A good show of 22 under 30-month clean cattle saw commercial type suckler-bred heifers meet a much sharper trade, with the premium cattle section particularly well supported.

The top gross price of £1,440 fell to a Blue-cross heifer from Simon Bennett, of Silsden Moor, which was also bought by Keelham Farm Shop, with the day’s by-weight joint highs of 255.5p/kg going to Limousin-cross and Blue-cross heifers from Threshfield’s Charles and Richard Kitching, and Ben Townsend, of Laneshawbridge. The latter was bought by Edwards Farm Butchers in Burnley.

Cull cows, 39 in number, had their own show, with the beef-bred class falling to K Lister & Son, of Kettlewell, with a Blonde-cross sold for a price-topping £1,142, or 145.5p/kg. The Pickersgill brothers, from Guiseley, won the dairy-bred section, their black and white selling for a by-weight high of 108.5p/kg. Cull cows sold to an overall average of £593.79 per head, or 90.5p/kg.

Keelham’s James Robertshaw was also in action at the prime lamb ringside, securing his second champions of the day in the first prize pen of five home-bred 41kg Beltex-cross lambs, all out of Rouge hoggs, from Richard Frankland, of Frankland Farms in Rathmell, at 231.7p/kg, or £95 per head.

Cecil Hutchinson, from Kirkby Wiske, topped the by-weight market with a pen of 36kg Beltex-cross sold at 238.9p, or £86 per head, to farmers D&SR Heather, of Royston, Oldham.

Taylor Bros, of Tosside, headed the gross prices at £114 per head with a 50kg Beltex-cross pen purchased by Hartwith’s Nick Dalby for Kendalls Farm Butchers in Pateley Bridge and Harrogate, The same vendors also made £109 with a 46kg pen sold to Thomas Shepherdson, of Slaithwaite.

A total of 3,917 prime lambs sold away well to a similar trade on the week, though smart lambs were slightly dearer, producing an overall selling average of £73.61 per head, or 172.26p/kg. A nice Continental-bred lamb was 180-200p, while a commercial Continental lamb was around 170p. Heavy lambs averaged 170.8p, or £82 per head, and Mules were generally around 160p.

Charles and Richard Kitching produced the first and second prize 43kg and 44kg Suffolk-cross lambs, both selling at £78.50 and £78 per head respectively to Woodhead Bros Butchers in Colne.

The first prize pen of 44kg Mule lambs from Silsden Moor’s Ken Throup sold for £75 each to show judge Chris Staines, buying on behalf of St Merryn Foods, part of the Welsh-based Two Sisters Food Group.
 
Also on parade were 366 cast sheep. A lighter show of cull ewes met a nice trade, with fleshed ewes selling well, producing an overall average of £53.75 per head. Cast rams averaged £66.19.
 
Monday’s weekly rearing calf sale attracted a 50-strong turnout, producing an overall Continental-cross average of £312.85 per head and a native average of £219.25, with black and whites levelling at £75.54. Top price of £350 fell to a British Blue-cross heifer calf from JC Marshall, of Dacre.