Show judge David Findlay, of Coverdale, nominated his second prize Continental pen, five 40kg Beltex from David Asquith, of Otley, as reserve champions, then proceeded to buy them in the sale ring at £92 per head.

The third prize Continental pen of 56kg Texel-cross from long distance travellers H Harvey & Son, of Waxham in Norfolk, made £104 per head when joining Felliscliffe’s Andrew Atkinson, who also snapped up all other prize winners on the day.

These were the first prize 54kg Suffolk pen from Steve Dorey, of Newark, at £94 per head, the first and second prize horned lamb pens, 45kg Lonks from Jimmy Greenwoood, of Addingham, both at £79 each, and the first and second prize Mules, the former from the Harveys at £92.50, the latter from Mr Dorey at £84.50.

Outside the show classes, prime sheep numbers remained strong, with the 3,275 turnout comprising just over 3,000 old season lambs, which traded to an overall selling average or £81.78 per head, or 190.1p/kg.  

The best end proved dearer on the week, with Paul Simpson, of Forest Becks, Bolton-by-Bowland, yet again topping the market at £124 per head and 323.7p/kg with quality Beltex pens. He had four pens over 300p/kg, while Kath Saffrey, of Halton West, had lambs at 307p/kg and Fox Farms, of Clitheroe, sold two pens at 300p/kg. All were again Beltex entries. In total, 57 pens of lambs sold for £100 or more.

A commercial type of lamb met a similar trade on the week, with heavy sorts now finding a good following from a wide range of buyers. Mule lambs topped in the 190s per kg, generally trading around 180p/kg. Horned lambs were the same trade as the previous week.

Also among the mix were 273 cast ewes and rams, with cull ewes trading to a high of £113.50 per head for a Charollais pen from Charles Marwood, of Whenby, York, who was heading the section prices for the third week in succession. Ewes averaged £59.20 per head and rams £59.03, with Mr Marwood again leading the way with a Charolais at £103.50.

Skipton’s weekly Monday breeding sheep sale of ewes with lambs at foot got into full swing, attracting a larger entry of 319 head, with buyers out in force. Frankland Farms, from Rathmell, led the sale at £205 per outfit with Texel cross ewes with twins, selling others at £200 at £195.

Others hitting £200 included Richard Umpleby, of Killinghall, with Suffolk-cross broken-mouthed ewes with Texel lambs, while Austwick’s James and Deborah Ogden sold 4-crop correct Mules with strong Charollais lambs at £200 and £190.