Baines family prime cattle champions again at Skipton The Baines family, from Trawden in Pendle, Lancashire, sent out another in a long line of prime cattle champions at Skipton Auction Mart’s August show. (Mon, Aug 3) Jim Baines and his son Paul were responsible for the latest victor, the first prize 560kg Blonde d'Aquitaine-cross heifer, bought at an earlier Skipton store cattle sale. It fell for a price-topping £1,789, or 319.5p/kg, to Kitsons Butchers in Northallerton, who returned to the ringside after purchasing three prime cattle at the July show, including the reserve champion, also from the Baines family.

Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of Store Lambs & Early Breeding Sheep Forward: 6,583 Head, comprising of 6,287 Store Lambs & 296 Breeding Sheep CCM Auctions held their 2nd Fortnightly Sale of Store Lambs at Skipton Mart on Wednesday where a grand entry of 6,583 head were forward for sale. Although the prime sheep trade is under pressure, customers are reporting that there is plenty of grass in grazing areas and as a consequence there was a tremendous ringside of buyers, with 51 successful purchasers by the close of sale and several others who went away empty handed.

Metcalfe Suffolks top performers again at 2nd Skipton store lamb show Skipton Auction Mart’s second major seasonal store lamb sale of 2015 saw a repeat win in the show class for pens of 50 Suffolk-cross lambs for RD Metcalfe & Son, from Grange Farm, Brearton, north of Harrogate. Robert Metcalfe, who fulfilled a long-held ambition when sending out last year’s champion pen for the first time, emulated that success at the latest renewal with a strong packet of lambs that earned high praise from show judge David Pennington, of Mill House Farm, Chaigley, Clitheroe. “There were some very good lambs in the show, but the victors were the most even and best drawn pen. Every lamb was alike,” noted the adjudicator.

Forward: 68 Prime cattle comprising 8 Clean Cattle and Young Bulls (under 30 mos), 2 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 58 Cast Cattle. 3726 Prime Sheep comprising 3171 Spring Lambs, 555 Cast Ewes & Rams. 59 Rearing Calves. 51 Dairy Cattle. 3 Loads of produce.

Craven Dairy Auction (51 head) A mixed sale of all types of cattle for today’s dairy sale with 51 head going under the hammer. Robin Jennings of South Stainley was judged to have the best beast in the market, a Pedigree heifer calved 12 days giving 35kgs which eventually sold for £1750 to Wick Williams. Reserve Champion went to the Calvert family of Crathorne near Yarm with a 4th calver which had been classified EX90 with 10gens of VG or EX behind it and arguably one of the best cows we’ve sold in the market ended up selling for £2100 to William Oldfield of Stocks Enteprises.

Stainbank herd secures Craven Dairy Auction championship hat-trick Pedigree dairy farmer Robin Jennings made it a hat-trick of successive championship wins at Skipton Auction Mart’s main July Craven Dairy Auction. (Mon, July 27) Mr Jennings, who runs the Stainbank Holstein dairy herd at Hill House Farm, South Stainley, Harrogate, landed top honours for the third consecutive show with his first prize newly calven heifer, Longstar Medley Stephanie, acquired as a stirk from North Craven’s Stephen Robinson.

Rosie, three, shines at Skipton young farmers’ highlight A three-year-old who is still at nursery school became one of the youngest ever supreme champions when making her debut in the show ring at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual young handlers’ prime lamb show and sale. (Mon, July 27) Rosie Garth and her 35kg Beltex-cross wether lamb were awarded the title at the fixture, which gives farming’s future generations an early opportunity to both experience and shine in the exhibition arena.

Cheshire success at Skipton summer store cattle show Tom Ryan, who farms in Altrincham, Cheshire, presented the first prize young bull and overall show champion at a special summer cattle show at Skipton Auction Mart, which produced healthy trade throughout. (Wed, July 22) Mr Ryan secured the title with a 12-months-old home-bred British Blue-cross sired by a pedigree Blue bull he had earlier bought at Skipton. It sold for the day’s top joint top call of £1,440 to York father-and-son farmers and butchers Stephen and Anthony Swales.

