Sowrays secure leading honours at opening Skipton rearing calf show

The new rearing calf year at Skipton Auction Mart began as it had ended at January’s opening show and sale when brothers Shaun and Peter Sowray, of Bowes Green Farm, Bishop Thornton, followed up on their championship success at the final show of 2013. (Mon, Jan 6)

The Sowrays, who also sent out the title winner at last year’s opening show, repeated the feat at the 2014 renewal with their first prize British Blue-cross bull calf, a dairy-bred 34-day-old son of the Genus sire Fleuron.

The victor sold for £470 to North Lincolnshire’s Nigel and Maria Mason who continued a buying spree of quality calves at Skipton that first began at the 2013 opener and continued all year long.

The Sowray brothers made a clean sweep of the prizes in the British Blue bull calf show class, with another Fleuron son chosen as the runner-up and selling at £420, again to the Masons.

They then progressed to land first and third prizes in the British Blue heifer calf class, with the red rosette winner, by a Norbreck Greenhill sire, also chosen as reserve champion, selling for £350 to South Yorkshire buyer S Vodden, of Barnsley.

The day’s top call of £500 fell to a British Blue-cross bull calf from 2013 Craven Cattle Marts Farmers of the Year, father and son Fred and Mark Houseman, who trade as Church Farm Enterprises at Burton Top Farm, near Burton Leonard. It too joined the Masons.

The Housemans were also responsible for three red rosette winners, including the first prize and top price native-cross Aberdeen Angus bull calf, sold for £270 to Robert Foster, of Wetherby. They also won the black and white bull calf and Continental heifer stirk classes.

Sutton-in-Craven’s Richard Spence, another consistent frontrunner in the Skipton calf ring, was again prominent with a brace of show class wins and three top prices with a Charolais bull calf at £405, sold to Tom Watson, of Sawley, Ripon, a Limousin-cross heifer calf at £270 to Higham farmer and butcher Gordon Edwards, and a black and white bull calf at £258 to David Grassam in Wetherby.

A Simmental bull calf from Gargrave’s HJ&K Blackwell also sold well at £405 to regular buyer Tony Binns, of Clint, Harrogate, while JC&DJ Marshall, of West End, presented the top price £375 Limousin-cross bull calf, which also joined Tom Watson.

Shorthorn heifer calves from JR, CJ & D Drake, of Thornton, Bradford, landed all three prizes in the native-cross show class, selling to joint highs of £175 to Richard Umpleby, of Killinghall, and Stephen Pepper, of Oxenhope.

An older British Blue-cross stirk, first prize winner in its show class, from Geoff and Margaret Booth in Lothersdale, also achieved £500 when selling to K Hall & Sons, of Huddersfield.

Skipton’s calf year certainly kicked off on a high note, with a bumper entry of 135 youngsters. British Blue-crosses again proved the leading performers, with bull calves averaging £362 per head and heifer calves £350. The overall selling average was £209.55 per head, with Continental calves averaging £305 each, native breeds £195 and black and whites £115.

The show was judged by regular Skipton calf buyer Geoff Eddleston, of Rishton, and again sponsored by BOCM Pauls, who have committed to another full year of rearing calf and Craven Dairy Auction show sponsorships.

Future seasonal rearing calf shows at Skipton are due to be staged on Mondays, March 17, August 18 and October 20, with the Christmas Show on Monday, November 24, supplemented by the normal weekly rearing calf sales.

Skipton Auction Mart’s general manager Jeremy Eaton commented: “Clients are now travelling from a much wider area to sell and purchase quality calves, with increasing demand for native breed youngsters and continuing solid trade for black and whites. Even on non-show days, rearing calf numbers regularly hit between 60 and 90 entries.”