Kitsons then paid £1,610, or 255.5p/kg, for the latest reserve champion, the first prize 630kg pure-bred British Blue heifer from another regular prize winner and past champion, Calderdale’s Brian Lund, of Walshaw, Hebden Bridge. It was sired by Dean House Danloy, acquired from the Driver family in nearby Thornton.

Mr Lund was accompanied by his nine-year-old grand-daughter Chrissie, a pupil at Old Town Primary School in Hebden Bridge, who had helped rear the heifer with her sister Chloe, 15, who attends Calder High in Mytholmroyd. The girls’ parents, Richard and Emma Lund, are closely involved with the family farm

Kitsons Butchers again acquired three prime cattle at the August fixture. Their third purchase was the Baines family’s second prize British Blue-cross heifer at £1,477, or 273.5p/kg.  All will again be going on sale at their shop in High Street, Northallerton, after the meat has been fully matured for 30 days to allow it to reach optimum condition.

Owner Anthony Kitson – he also has a second butchers shop in Stockton-On-Tees - said: “Our customers are savouring the texture and tenderness of the beef we bought at Skipton last month, so we were keen to source more top-quality cattle there. They are going down great guns. As a championship-winning butcher we are always looking to buy premiership beef.”

Malham Moor’s Bill Cowperthwaite, champion at the July show, was again on song when presenting the second prize bullock and third prize heifer. The former, a Simmental, sold for £1,425, top gross price in class, or 241.5p/kg, to the show judge, Keelham Farm Shop’s James Robertshaw, while the latter, a Limousin-cross, joined D&A Gregory Butchers in St James Street, Bacup, at £1,364, or 278.5p/kg. Mr Cowperthwaite sold a further Limousin-cross bullock for £1,392, or 248.5p/kg, again to Keelham,

Malcolm Metcalfe, of Thirsk,, was responsible for the third prize bullock, a Limousin-cross, which made £1,396, or 258.5p/kg, and also fell to Gregory’s Butchers, while the same vendor also achieved £1,482, or 255.5p/kg, with a Limousin-cross heifer which became a third Keelham acquisition. All will go on sale at both the new shop in Skipton and its established outlet at Thornton, on the outskirts of Bradford.

The mart’s call for more clean cattle was answered when the August show attracted a 26-strong entry, along with an increased attendance of retail butcher buyers.

Under 30-month steers weighing 465-555kg averaged 250.33p/kg, with 560kg-plus entries averaging 210.26p/kg. Heifers averaged 168.09p/kg for 400-480kg entries and 237.32p/kg for 485kg-plus. A further six clean cattle over 30 months averaged £806.25 per head, or 126.78p/kg, headed at £1,011, or 138.5p/kg, by a black and white stirk from Broughton’s Jeremy Taylor.

In a standalone show for cull cows, the first prize beef-bred animal and overall champion was a home-bred once-calved Limousin cow from Skipton regulars John and Claire Mason, who runs the Oddacres pedigree herd in Embsay. The daughter of Economy sold for £1,158, or 175.5p/kg.

The first prize dairy-bred cull cow was a black and white from brothers Stephen and Malcom Abbott in Dacre, Harrogate, which made £816, or 112.5p/kg.

Joe and Nancy Throup, of Draughton, clinched the runner-up slot in the beef-bred show class with a Blonde-cross cow sold away at £963, or 139.5p/kg, while Skipton’s K Burton was third with a Charolais knocked down at £1,173, or 125.5p/kg.

Elslack’s John Rushton was runner-up in the dairy-bred show class with a black and white cow sold for £743, or 108.5p/kg, with Lyndon Watson, of Horton-in-Craven, finishing third with a MRI sold at £717, or 109.5p/kg.

A reduced entry of 23 cull cows met with a sharper trade on the week when selling to an overall average of £704.42 per head, or 106.67p/kg.