CRAVEN NATIVE DAY *NEW SALE FIXTURE* Forward: 136 head of cattle Comprising: 108 Bullocks & Heifers, 8 Breeding Cattle & 20 Pedigree Cattle. CCM Auctions conducted a new spring fixture when they held a special sale of Native Sired Pedigree, Beef Breeding and Store Cattle at Skipton on Wednesday.

Bellas Beef Shorthorn bull makes history at Skipton A home-bred pedigree Beef Shorthorn bull from Cumbria made history when becoming the first-ever champion at a brand-new pedigree native cattle show and sale staged at Skipton Auction Mart. (Wed, May 4) It came from the Croftends herd of Jonty Bellas, based at the farm of the same name at Appleby-in-Westmoreland. His two-year-old Croftends Harry first won its show class, before progressing to becoming first male, then overall champion at the inaugural fixture.

Forward: 28 Prime cattle comprising 17 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 1 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 10 Cast Cattle. 1,968 Prime Sheep comprising 218 Spring Lambs, 1,357 Prime Hoggs, 80 Mature Hoggs, 304 Cast Ewes & 9 Rams. 2,987 Breeding Sheep comprising 713 Geld Gimmer Hoggs, 1,031 Hoggs Shearlings and Ewes with 1,243 Lambs at Foot. 41 Rearing Calves. 4 Loads of produce.

Breeding Sheep 2,987 Breeding Sheep comprising 713 Geld Gimmer Hoggs, 1,031 Hoggs Shearlings and Ewes with 1,243 Lambs at Foot A huge show of breeding sheep today at Skipton sold away at prices that understandably were less on the year. Anything with power and style was easily sold, some great runs of Mule and Continental Hoggs in the £200 - £230 region, very best making more, whilst nice sorts £160-£180, and a more commercial type for farming could be picked up for less. In the geld hogg section there was the largest entry seen for several years, and buyers were selective but still there was a good clearance rate.

Blue Wednesday Judge – Rob Walker At 4,200gns Greystone Judge headed up the British Blue Fixture ‘Blue Wednesday’ at Craven Cattle Marts Ltd, Skipton. The 2014 homebred son of Greystone Hoover was shown by Messrs Coates of Rainscar and bred from easy calving lines found favour with Gargrave dairy farmer Colin Whitelock, who is a producer of high quality British Blue calves.

Fortnightly Sale of Young Feeding Bulls, Store Bullocks & Heifers, Breeding Cattle Forward: 669 head of cattle Comprising: 168 Young Feeding Bulls, 451 Bullocks & Heifers, 1 Feeding Cows, 49 Breeding Cattle inc 14 Pedigree British Blue Bulls & 35 Beef Breeding Cattle At CCM Auctions fortnightly cattle sale there was a much sharper feel to the trade than earlier on in the spring. Short keep cattle caught the attention and were easier to sell than of late.

Forward: 84 Prime cattle comprising 9 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 4 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 71 Cast Cattle. 1,940 Prime Sheep comprising 141 Spring Lambs, 1,292 Prime Hoggs & Mature Hoggs, 507 Cast Ewes & Rams. 555 Breeding Sheep. 53 Rearing Calves. 30 Dairy Cattle. 4 Loads of produce.

555 Breeding Sheep (comprising 224 Sheep with 331 lambs at foot) Numbers exactly the same as last week but generally lambs on the ewes were stronger so prices looking a bit better too. A few more travelled buyers helping to fill up the ringside, and many were looking for young ewes or hoggs with lambs. Best today for Hoggs was Ian Manning of Wrexham with the first of his weekly consignments topping at £195, with others ranging from £150 to £190. Richard Caton of Stainforth and John Mawson of Elslack jointly topped the sale at £205 for Texel Ewes with Twins.

Craven Dairy Auction (30 head) A testing day for all with the milk price once again being reduced at the end of last week has had a clear knock on effect to the trade received by vendors today despite a quality show of in milk heifers and cows on offer. Brian Moorhouse of Bell Busk was tasked with the judging job today and picked out one of David Lawson’s well bred pedigree heifers which was a month calved and giving 31kg went on to sell for a sale high of £1380. Robin Jennings of South Stainley, Harrogate sold his reserve champion heifer for £1250 with another of his entries a 31kg Stainbank heifer bred by Micheleaob went on to sell for £1350.

CCM Auctions Conducted their Monthly Sale of Stirks, Weaned Calves and Young Store Cattle A good entry forward with a packed ringside of buyers with no less than 30 separate accounts represented. Good straight cattle were good to sell with the poorer sorts of cattle less money and a touch harder to place.

Forward: 62 Prime cattle comprising 14 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 2 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 46 Cast Cattle. 2,804 Sheep (comprising 24 Spring Lambs, 2,324 Prime & Lightweight Hoggs, 32 Mature Hoggs, 416 Cast Ewes & 8 Cast Rams) 613 Breeding Sheep. 52 Rearing Calves. 4 Loads of Produce.

613 Breeding Sheep (comprising 228 Sheep with 385 lambs at foot) A very similar entry to last week and trade fairly similar as well. More young sheep with lambs beginning to come forward now and offering good choice to farmers who want to increase find sheep to include in their flocks. Top of the shop this week was John Atkinson who sold a pair of Texel Ewes with 3 Beltex cross lambs for £240 the outfit.

Fortnightly Sale of Young Feeding Bulls, Store Bullocks & Heifers, Breeding Cattle Forward: 511 head of cattle Comprising: 118 Young Feeding Bulls, 363 Bullocks & Heifers, 12 Feeding Cows & 18 Breeding Cattle A nice trade today at CCM Skipton with everything look sharper to sell than the previous sale, younger cattle especially and those for summering taking a nice rise.

67 Prime cattle comprising 12 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos), 1 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 54 Cast Cattle including 2 Mature Bulls. 2,775 Prime Sheep comprising 55 Spring Lambs, 2417 Prime Hoggs, 303 Cast Sheep (293 Cast Ewes & 10 Rams). 734 Breeding Sheep comprising 269 Sheep with 465 lambs at foot. 68 Rearing Calves B&W av £70.05 Cont av £336.45 Native av £182.5. 20 Dairy Cattle. 8 Loads of produce.

Craven Dairy Auction (20 head) Judge Brian Blezard chose David Lawson’ s pair of strong heifers as his champion and reserve with another of his quartet taking the third prize rosette which is no mean feat. The trade was certainly not as brisk as previous weeks for the middle of the road goods with many around and below the £1000 mark however the top end made up for this with 1st rate heifers averaging well into £1400’s.