Cracking cattle trade at CCM Skipton New Year midweek opener A bumper bovine turnout of 859 head, bolstered by firm trade throughout, signalled a solid start to 2020 at Skipton Auction Mart’s opening fortnightly Wednesday cattle sale, which again saw a ringside packed to the rafters with enthusiastic bidders. (Jan 8)

Fortnightly Sale of Young Feeding Bulls, Store Bullocks & Heifers, Breeding Cattle. Forward: 859 head of cattle. Comprising: 840 Feeding Cattle (247 Young Bulls, 68 Beef Feeding Cows, 525 Bullocks & Heifers) & 19 Breeding Cattle.

Forward: 67 Prime cattle comprising 42 Cattle (under 30 mos), 1 Clean Cattle (over 30 mos) & 24 Cast Cattle. 4,199 Prime Sheep comprising 3868 Prime Hoggs, 331 Cast Ewes & Rams. 111 Rearing Calves. 6 Loads of produce.

Rearing Calves to £430 (111) B&W av. £66 Cont av. £269 Native av. £201 A good attendance of buyers ready to fill pens after the break but most buying with caution in the light of an uncertain beef market. Native breed bulls continue to be the most resilient week on week with most £250 to £325 and the heifers £130-£190. The best Continental bulls are still £360-£430 the latter the top price of the day for the Champion calf a British Blue bull from A Sowray&Son. Strong British Blue Heifers are easy to buy with plenty either side of £250 and the best £300 +. Dairy bulls a month of age a strong trade £80 to £122 and even the bobby types a fair trade at £30 to £45.

Sowrays take top honours and top call at opening CCM Skipton rearing calf show The opening rearing calf show of 2020 at Skipton Auction Mart saw regular vendors the Sowray brothers, from Bishop Thornton, consign the overall champion, just as they did at the previous year’s New Year fixture. (Mon, Jan 6) The Sowrays - Shaun, Peter and Paul - who run their Holstein Friesian dairy herd at Bowes Green Farm, secured another in a long line of Skipton titles with their first British Blue-cross bullock, born on November 25 last year.

New Year trade at CCM Skipton kicks off on a high note Skipton Auction Mart began the New Year in fine style with a total of 4,377 head of livestock penned for sale and successfully sold at the first big Monday sale day of 2020. The solid turnout comprised 67 prime cattle, 4,199 prime sheep and 111 rearing calves. (Jan 6)

Last Sale of 2019 - Forward: 7 Prime cattle comprising 6 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos) & 1 Cast Cow 4,111 Prime Sheep comprising 3706 Prime Lambs, 405 Cast Ewes & Rams 4 Loads of produce

Monday Market - Forward: 3,102 Prime Sheep comprising 2429 Prime Lamb, 673 Cast Ewes & Rams. 3 Rearing Calves. 3 Loads of produce. 551 Over Ready Poultry.

Forward: 401 head of cattle. Comprising: 399 Feeding Cattle (59 Young Bulls, 64 Beef Feeding Cows, 276 Bullocks & Heifers) & 2 Breeding Cattle.

Forward: 42 Prime cattle comprising 24 Clean Cattle (under 30 mos) & 18 Cast Cattle. 3,546 Prime Sheep comprising 2,911 Prime Lambs, 635 Cast Ewes & Rams. 74 Rearing Calves. 8 Dairy. 5 Loads of produce.

Forward: 74 Rearing Calves. 8 Dairy.

Cowling’s Chris Bell crowned champion on Craven Dairy Auction debut Making his first-ever appearance in the dairy show arena at Skipton Auction Mart, Cowling’s Chris Bell made an immediate impact when crowned champion at the final Craven Dairy Auction fixture of the year. (Monday, Dec 16) Chris, who trades as NA Bell and runs the Mireclose pedigree Holstein herd at the farm of the same name, bagged the title on his debut with a 23 days calved, 27 litre and rising heifer, Mireclose Galxzy Chesakate, by De-Su Freddie Galaxy, out of a home-bred daughter of Regancrest-Mr Drham Sam. She sold for £1,920 to ringside regular Brian Blezard, of Ribchester.

8th WINTER SALE OF IN LAMB PEDIGREE BELTEX ON BEHALF OF THE NORTHERN BELTEX CLUB Forward: 27 head of Pedigree Beltex Mathew Burleigh from Enniskillen in Co Fermanagh again took the championship rosette at the Beltex Sheep Society’s Winter sale of Pedigree females at Skipton Auction Mart on Saturday.

Christmas Show & Sale of Poultry & Waterfowl ….. Champion – J Hindle with trio of Buff Orpington. Reserve – S Hitchen with 3 silver laced Wyandotte. Prices – Trio Partridge Wyandotte to £100 Trio Buff Orpington to £91 Silver Laced Wyandotte to £65 Welsummers to £62

Last Saturday livestock sal eof 2019 ….. Forward – 106 head cattle, 36 head sheep, 181 lots of poultry, 174 breeding sheep.