watergate Farm, Bishop Thornton. (Mon, Dec 17) He bagged the title with a home-bred 18 days calved 34kg heifer, Ravensgate Mars Sylvia 188, by the Genus sire, Ballycairn Mascol Mars, out of Ravensgate Mammoth Sylvia 177. From a long established milk rich line, the victor sold for £1,620 top price to Mark Goodall of Tong, Bradford.

Craven Dairy Auction (58 head) Brian Moorhouse takes the Christmas Dairy Championship once again with his 31 litre Grafeeti Daughter, which went on to sell for £2220 to John Howard of Heslaker. The next in line was a sweet pedigree heifer from David Lawson of Arthington boasting 5 generations of VG or Ex sold for £1800 to Brian Blezard of Ribchester. A large show of youngstock met a fluctuating trade with incalf heifers arguably a straight trade considering the current industry circumstances, however a healthy ringside of buyers meant for a healthy trade. Chris Drake took home the Frank Wade Perpetual Trophy for his Incalf heifer (due to the Aberdeen Angus for Feb) she sold for £1010 to David Shuttleworth of Gargrave.

Brian Moorhouse is Craven Dairy Auction Christmas champion once more Bell Busk farmer Brian Moorhouse seized the Christmas Dairy Championship once again at Skipton Auction Mart this week. (MON DEC 3) The Moorhouses are regular winners at CCM with their Aireburn pedigree Holstein herd at Hesper Farm, and bagged the festive championship last year, having been reserve champions in the corresponding fixture in 2016.

A fantastic day in the calf ring for the Christmas Calf show with the judging carried out by Will Gore-Browne of SIlsden Moor. The Champion Rosette ended up in the hands of Marcus Chadwick of Chadwick and Leaver of Southfield, Nr Burnley. A fantastic Simmental bred calf at just 7 weeks of age sold for £440 to the Judge.

Chadwick & Leaver bull calf clinches CCM Skipton Christmas title Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas rearing calf show attracted a cracking entry of 111 head and heady trade to match across all sections. (Mon, Nov 26) Show champion was Marcus Chadwick, who trades as Chadwick and Leaver at Higher Town House Farm, Southfield, near Burnley. His seven-week-old Simmental-bred bull calf caught the eye of the show judge, Will Gore-Browne, of SIlsden Moor, and he later claimed it in the sale ring for £440. Mr Chadwick is a seventh generation commercial dairy farmer and the family currently milks 170 Holstein Friesian cattle.

Craven Dairy Auction (13 head) Suzy Lawson took the honours today with a cracking Pedigree 2nd Calver. The pre-sale show kindly judged by Aubrey Greenhalgh saw some quality animals on offer however it was the Cow from Lawson’s that was the clear winner. Boasting 48 litres and calved 14 days, after giving over 10,000 litres as a heifer at Newbirks as she went on to sell for £1980 to Brian Blezard of Ribchester. Selling for the next highest price was almost the last animal in the ring. The 30kg, fortnight calved heifer from John Ireland of Thorpe Bassett near Malton ended up selling for £1980 to John Howard of Skipton.