Booth Blue bull calf is Christmas champion at Skipton Lothersdale husband and wife Geoff and Margaret Booth presented a cracker of a calf to land the supreme champion’s crown at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas rearing calf show and sale, which attracted an 81-strong turnout. (Mon, Dec 5) The Booths, of Dowshaw Farm, lifted the title with their first prize six-weeks-old home-bred British Blue-cross bull calf, by the Genus sire, Governor, out of a Holstein dairy cow. Given the nod by pre-sale show judge Robert Foster, of Wetherby, the victor went on to sell for the day’s joint top call of £520 to North Lincolnshire’s Nigel and Maria Mason.

MARKET REPORT – MONDAY 5th DECEMBER 2016 Forward: 61 Prime cattle comprising 27 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 4 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 30 Cast Cattle including 2 Cast Bulls 4,048 Prime Sheep comprising 3,683Prime Lambs, 365 Cast Ewes & Rams 81 Rearing Calves B&W av £61.90 Cont av £375.83 Native av £188 1 Load of produce

81 Rearing Calves B&W av £61.90 Cont av £375.83 Native av £188....... A fantastic day for the Craven Cattle Marts Christmas Calf Show with Geoff and Margaret Booth of Dowshaw Farm, Lothersdale taking the Champion rosette and also the top price of the day with their superb British Blue bull calf selling for £520 to N&M Mason of Lincolnshire. The Booth family who are strong supporters of Craven Cattle Marts were awarded the prize by Robert Foster of Wetherby. Reserve Champion went to a cracking entry from Sowray Bros of Bishop Thornton selling to Mr Mason again for £500. Fred Houseman of Church Farm Enterprises was also in the mix with his best bull reaching £520 also. A total of 13 bulls over £400 and an average of £401.75 for 26 Blue bulls sold.

CCM Auctions Conducted their Monthly Sale of Stirks, Weaned Calves and Young Store Cattle Forward – 152 head cattle: 34 Bulls, 112 Bullocks & Heifers & 6 Breeding Cattle.

Fortnightly Catalogue Sale of 2,637 Store Lambs & Breeding Sheep Forward: 2,637 Head, (Overall av £51.26) A sharper trade all round and a full ringside of customers all eager for sheep. Stronger lambs good to sell, especially Mules which were sharper than the previous sale. Quite a few folk with end of season lambs that found a good enquiry for customers looking for the longer keep type of lamb. A very mixed show of horned lambs saw a few pens of stronger end in the £40’s but generally they were longer keep sorts.

Craven Dairy Auction (40 head) The Christmas Dairy Show at Craven Cattle Marts can be deemed as a great success with the Craven Cattle Marts Perpetual Trophy won by none other than regular supporter of CCM Robert Crisp of Calton in Malhamdale. David Hall of Conistone Cold was our judge for the Pre-Sale Show with Mr Crisps 27kg, 15 day calved Homebred Heifer selling to Alf and Andrew Townsend of Southfield for £2150. Reserve Champion, a Shottle Daughter from Brian and Judith Moorhouse of Bell Busk was second in show and sold for £2000 which sold to William Oldfield of Stocks Enterprises, Gisburn.

Forward: 129 Prime cattle comprising 62 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 3 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 64 Cast Cattle incl 2 Cast Bulls. 4,863 Prime Sheep comprising 4,478 Prime Lambs, 385 Cast Ewes & Rams. 60 Rearing Calves. 40 Dairy Cattle. 5 Loads of Produce.

Crisp champion a cracker at Christmas Craven Dairy Auction The annual Christmas Craven Dairy Auction at Skipton Auction Mart was a cracker, with some solid trade achieved for the 40-strong entry. (Mon, Nov 28) The Craven Cattle Marts Perpetual Trophy for the festive fixture champion was won by the first prize newly calven heifer from Malhamdale’s Robert Crisp, who runs his commercial dairy herd at Nelson Farm, Calton, and who was stepping up on his reserve championship success at the previous dairy show.

Gambles roll out champions again at Skipton Christmas cast ewe show Annual festive shows for cast ewes and cull cows again figured on Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas show programme, when the headline performers were Easingwold husband and wife, Ken and Hazel Gamble, who won the sheep championship for an unprecedented fourth year in succession. (Mon, Nov 29)

CCM Lingfields Christmas Primestock Shows – Sunday 27th November. FULL REPORT TOMORROW..... The 9th Annual Craven Lingfield Christmas Primestock Show was held on Sunday 27th November. A great show of stock forward for this year’s show and a trade to match. In the Cattle section David Bamforth of Wainstalls was given the championship rosette by judges Miranda Brown and son Richard for his homebred Limousin Bullock weighing 670kg making £4.45pkg adding up to £2981.50. The judges were the successful purchasers.

Bamforth hat-trick at Skipton Christmas porkers show A trio of home-bred Pietrain pigs from JG Bamforth & Son, of Heyknowle Farm, Slaithwaite, notched a notable hat-trick when crowned champions for the third successive year at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas primestock shows and sales. (Sun, Nov 27) Again shown by Matthew Bamforth, the first prize 73kg trio sold for £170 each, or 231p/kg, to Keelham Farm Shop, of Skipton and Thornton. Matthew was also responsible for the second prize and reserve champion pen in the same show class and these too joined Keelham for £105 per head.

Haighs on high to take prestigious pork pie title Haighs Farm Shop were crowned supreme champions at the ninth annual Great Northern Pork Pie Competition, which ran alongside the 2016 Christmas primestock shows at Skipton Auction Mart. (Sun, November 27) The family-run shop in Mirfield, near Dewsbury, is a regular prize-winner in this fixture. This time around, they picked up awards for Best Traditional Stand Pie, also Best Yorkshire Pork Pie, and were presented with the Moule Media Trophy for best in show.

Heseltine coup at Skipton Christmas lamb carcase showcase Butcher George Cropper buys supreme champion for third year Bolton Abbey father and son, Chris and Tom Heseltine, of Hesketh Farm, secured supreme championship honours for the first time in the annual lamb carcase competition staged as part of Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas primestock shows and sales. (Sun, Nov 27) The Heseltines took the title with a home-bred Beltex-cross gimmer lamb, first prize winner in the 41-44kg Continental class and by their main stock tup.

Fantastic double for Fox brothers at Skipton Christmas prime lamb showcase East coast showmen take top honours in hill lamb section Two fine pens of lowland lambs clinched a sparkling supreme championship and reserve championship double for the Fox farming brothers at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas primestock shows and sales. (Sun, Nov 27)

Bamforth steer supreme champion at Skipton Christmas prime cattle highlight Lincolnshire show judges swoop to secure both their principals Calderdale’s David Bamforth was supreme champion and local breeder John Stephenson, from Bordley, stood reserve supreme champion at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual Christmas prime cattle show and sale, at which leading regional independent retail butchers and meat wholesalers again sourced top quality beef for their customers’ Christmas tables. (Sun, Nov 27)