North Craven father and son clinch first prime cattle title at CCM Skipton
Skipton Auction Mart’s first monthly prime cattle show of 2019 produced a first-ever title win at the venue for North Craven father and son, Francis and Andrew Smith, of Lodge Farm, Masongill, above Ingleton close to the Yorkshire-Lancashire border. (Monday, Jan 7)
The hill farming duo also picked up the reserve championship for good measure, both with Limousin-cross entries, bought in as sucklers and further improved and finished on the farm.
Show judge Frank Wrathall, of Gisburn, tapped out the Smiths’ first prize 500kg heifer as overall champion, just pipping their red rosette-winning 580kg bullock, which stood reserve champion, with the principals joining two regular butcher buyers at Skipton.
The victor made £1,387, or a section-topping 277.5p/kg, when claimed by, Alan Beecroft, of Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop & Restaurant in Lancaster Leisure Park, though it was the overall runner-up that headed the gross prices at £1,482, or 255.5p/kg, when falling to James Robertshaw, of Keelham Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford.
A total of 28 under 30-month clean cattle were penned for sale. Countrystyle Meats took home four, also among them the highest priced per kilo steer, a 520kg Limousin-cross that stood second in its show class at 260.5p/kg, or £1,355, and was presented by regular vendors, the Critchley family, from Hutton, Preston, who again performed well with three prize-winning entries.
Heavy heifers were up among the other leading gross prices, with Brian Lund, of Walshaw, Hebden Bridge, seeing his 645kg Limousin cross entry sell well at £1,467, or 227.5p/kg, when returning to Calderdale with Halifax Meat wholesalers J&E Medcalf, while a 615kg Limousin-cross from Threshfield brothers Charles and Richard Kitching also caught the eye when knocked down for £1,436, or233.5p/kg, to Hamlets Butchers in Garstang.
Keelham Farm Shop’s shopping basket comprised eight purchases, five for its Skipton shop, the other three for Thornton. Skipton-based Stanforths Butchers bought three cattle, with Sandersons Butchers in Baxenden claiming another.
An increased entry of 44 cull cows, with more cattle carrying finish, fell to a good spread of nine buyers at the ringside. Steaking cows appeared the best sold in the mid-90p per kilo price bracket, while dairy prices peaked at 131.5p/kg for a 27-month-old black and white from JM Smith & Son, of Carleton.
The dairy section also produced the day’s top per head price of £884 for another black and white from Craven Dairy Auction regular Peter Baul, of Bishop Thornton. With plenty of cows available nationwide and no indication of any major uplift in values in the short term, the opening New Year sale produced an overall selling average of £628.16 per head, or 93.93p/kg.