Prime Cattle (under 30 mos)

Top gross of the day was a 565kg Limousin cross heifer bought by Hamlets Butchers of Garstang fro Malcolme Metcalfe of Baldersby and the top p/kg price was 263.5p/kg paid by Edwards Butchers of Padiham for 500kg 14 month old Limousin cross heifer sold by Ben Townsend (JM Townsend) of Laneshawbridge for 263.5p/kg (£1318).

Steers

465-555kg                                             to 238.5p/kg                        av.192.41p/kg

560kg+                                                   to 239.5p/kg                        av. 232.5p/kg

Heifers

400-480kg                                             to 259.5p/kg                        av. 194.22p/kg

485kg+                                                   to 263.5p/kg                        av. 241.02p/kg

Top Prices £ per head and p/kg

Steers

£ per head: JA Drake (Baz) 1353, (Limx) 1244, JR Metcalfe (Limx) 1288,1274, CD&RF Kitching (BBx) 1274

p/kg: JA Drake (Baz) 239.5, 232.5, JR Metcalfe (Limx) 238.5, CD&RF Kitching (BBx) 225.5,(Limx) 219.5

Heifers

£ per head: JR Metcalfe (Limx) 1398, JA Drake (Limx) 1374, CD&RF Kitching (BBx) 1360, (Limx) 1331, JM Townsend (Limx) 1318

p/kg: JM Townsend (Limx) 263.5, JR Metcalfe (Limx) 259.5, 247.5,235.5, JA Drake (Limx) 254.5, CD&RF Kitching (BBx) 249.5,235.5

Cattle (over 30mos)

Overall Average                                   132.66p/kg                           £812.57

Top Prices £ per head and p/kg

£ per head: RE Ayrton&Son (B&W Hfr) 907, JJ Beckwith&Sons (B&W Str) 718

p/kg: JJ Beckwith&Sons (B&W Str) 135.5, RE Ayrton&Son (B&W Hfr) 130.5

Overall Average                                   112.03p/kg           £724.70

A further climb in cast cow trade as the numbers tighten around the UK and a B&W dairy average of 110.44p/kg. Good young B&W cows now nudging 130p. Mixed selection of beef cross cast cattle headed at 132.5p/kg or £941 for a Blonde cross cow form Mesrs C Nelson&Sons of Bordley.

Black & White                       to 130.5p/kg                        av. 110.44p/kg

Dairy Sh                                 to 118.5p/kg                        av. 108.49p/kg

AAx                                         to 124.5p/kg                       

Blondex                                 to 132.5p/kg                       

Charx                                      to 124.5p/kg

Top Prices (£ per head or p/kg)

B&W:

£ per head: CM&EM Gratton 993, Kingstone Farms 972, JT Rushton 920, RD Metcalfe&Son 893, E&KM Marshall 887

p/kg: Kingstone Farms 130.5, PA Whittaker 122.5, 116.5, CM&EM Gratton 119.5, 117.5,RD Metcalfe&Son 117.5, JT Rushton 116.5

Other Dairy

£ per head: IRG Collins&Ptns (Dairy Sh) 604,453

p/kg: IRG Collins&Ptns (Dairy Sh) 118.5,97.5,

Beef

£ per head: C Nelson&Sons (Blondex) 941, D&GM Scott (Charx) 753, (AAx)660

p/kg: C Nelson&Son (Blondex) 132.5, D&GM Scott(Charx) 124.5, (AAx) 124.5

Prime Sheep

Spring Lambs forward in much larger numbers today for the Easter Show where judging was expertly undertaken by Mr Luke Swales from Knavesmire Butchers in York. His choice of Champion Lamb came from Robert Lambert of Wigglesworth that scaled 40kg and sold for £165 to the Judge. Knavesmire also purchased the first prized pair of Continental crosses from Charles and Valerie Marwood weighing 39kg at £132.  Butcher buyers were out in force with Hamlets butchers from Garstang securing the first prize Suffolk cross Lambs 43kg at £122 from Thomas Walmsley of Haverah Park, whilst Countrystyle Meats of Lancaster picked up prize winning lambs purchasing two pens form Mark Evans for £130 and £120. Kendalls Farm Butchers of Harrogate and Pateley Bridge secured lambs for £130 from JD&V Towers & Son, D&A Livestock from Haverah Park sold lambs at 283p to R Agars Wholesale Butchers in Ilkley, whilst Messrs Woodends Butchers from Adel purchased lambs from the same vendor. 

