With 25 buyers taking cattle home from the sale, the 62 cattle though the ring have now gone to new homes from the north of Scotland, to Cheshire in the West and the East coast, and it was the younger animals that were most keenly sought, as well as those freshly calved and in full milk.
The late Keith Blackburn had laid solid foundations in his Wharfedale herd and this was clear in the stamp of cows that formed this small dispersal of 39 head. What lacked in numbers was more than overcome in quality, with the cattle widely admired ringside for their uniformity, dairy strength, great locomotion and well attached functional udders.
With a quarter of the animals in this section exceeding the £2,000 barrier, it fell to the last lot into the ring to command top price. Stuart Forshaw, of Longridge, went on to £2,280 to secure Wharfedale Generate Poppy, a mid-July fresh heifer by Relough Generate.
She was closely followed by the back of the catalogue cover girl and crowd favourite, the second calver with a picture perfect udder – Wharfedale Dreamer Lady, an already VG86 second calver who is due again in mid-January and was snapped up by shrewd purchaser Aubrey Greenhalgh for a client.
With the opportunity to bid online, the sale had a new dimension to it, one which is likely to become increasingly popular over the coming weeks and months and the first online bids came in the regular fortnightly sale entry, which kicked of the fixture at noon.
However, it was regular ringside buyer Brian Blezard, of Ribchester, who took the top priced animal in this section, a newly calven heifer at £2,100 from the Harehills herd at Oakworth of Sally Wellock.
With numbers in this section totalling 14, CCM expressed delight that vendors are responding to the demand of buyers and being justifiably rewarded with good prices for their stock.
Three heifers in the fortnightly section broke the £2,000 barrier, with both fresh heifers from Sally Wellock falling in this bracket, with another at £2,080 from RW&M Walker, of Laycock, going to Mark Goodall, of Tong, in his four purchases of the day.
One of the highlights of the sale was a consignment of bulling and yearling heifers from mother and son team, Karen and Paul Hutchinson at Scorton, Richmond, and their Whychall pedigree Holstein herd.
These well grown heifers with great health status saw some frantic bidding with them finally heading to three purchasers, while top price was for a high PLI (£426) May 2019 daughter of Westcoast Perseus from the well-known and reliable Roybrook Honey family. She made £1,050 to Robert Johnson, Felliscliffe.
The batch of heifers averaged over £900, with three breaking the £1,000 barrier. Sired by leading bulls such as Attico, Penmanship and Fever, they showed the genuine demand for good quality well-bred youngstock.
A small consignment of world-renowned sire’s semen concluded the sale, with Outside, Talent and Shottle sold from David Walker, of Crook, up to £32 per straw.
The mart is now looking forward to the next event on the dairy calendar at Skipton, on Monday, August 24, when alongside the growing fortnightly dairy sale, where both regular vendors and no doubt new consignors will be welcome, there will also be a splash of colour with over 70 head of Jerseys and Guernseys, which will be sold by Mark Davis, of Kivells.
Also of note is a dispersal within the sale of one of the best Jersey herds in the UK – Mrs Judith Waring’s prizewinning Cherryview herd from Cherry Burton, Beverley. These are high productive Jerseys in terms of milk, solids and they look the part with tremendous depth of pedigree. Alongside them will be deep pedigreed cattle from the Springriver, Olympia, Lacro, Knayton and Ravenfield herds, but alongside the show cattle there will be high component, functional Jerseys that will graze and milk.
In addition, the next sale will include a consignment of 28 head of Guernseys that form a reduction for Brymor Ltd due to business restructuring from Brymor Ltd Masham, said to present a unique opportunity in this region. Catalogues are available on request from Sarah Liddle on 07710 795585.
Averages: Fortnightly dairy sale -1 cow in milk £1,780, 11 heifers in milk £1,788, 2 crossbred in calf heifers £940. Wharfedale dispersal - 24 cows in milk/dry £1,296, including all with fault,13 heifers in milk £1,753, overall average on 37 head £1,438. Consignment of 11 bulling and yearling heifers from MR & KM Hutchinson £911.