There was almost a shippon full for the dairy sale with the added attraction of five well bred pedigree heifers. Ringside trade was not quite as brisk as last time out but developed into a healthy average.

Tony Swires and son James, of Stainburn, Otley took first prize in the newly calven cows class, selling to a top price of £1,520 to A&G Midgley, of Luddendenfoot, and sold a strong homebred heifer for a sale price of £1,650 to Ken & Lynne Throup, of Woofa Bank.

Keith Downs, of Bingley, saw a high of £1,580 selling to the Throups, with newly calven heifers averaging £1341.58.

The pedigree maiden heifers drew some strong interest despite only five in the catalogue. Peter Baul, of Bishop Thornton, won the pre sale show with his heifer Ravensgate Ransom Hilda, a Ravensgate Garrison Hilda Daughter by Chalclyffe Ransom and sold for £900 to Simon Spensley of Gargrave.

The second highest price of the day came from the 13mth old Holmedale Cruise Poppy, Daughter of Holmedale Hercules Poppy VG85 and with healthy back pedigree sold for £880 to Abbott Brothers, of Dacre.    

I Olivers & Partners in Darley took first and second prize with two in-calf heifers, and also reached top price in this class with £1,290. In calf heifers averaged £1,220 and E Pennock & Son, of Hazlewood, was third.

Keith Downs won first prize in the coloured newly calven class with D&P Brown & Son, of Harrogate, coming second and third.

Third in the newly calven heifers was RG Johnson & Son, of Felliscliffe, while David Leeming, of Harrogate, took second in the newly calven cows and Brian Moorhouse, of Hesper Farm, Bell Busk, third. Newly calven cows averaged £1,302.5.

The show was judged by Rebecca Jarvis, of Borough Bridge, and Sammy Sugden, of Laycock, and was sponsored by NMR and Jim Peet Agriculture.

Rearing calves good to sell

There was a healthy number of rearing calves put forward at Skipton Auction Mart on Monday (JULY 25) with the goods on offer well fought over.

Again Friesians and Black and Whites were good to sell with plenty of cover for all types and headed to an average of £110.68 for an average of 29.5 days of age.

Quality was slightly down on previous weeks in the continental section and steadied the average to £332 for all goods despite Geoff and Margaret Booth of Lothersdale topping at £430 with a British Blue cross bull calf and Fred Houseman not far behind at £425.

Fred Houseman topped the heifers however at a high of £400 and £395. Limousins were out in stronger numbers than late with Shaun Sowray and Robert Metcalfe topping the report sheets, selling bull calves to £400 and heifer calves to £365 respectively.

British Blue bulls averaged £336 and Simmentals £307, with a top price for a bull reached at £340 by CN & SA Harrison. British Blue heifers averaged £304 and an Aberdeen Angus heifer was sold by JC Marshall for £235.