Easter Show of Spring Lambs

Judge – Luke Swales

Pair Continental x Lambs

1^st CW Marwood 39kg £132 SA Swales

2^nd CW Marwood 41kg £106 A Atkinson for R Agar

3^rd TA Robinson 36kg £99 A Atkinson for R Agar

Single Continental x Lambs

1^st RJ Lambert 40kg £165 SA Swales

2^nd N Tattersall 36kg £135 SA Swales

3^rd D&A Livestock 37kg £105 A Atkinson for R Agar

Pair Down x Lambs

1^st D&A Livestock 42kg £111 A Atkinson for R Agar

2^nd JA Key 49kg £117 A Atkinson for Traves

3^rd ML Evans 55kg £120 Countrystyle Meats

Single Down x Lambs

1^st D&A Livestock 43kg £122 Hamlets Butchers

2^nd JA Key 45kg £113 A Atkinson for Traves

3^rd ML Evans 58kg £130 Countrystyle Meats

Champion – RJ Lambert

Reserve – N Tattersall

Spring Lambs  – Overall Average  £106.02 per head or 244.52p/kg       

36.0kg to 45.5kg                 to 412.5p/kg         av 254.47p/kg      or £102.88 per head

45.6kg to 52.0kg                 to 273.9p/kg         av 238.37p/kg      or £115.67 per head

Suffolk average £109.87 per head or 236.53p/kg

£ per head: £130,£125 ML Evans; £122 D&A Livestock; £121, £120 x2 ML Evans; £117, £113 JA Key; £111 D&A Livestock

p/kg: 283.7p, 269.2p, 264.3p D&A Livestock; 255.1p ML Evans; 251.1p JA Key; 250p CR&J Kippax; 247.7p, 244.4p JA Key

Texel average £112.43 per head or 257.71p/kg

£ per head: £165 RJ Lambert; £135 PA&NS Tattersall; £130, £127, £126 JD&V Towers; £126 PA&NS Tattersall;

p/kg: 412.5p RJ Lambert; 375p, 315p PA&NS Tattersall; 283.8p D&A Livestock; 282.2p JD&V Towers; 275p DN Smith

Charollais average £106.3 per head or 258.56p/kg

£ per head: £132 CW Marwood; £116, £115, £114 JD&V Towers; £106x3, £105x2 CW Marwood & Son; £104 JD&V Towers

p/kg: 338.5p, 269.2p, 265px2, 258.5p CW Marwood & Son; 257.8p JD&V Towers & Son; 254.1p DN Smith; 

Plenty of Old Season Lambs about today and a more mixed show for quality, but every bit as good a trade as last week, maybe even a touch dearer for the right weight of lamb. A few best end still knocking on 300p, with K Saffrey topping the sale at 302p (39kg at £118) for a pen of 8 Beltex crosses. Fox Farms in Clitheroe had 300p for their best pen of 35kg Beltex at £105. The best of the rest this week either side of 250p. 

Commercial Lowland Lambs and  Heavy Lowland lambs (46kg to 52kg) were generally a touch better to sell than last week with customers competing better for these. And the Hill bred lambs followed suit and maintained last weeks prices.  Best Cheviot Hoggs over 200p and to £90 from Tony Kiernan, Blackies to £85 from Keith Slater and Mashams to £88 from Steve Dorey.

Old Season Lambs  – Overall Average  £ per head or 182.55p/kg           

25.5kg to 32.0kg                 to 269.4p/kg         av 189.84p/kg      or £57.42 per head

32.1kg to 35.9kg                 to 300.0p/kg         av 167.35p/kg      or £56.89 per head

36.0kg to 45.5kg                 to 302.6p/kg         av 188.48p/kg      or £78.38 per head

45.6kg to 52.0kg                 to 247.8p/kg         av 175.56p/kg      or £83.48 per head

52.1kg and over                  to 224.1p/kg         av 200.59p/kg      or £112.50 per

Beltex average £94.01 per head or 244.2p/kg

£ per head: £118 £100 K Saffery; £116 £114 £110 £107 RL&AR Phillips; £111 K Marshall; £105 £104 £103 Fox Farm; £99 C Windle;  

p/kg: 302.6p 250.0p K Saffery; 300.0p 260.0p Fox Farm; 269.4p PW Simpson; 255.3 252.3p K Marshall; 248.6p PW Simpson;

Suffolk average £78.66 per head or 173.9p/kg

£ per head: £94 AN Bolland; £88 JA Key; £87 S Dorey; £85 K Marshall; £82.50 RL&AR Phillips; £81 T Walmsley; £80.50 S Dorey;

p/kg: 181.8p AN Bolland; 180.2p, 176.1p S Dorey; 171.9p RL&AR Phillips; 171.1p T Walmsley; 169.7p J Taylor; 169.1p H Rigby

Texel average £83.57 per head or 194.3p/kg

£ per head:108, £107 D&A Livestock; £107 HB Atkinson; £106 K Marshall; £105.50 HB Atkinson; £105 D&A Livestock

p/kg:250p HB Atkinson; 243.9p RL&AR Phillips; 235p K Marshall; 234.4p HB Atkinson; 231.9p RL&AR Phillips;

Mule average £72.55 per head or 162.15p/kg

£ per head: £78.50 S Dorey; £78 RC Greenwood; £77.50 S Dorey; £77 RC Greenwood; £76 JK Wilson; £74 BR&JM Jarvis;

p/kg: 182.4p CD&RF Kitching; 172.2p S Dorey; 171.3p CD&RF Kitching; 170.7p S Dorey; 170p Fair Place Farm;

Charollais average £70.50 per head or 170.4p/kg

£ per head: £88.50 ra&se spINK; £72 £69.50 £65 l Throup; £67 GW Lister;

p/kg:221.3p RA&SE Spink; 186.1p GW Lister; 169.5p 166.7p 163.6p L Throup;

