Ellis Bros champions again in CCM Skipton prime lamb show arena

JULY prime lamb champions at CCM Skipton Auction Mart’s monthly show on Monday were renowned breeders, Ellis Bros, Addingham Moorside, adding to past championship successes, this time with a pen a five 44kg Beltex-x making £182, or 413p each, top price per kilo. The same home also sold two other pens top side of 400p/kg, 42kg at £170 and 44kg at £178.

From across the border, Darwen husband and wife, David and Laura Coar, also supplemented past rosette hauls at Skipton when taking the reserve championship with 47kg Beltex-x away at £172, 382.2p/kg, the third prize Continental 41kg Texel-x pen from Andrew Brown, Gargrave, knocked down at £130 per head to familiar face Clare Cropper for Croppers Family Butchers & Deli, Accrington.

Wharfedale father and son, Francis and James Caton, Weston, finished first and second in the Down-x lambs show class with a brace of 46kg Suffolk pens making £150 and £152 each respectively, the third prize 41kg pen from FM Shepherd & Son, Bewerley, Pateley Bridge, sold for £123. Mick Etherington, Eldwick, judged.

The 2,358 prime sheep forward comprised 1,634 Spring lambs, which traded to an overall average of £133.78 per head, or 308.7p/kg (SQQ 311.9p/kg).

New season lambs were, as anticipated, harder to sell as the seasonal price re-alignment took shape, broadly the same as that seen late last week, with the smartest goods 350-410p/kg, nice types 315-345p/kg and a commercial sort either side of 300p/kg. Good heavies were a tidy trade, as were nice lightweights and 30-37kg standard weights, with buyers clearly keen for fleshed and fit lambs.

Top price per head among the Springers of £188 fell to a Texel-x pen from M Ryder & Son, Harrogate, followed closely by WH Marsden, Crossgates, Leeds, at £187, with other good heavies in the £170s, TH Mellin, Black Lane Ends, selling to £178, K&C Hird, Colne, making £176, WH Marsden, Leeds £177and £174, and J&F Nutter, Clitheroe, £176.

A mixed turnout of 207 prime hoggs averaged £104.06, or 259.1p/kg (SQQ 256.7p/kg), peaking at a per head high of £146 from RH&B Lofthouse, Addingham, with a by-weight top of 302.4p/kg from Kevin Marshall, Menwith Hill. While meat hoggs remained in good demand, leaner hoggs traded either side of £2 per kilo.

Of the 517 cast sheep, cull ewes met a flying trade, producing an overall selling average for the section of £142 per head, with Texel ewes in ready demand and topping at £254.50 from TH&K Wood, Harrogate, plenty of others with weight selling at £200-£234.50. Smart mediums were £170-£190 and light, smart ewes £150-£170. Heavy first crossed ewes were regularly £170-£190, the next grade of full meat ewes £150-£168, with lean ewes £120-£145 and only plain ewes £85-£120.

Suffolk ewes sold to £181.50 from GR&PL Jowett, Morton Banks, North of England Mule ewes trading similarly on the week, the heaviest sheep selling at £130-£143.50, plenty of meat ewes £120-£130, lean Mules £110-£130 and plain ewes looking dear either side of £80-£108.

Swaledale ewes sold to £113.50 from Mike and Betty Allen, Saltburn, full meat Swales with weight away at £90-£103.50, the next grade £75-£85, lean ewes £60-£75, plain sorts £30-£60. Lonk ewes made to £121.50 from S&P Scriven, Elslack. The mart says more cull ewes are required on a weekly basis, with trade currently looking exceptional for all classes. Cast rams averaged £124.83.

The prime cattle sale ring saw a strong trade for cull cows, a top price of £1,435 falling to a black and white from MP Jennings Dairy, Cowling, who sold another at £1,278, with per kilo prices of 171.5p and 167.5p. Meat parlour cows sold at 160-171.5p/kg and to a per head high of £1,349, 175.5p/kg, for an Angus from PA Whitaker, Bolton Abbey. The overall cull cow average was 178.5p/kg, or £915 per head, a single mature Dexter bull from Paul Rylatt, Bingley making £903, 133.5p/kg.

Looking ahead to next week, the opening 2024 store lambs sale takes place on Wednesday, July 10, traditionally day two of the four-day Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate. Among the show classes on the second day are North of England Mules, to be judged this year by a familiar face at CCM, breed stalwart Joe Throup, of Berwick Intake Farm, Draughton, who says he is looking forward to both the honour and challenge of adjudicating at this high profile county showcase.