Irelands are victorious again in prime sheep show
Father and son, Richard and Mark Ireland, claimed the prime sheep championship again for October after winning last month at Skipton Auction Mart.
The Irelands, of Heys Farm, Whalley, were victorious with a pen of 5 Beltex crosses, which sold at £110 each, to Paul Watson, of Hellifield, who also bought the first prize mule class pen, from ASE Crisp, of Calton, for £82 per head.
The monthly show was expertly judged by Mick Etherington, and there was a tremendous line up of lambs for him to make his pick from.
Reserve champion pen from Ellis Bros, of of Addingham Moorside, sold for £109 to Kitsons Butchers, who have shops in Northallerton, Stockton and Hutton Rudby, while third prize in the continental-cross show class went to Michael Hall, of Airton, who sold for £105 a head to Vivers Scotlamb.
Others at the best end of the smart lambs were going for £95 to £105, or to 240p/kg.
Livestock agent John Bowling, of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan, claimed the first prize Suffolk-cross lambs from RA&M Earnshaw, of Flasby, for £78.5 per head, along with the third prize pen from JP&KE Hartley, at £73 per head. CD&RF Kitching, of Threshfield, sold a pen for £73 a head to Woodhead Bros, in Colne.
Overall there was a large show of sheep, with seasonal numbers in full swing. Although the average was only 6p down on the week, the 4,099 lambs levelled at 167.5p. Anything a bit smarter, especially handy weights were good to sell, with a full complement of buyers ringside from start to finish to help move the extra sheep on offer.
Nice commercial lambs were selling for 170p to 185p, with commercial sorts around 160p. Hill bred lambs are now coming in larger numbers and all are selling well away.
Over 600 cast sheep were also among the mix, cull ewes selling to highs of £92.50 per head for Texel pens from FW&JM Edington, of Bell Busk, and Brian Lund, of Walshaw, Hebden Bridge. Cast rams averaged £63.75.
Keelham snap up prime cattle at Skipton Auction Mart
Keelham Farm Shop bought five prime cattle at Skipton Auction Mart’s October show, with other leading buyers not far behind.
Purchases for Keelham, which has branches in Skipton and Thornton, included the top gross price for a 595kg British Blue cross steer, from CD&RF Kitching, of Threshfield, which sold for £1,395, or 234.5p/kg.
Show champion and top price by weight of the day was a Limousin cross heifer from Messrs RT&J Critchley & Son, of Hutton, near Preston, which weighed 520kg and sold to George Cropper Jnr, of Sandersons Butchers in Baxenden, for 265.5p/kg, or £1,380.60. Critchley & Son also came second in the bullocks show and sold a Limousin cross for 243.5p/kg, to Keelham.
Stanforth’s Butchers, of Skipton, made four purchases on the day and Ellisons Butchers, of Cullingworth, bought three of the top cattle.
Reserve champion in the show was a Limousin cross bullock, from JR Metcalfe, of Baldersby, which sold for £1,374, to Keelham. JA Drake, of Denholme, was second in the heifers contest and sold a Limousin cross for £1,344, to Stanforth’s.
There was a larger show of cull cows on previous weeks with meat in shorter supply. The better end of the dairies stopped at 110p and the lean dairies still saw a respectable price at 70p+ for the most part. The beef crosses in the day’s sale were mainly first crosses with variable levels of finish, best touching 130p and a few very worn hill cows in the 50s.