The victors were in keen demand at the ringside, before falling for the day’s leading price of £106 per head, or 271.8p/kg, to James Robertshaw, of Keelham Farm Shop. These and other prime lamb acquisitions on the day, among then the third prize  £74 per head 44kg Suffolk-cross pen from James Earnshaw, of Flasby, will be on sale from this weekend at Keelham’s new shop in Skipton and its established outlet at Thornton, on the outskirts of Bradford.

Kirklees show judge Thomas Shepherdson, of Marsden, awarded the reserve championship to his second prize Continental pen, five 39kg Beltex-cross from father and son Frank and Robert Fielden, of Speke Edge Farm, Todmorden. These made £89 per head when bought by Chris Hodgson on behalf of Kitsons Butchers in Northallerton, who also secured the same day’s prime cattle champion and reserve.

Kitsons also paid £86 per head for the third prize Continental pen of 41kg Texel-cross lambs from Trevor and Clive Robinson in Tosside.

Eastburn’’s Harry Raw presented the first and second prize Suffolk-cross pens, the 40kg red rosette winners selling for £68 each to the show judge, with the 48kg runners-up making £81, top price in class, when joining Nick Dalby in Hartwith.

In another show class for Mule lambs, Joe and Nancy Throup, of Draughton, landed first and second prizes with 43kg and 46kg entries. The winners sold for £60.50 per head to Hellifield’s Paul Watson and the runners-up at £75.50 each to Felliscliffe’s Andrew Atkinson.

Mr Throup’s brother Jeff, of Silsden Moor, kept it in the family when taking third prize in class with a 48kg pen that made £63.50 per head when also acquired by Mr Watson.

The mart said it was a completely different story in the sheep market this week, with the average price of the 2,925 prime lambs on offer up by 15p/kg on the week when achieving an overall selling average of £66.49 per head, or 156.49p/kg.    

With two extra buyers at the ringside sourcing for wholesale and retail customers, handy weight lambs produced the keenest demand, with the best end of the smartest lambs regularly selling either side of £2 per kg.

Hellifield’s John Mellin caught the eye when selling Texel pens at £103, £97 and £83 per head. Heavy lambs also took a very good lift on the week, many of these selling either side of 150p/kg.

In the cast sheep classes, 482 cull ewes sold to an overall average of £60.63 per head, with John Mellin again leading the way with a strong £144 per head Texel pen. He also presented the top price Texel cast ram at £115.50, with the handful forward averaging £83.07 per head.