NEMSA chairman crowned champion at CCM Skipton Mule gimmer lamb opener
Wilson family title-winning pen of 10 sells for £270 per head
North of England Mule Sheep Association chairman Kevin Wilson was crowned champion in the flagship pen of 10s show class at Skipton Auction Mart’s opening 2018 gimmer lamb highlight. (Tues, Sept 11)
While Mr Wilson, who farms with his wife Daphne and their son, James, at Hewness House Farm in Blubberhouses, between Skipton and Harrogate, won both the pens of10s and 20s show classes at Skipton’s second Mule ewe lamb sale last year, it was the first time the family had clinched the prestigious and much sought after title at the opening sale.
It remains one of the leading fixtures of its kind in the north and just the second to be staged in NEMSA’s annual high profile members-only autumn ewe lamb show and sale season, which runs through until the end of October.
Six in the victorious Skipton pen were by the Wilsons’ high performance F1 Bighead tup, shared in partnership with his Richmondshire breeder Alan Busby, of Marrick, the remainder by Bighead’s home-bred sons. They sold for the day’s top price of £270 per head to the Haynes family in Winslow, Buckinghamshire.
For good measure, the Wilson family also finished fourth and fifth in the pens of 20 show class with similarly bred lambs, which sold at £130 and £138 respectively.
Mr Wilson began his two-year term of office as NEMSA chairman in February this year and is doing a great deal to promote the North of England Mule, which remains not only Britain’s most prolific sheep breed in terms of numbers, but also the country’s most popular commercial sheep.
After becoming 10s champion at his local mart, Mr Wilson commented: “We are over the moon. It is a career highlight.”
The Smearsett flock of WA&A Booth, based at Old Hall Farm, Feizor, north of Settle, which in 2017sent out the champion pens of 10 and 20 for the second year running, fell just short of a remarkable hat-trick when father and son, David and Robin Booth, again won the 20s show class and finished runners-up with their 10s.
The majority in the reserve champion pen of 10 were by the Booths’ home-bred G11 tup ‘Ted,” a further two by his sons and one by the highly regarded and well utilised Bluefaced Leicester ram, D15 Smearsett, which has been responsible for so many of the family’s top performers at Skipton in the past. They sold for £140 each, with the similarly bred pen of 20 victors not far behind when knocked down for £135 per head to John Greenhalgh, of Bashall Eaves.
Buyers from near and far again flocked to the opening sale, which attracted another solid entry of over 6,000 head and produced an overall selling average of £91.22 per head, a fall of just £6.87 on the year.
Craven Cattle Marts’ livestock sales manager Ted Ogden commented: “It proved a very satisfactory result, bearing in mind that the run-up to the sale this year was probably one of the most uncertain for many years, with several external factors, mainly weather related, having a downward effect on the breeding sheep trade countrywide. While the overall average was down, it was by no means as much as most would have expected.”
Once again, the pre-sale show was very well supported and the quality of lambs put before the judges was a tremendous testament to the producers of the area.
The reserve champions in the 20s show class came from Ashley and Rachael Caton, of Otterburn Lodge, four by J1 Smearsett, the remainder by home-bred tups. They sold for £135 each.
The Kitching family, from Grisedale Farm, Threshfield – Frank Kitching is NEMSA’s Skipton branch chairman – again did well, consigning both the third and fifth prize pens of 10, sold for £145 and £160 respectively. Their lambs were by a selection of tups, two from the Riddings and Smearsett flocks, others home-bred.
Father and son, Francis and James Caton, from Weston Hall Farm, Otley, picked up tickets in both show classes, finishing fourth with their 10s, sold for £162, and third with their 20s, which made £130.
Fifth prize in the 10s show class fell to the Walker family, from Brennand Farm, Dunsop Bridge, their charges selling for £142, with Robert Crisp, of Nelson Farm, Calton, selling his sixth prize pen of 20s for £138.
Most top pens met trade on a par with the previous year, with plenty from £130 up to £168, this for the second top price performers from the Walker family at Fold Farm in Appletreewick. Also catching the eye were Embsay’s John and Claire Mason with a £155 pen and two at £150 from Janet and James Huck, of Austwick, and Stephen and Tracey Fawcett, and their daughter, Samantha, from Barden.
Strong lambs in the middle of people’s runs were also a sharp trade and again not vastly different on the year. While runners did see a drop in price on the year, any strong bodied lambs with good skins sold well and above the expectations of many.
CCM Auctions again presented cash prizes for the day’s leading flock averages. Of the vendors consigning 100 or more lambs, it was Austwick Hucks who also led the way for the second year running with 124 levelling at £111.13, followed by the Wharfedale-based Catons with 184 at £110.16 and the Booths with 106 at £108.44.
Flock averages for under 100 lambs peaked at £148.67 for 30 from the Barden-based Fawcetts, followed by Robert Crisp with 81 at £112.28 and the Walkers in Dunsop Bridge with 71 at £106.77. Full results and prices are at www.ccmauctions.com
Title winners in both show classes received Ciba Geigy perpetual trophies, with the champion pen of 10 also awarded the Chester Kneller Memorial Trophy. The 10s show class was co-judged by Henry Tustian, of Banbury, and Graeme Jackson, of Bentham, with Tony England, of Tiverton, and Andy Jackman, of Betchworth, adjudicating in the 20s.
Show sponsors were Carrs Billington/Pearson Farm Supplies, Armstrong Watson Accountants & Financial Advisers, represented by Rodger Hill, and Barclays Bank, represented by Ian Robson and Wayne Ellison.
Attention now turns to Skipton’s second annual NEMSA gimmer lamb show and sale on Tuesday, September 25, when another strong turnout is anticipated.