The Baines’ beef cattle victor was a 550kg British Blue-x heifer that headed the by-weight prices at 330.5p/kg, or £1,818, when becoming one of three acquisitions by Robertshaw’s Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford.
First-time prime cattle vendors, R&E Cowperthwaite of Settle, made an immediate impact when presenting the first prize and reserve champion 500kg Blue-x steer, sold at 325.5p/kg, or £1,627, to Knavesmire Butchers in York, then seeing their second prize 570kg Blue-x heifer top the gross prices at £1,855, or 325.5pkg, when joining show judge Phil Gregory, who took home a trio for his D&A Gregory & Sons Butchers in Bacup.
Show day attracted a larger turnout of 27 under 30-month retail type cattle, the headline figures showing seven make a hammer price of 300p/kg or more, with two in the £1,900s and seven in the £1,800s. Continental steers averaged 290.4p/kg and Continental heifers 296.6p/kg, with Ralph Pearson Wholesale Butchers in Bradford again the majority buyers with a 12-strong haul.
Whalley father and son, Richard and Mark Ireland’s prime lamb champions, a pen of five 41kg Beltex-x, were first tapped out by show judge Anthony Swales, then snapped up by him for Knavesmire Butchers at a price-topping £4 per kilo, or £164 per head. He also secured the two top price £170 per head pens from prime cattle champions, the Baines family.
George Sunderland was runner-up in the Continental show class with 44kg lambs away at £161 each, bettered at £166 by the third prize pen from Ellis Bros, of Addingham Moorside.
A standalone show class for North of England Mules was won by a 47kg pen from Joe and Nancy Throup in Draughton, sold for £108 each, the second prize 48kg pen from Pateley Bridge’s Bernard Simpson doing better at £109.50, though both eclipsed at £115.50 by the third prize pen from the North Craven Cowperthwaites, who took home tickets in both sections.
Another large turnout 3,133 prime lambs saw the overall average up 12p/kg on the week to level at 244.3p across the board, or a shade over £110 per head.