Lund Bros Suffolks claim red rosette at Skipton gimmer lambs showcase
Local farming brothers Stuart and Stephen Lund, of West Farm, Litton, won the show class for Suffolk gimmer lambs at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest store lambs show day. (Wed, Sept 5)
Their pen of ten, by tups from the Lawn and Reeday families in Skipton and Hetton, went on to sell for £92 per head.
While running both Suffolk and Swaledale flocks, the Lunds’ main stock in trade are North of England Mules, with 300 on the ground currently, all hill-bred at between 1,000 and 1,950ft. They keep back the best for breeding, selling others at Skipton’s high profile NEMSA sales each autumn.
The main show classes were judged by Ripon’s Ben Ryder, a well-known commercial goat farmer milking around 500 currently. He also keeps North of England Mules and is now looking to diversify more into Suffolks, doing just that when himself claiming a pen of ten from Silsden Moor’s Jeff Throup at £88 each
Masham wether lambs were also out in force and the annual prize show for pens of 40 or more fell for the third year in succession to K Lister & Sons, of Kiln Hall, Kettlewell, who received the Craven Cattle Marts Cup and saw their charges sell at £69 per head.
Bolton-by-Bowland father and son, Roger and Jason Craddock, sent out the first prize pen of Continental gimmer lambs, near pure Texels, also for the third consecutive year, though these returned home.
The annual store lamb highlight - show classes were sponsored by Top Tags Animal ID and the British Wool Marketing Board – was staged as part of the Wednesday fortnightly sale, attracting another bumper turnout of over 7,000 head.
With plenty of buyers at the ringside, trade was healthy all day long, producing an overall store lamb selling average of £63.44, compared to the previous year’s £65.37.
Texel-cross-Mule gimmer lambs from Angus Dean, of Threshfield, topped the day’s proceedings at £102 per head, selling to Dacre’s P&A Simpson, with others pens from the same home making £95 twice and £92. Also hitting three-figures with a brace of £100 Texel gimmer pens were Ken and Hazel Gamble, of Easingwold.
Some large runs of store lambs entered the ring in regular succession and the pick of the trade for these could be attributed to Co. Durham breeder Chris Dawson, of Ferryhill, with close on 400 Texel-cross lambs in his run averaging well into the £60s for quality mid-term lambs.
Meated Mule wethers were also good to place, with Paul Broughton, from Fadmoor in Ryedale, seeing his 50-strong pen top the trade at £67.50 each on a day when over 500 Mule wether lambs sold for over £60.
The next fortnightly sale on Wednesday, September 19, features annual prize shows for Swaledale and Dalesbred wether lambs, immediately followed on Thursday and Friday by the annual two-day breed highlight for Texel rams and females. An entry of up to 600 head is anticipated.