A Strong show of cattle for this time of year, with a healthy trade had throughout the day. Bulls set the tone with small goods looking as dear as anything, although prize winners in the pre sale show did romp into £1440 with all bulls averaging at £1065. Bullocks and Heifers took on where they left off last fortnight, however a large proportion of dairy bred goods on offer today shows the strength of the trade. Andrew Fawcett had the highest priced pen of three for some quality Simmentals and A Rigby took top price at £1430 for a fantastic heifer. Natives were also well supported with Paul Drinkall reaching £1235 for a pen of three Aberdeen Angus steers.

MARKET REPORT – MONDAY 20th July 2015. Forward: 63 Prime cattle comprising 6 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 3 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 54 Cast Cattle incl 1 Mature Bull. 3,113 Prime Sheep comprising 2795 Spring Lambs, 318 Cast Ewes & Rams. 66 Rearing Calves. 3 Loads of produce.

MARKET REPORT – SATURDAY 18th JULY 2015 CCM Auctions Conducted their Monthly Sale of Stirks, Weaned Calves and Young Store Cattle alongside the July Agri-Trader sale of Machinery, Implements, Vehicles, Builders Plant, Stone & Timber, Reclaim and Salvage and the Mid Summer Craven Feather Auctions

MARKET REPORT – WEDNESDAY 15th JULY 2015. Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of Store Lambs. Forward: 3348 Head, Overall av £58.88 (+£2.15 on 2014). CCM Auctions commenced their sheep sale season on Wednesday with the opening fortnightly sale of store lambs at Skipton Mart. As ever, this sale being the first major sale to be held in the North created tremendous interest from a packed ringside comprising of buyers, producers and interested onlookers from all walks of life.

Success for Skipton store lamb seasonal opener The onset of the big sheep sale season at Skipton Auction Mart began with the traditional store lamb pipe opener, the first major sale of its kind in the north, which again attracted nationwide interest. (Wed, July 15) All eyes were on opening trade from a packed ringside of buyers, producers and interested onlookers from all walks of life, and the 3,348 lambs forward were quickly snapped up at an overall average of £58.88 each, an increase of £2.15 per head on last year’s corresponding fixture.

MARKET REPORT – MONDAY 13th JULY 2015 Forward: 50 Prime cattle comprising 3 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos) & 47 Cast Cattle including 2 Mature Bulls. 3,923 Prime Sheep comprising 3205 Spring Lambs, 718 Cast Ewes & Rams. 65 Rearing Calves. A handful of clean cattle on a non- show week met a very good trade with Keelham Farm Shop keen to put the best regional beef on the counter in their farm shops by purchasing the highest priced beast a 540kg Limousin cross steer from Malcolm Metcalfe of Baldersby at 247.5pkg or £1337. Commercial cattle with finish were equally well bid with Stanforths Butchers of Skipton buying a 510kg Limousin Heifer from H Downs & Son of Bingley for 219.5p/kg or £1119. We require clean cattle every Monday, please contact the auctioneers for details.

Fortnightly Sale of Young Feeding Bulls, Store Bullocks & Heifers, Breeding Cattle Forward: 371 head of cattle Comprising: 73 Young Feeding Bulls, 217 Bullocks & Heifers, 2 Feeding Cows & 79 Breeding Cattle. CCM Auctions had forward 371 head of cattle for their fortnightly sale at Skipton Mart on Wednesday. Young Bulls were again a very keen trade, quality types especially good to sell, with Ben Townsend selling a run of 5 bulls topping at £1520 averaging £1430. The overall selling average was £1062.60. In the Store cattle section buyers were out in force reacting to an improved prime trade and keen to source short keep cattle, as a response all classes were a shade sharper on the fortnight.