THE countdown has commenced to Craven Cattle Mart Skipton Auction’s Mart’s much-anticipated annual Christmas primestock highlight, writes the Craven Herald's farming correspondent Robin Moule.

The action-packed 17th annual Lingfield Christmas show and sale day, on Sunday, December 1, is when leading traditional family-run retail butchers and meat wholesalers will once again compete ringside to secure the best meat that money can buy for their customers’ festive tables.

Dedicated farmers, the majority familiar faces throughout the year at CCM, are hands-on at the moment carefully preparing their prime cattle, lambs and pigs, to ensure they are in top-notch condition for the high profile showcase in a bid to land leading honours, notably supreme and reserve supreme championships across the flagship show classes.

There are again ten butchers’ prime cattle show classes for haltered and un-haltered animals, covering both Continental-x and native steers and heifers, with the overall supreme champion chosen from respective male and female champions, plus special prizes for the best home-bred and the best beast purchased from CCM Skipton.

The title winner will receive the Alf Lister Trophy, with the Dick Binns Memorial Trophy presented annually in memory of the late Saltaire butcher going to the best Continental-x butchers heifer under 550kg.

The 11 butchers’ prime lamb classes for trimmed, untrimmed and hill lamb trios again cover all the popular breeds, with North of England Mule, Masham, Swaledale, Dalesbred and other horned, hill or native breeds competing for the hill championship and Continental-x and Suffolk lambs fighting out the trimmed and untrimmed championship classes.

Section champions will again go head to head for supreme honours, the title-winning pen receiving the ES Hartley Trophy, the champion hill lambs the Dean Family Trophy, the best horned lambs the Craven Cattle Marts Trophy and the best Suffolk lambs the Oramac Trophy.

There are again special prizes for the best pen of lambs from a regular CCM vendor, plus for the best Texel-x and Beltex-x pens, while the victor in the annual young handlers’ show class will pick up the coveted Hannah Brown Memorial Trophy.

The annual lamb carcase competition, again sponsored by the mart-based Barkers Yorkshire Butchers, will take place as usual in the meat production unit, with four by-weight show classes for Continental, horned and native carcases, the overall title winner receiving the David Findlay Trophy. In addition, there are vouchers and special prizes from both the Northern Beltex Club and Northern Area Texel Sheep Breeders Club.

Down with the prime porkers an individual champion trio will emerge from the two show classes for cutters and baconers, the victors to receive the Craven Cattle Marts Trophy.

The day has become renowned over the years for its charitable efforts, raising many, many thousands of pounds since the event’s inception, with the 2024 renewal again featuring five individual show classes, food, drink and non-food related.

It is open to all - retail butchers, farm shops, bakers, housewives, customers and children, with a standalone section for the younger end. There are classes for sausage rolls, Scotch eggs, rich fruit cake, Victoria sandwich cake, biscuits, Christmas Tiffin, home-made chutney, fruit jam and flavoured spirits.

The theme for a photographic competition is the ‘Best of British Agriculture,’ with another for a festive Christmas flower arrangement, while children under 14 have a choice of two competitions - baking a loaf tin cake and Christmas card, with the under-tens able to choose from baking decorated Wagon Wheels and a decorated letter – or both as the case may be!

Also winding its way around the auction mart is a mini tractor run for children which proved so popular when first staged last year. Look out for some truly spectacular dressed up pedal tractors and their young, enthusiastic drivers.

Charity section entries, along with bales of hay and haylage in the annual fodder hay competition, will be auctioned off towards the end of the afternoon in aid of annual beneficiaries Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice, Oxenhope, Brooklands Community Special School, Skipton, plus, this year, Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Judging commences from 10.30am, with pigs scheduled to be sold at 12noon, lamb carcases at 12.30, hill-bred and lowland lambs from 1pm in the main sale ring and cattle at around 2.30pm, again in the main ring.

The charity auction is expected to commence around 3.45pm, also in the main ring, when ever-generous members of the regional agricultural communities, plus many others, are again expected to dig deep to support the three extremely worthwhile causes.

The festive showcase has again attracted multiple sponsors, with Skipton NFU once more the mainline sponsor. Full catering and licensed bar facilities will be available throughout and members of the public are more welcome to attend what for many will no doubt prove both interesting, enthralling and highly educational day.

Entries close on Monday, November 25, with a show schedule available under the sales catalogue section at www.ccmauctions.com