Lleyn average £71.64 per head or 188.5p/kg

£ per head: £75.50 £73 £70 £66 CD&RF Kitching;

p/kg: 194.4p 193.6p 187.2p 178.4p CD&RF Kitching;

Swaledale average £59.11 per head or 152.0p/kg

£ per head:£71 S&D Robinson; £71 £68 £67 £64 J Pickles; £71 J Baines; £70 J Taylor; £67 RG Church;

p/kg: 165.9p 165.0p 164.5p 164.1p J Pickles; 165.1p J Baines; 159.5 RG Church; 154.1p Fair Place Farm;

Dalesbred average £63.94 per head or 150.3p/kg

£ per head: £64.50 R Naylor; £57.50 S Dorey;

p/kg: 155.4p S Dorey; 150.0p R Naylor;

SBF average £76.85 per head or 174.4p/kg

£ per head: £85 £76x5 J&E Slater;

p/kg: 176.7px2 173.5p 172.7p x3 J&E Slater;

Lonk average £68.58 per head or 168.3p/kg

£ per head: £75.50 £67.50 £61.50 S&P Scrivin

p/kg: 173.1p 171.6p 161.8p S&P Scrivin

Cheviot average £78.96 per head or 177.2p/kg

£ per head:£90 £86 £85 £82 £79.50 T Kiernan; £80.50 RA&SE Spink; £80 £79.50 AR&CA Parkinson; £78x2 F&M Parkinson;

p/kg: 204.5p 200.0p 193.2p 189.3p T Kiernan; 191.7p RA&SE Spink; £186.8p S Dorey; 177.3p x2 F&M Parkinson;

Suffolk to £103.50, Texel to £125.50, BFL to £74.50, Mule to £84.50, Lleyn to £77.50, Swaledale to £41.50, Zwartable to £112.50, Charollais to £52.50

Top prices:

Lowland: £125.50 W Watson; £116.50 £115.50 B&K Wellock;

Mule/Masham: £84.50 AJ Shepherd; £81.50 WA Booker;  

Horned: £41.50 KM&L Throup; £35.50 JJ Beckwith;

Hill: £77.50 CD&RF Kitching; £74.50 JC&N Throup;  

Cast Rams average £71.33

Texel to £84.50. Suffolk to £80.50; BFL to £64.50. Dalesbred to £55.50

Breeding Sheep

A large entry this week of sheep with lambs at foot and generally a younger selection of ewes too, with more shearlings and hoggs with lambs each week now. Best of the shearlings came from David White of High Garnshaw who sold mules with twins to £205, whilst the first hoggs with singles of this season sold to £195 from RG Johnson & Son. Best of the ewes were correct texels with twin beltex lambs at £215 from Les Grange, Follifoot.

Rearing Calves to £405 (60)

B&W av £70.13 Cont av £322.58 Native av £205.65

Handy show of calves and a healthy ringside of buyers saw a good trade for what was on offer. Black and Whites were not quite as spicy as last week but not quite the quality to match either. An 8 week old bull topped at £190 from Alf and Andrew Townsend with Michael Heron’s 3 week old Friesian bulls at £112 and £102 with Brian Moorhouse of Bell Busk making £110 with a handy Holstein calf.

Johnny Moon of Wigglesworth topped the overall price with his hut reared calves reaching £405 and £390, however James Gooch wasn’t far behind with his British Blue heifer at £390 selling to Abbot Bros of Dacre and John Blackwell of Gargrave reaching £350 with his young Simmental Heifer. The true trade of heifers was hampered today by a few second rate goods later on, but looking to next week best heifers look like being a cracking trade yet again.

 Natives hit some higher gears today averaging over £200 for the first time in a while with a number of seasonal buyers just starting to push the native calves further with a good strong AA X bull from AP Townsend hitting £300 today.

NB: Next Week is the Spring Calf Show and Bank Holiday which will see a large turnout of buyers for all classes of Calf with a big numbers needed to fill orders.

Bull Calves

Limousin x (Av £190) to £190 EJ Fort                             

Brit Blue x (Av £337.83) to £405 JR&MJ Moon                                                            

Aberdeen Angus (Av £248.3) to £300 AP Townsend

Swedish Red (Av £40) to £48 M Fewster

Saler (Av £200) to £200 RL Wright & Son                     

Black & White (Av £70.16) to £190 AP Townsend                      

Heifer Calves                       

Simmental x (Av £350) to £350 HJ&K Blackwell                                                          

Ab Angus (Av £163.33) to £190 DL DM& J Heron                                                       

British Blue (Av £306.25) to £390 J Gooch

Lim (Av £310) to £310 AP Townsend

Prize Awards:       Newly Calven Heifers:         1^st M Baul & Partners, 2^nd Rusby Dairies 3^rd GB Jennings

                                Newly Calven Cows:            1^st J Wellock, 2^nd B Haigh

                                Champion – M Baul & Partners        Reserve – Rusby Dairies

Newly Calven Heifers (av £1630 ): to £1900 M Baul & Partners

Newly Calven Cows: to £1180 J Wellock