RETAIL and wholesale customers both old and new were seen at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest weekly Monday primestock sales.

The regional meat trades sector again sought to meet continuing high levels of lockdown demand from the general public for quality prime beef and lamb.

In the prime cattle ring at Craven Cattle Marts, an improved turnout of 24 under 30-month clean cattle from regular farmer vendors from both sides of the border was keenly contested.

The bidders were, primarily, traditional family-run retail butcher buyers keen to keep their fridges fully stocked.

Red Rose butcher George Cropper Jnr, who owns and runs Sanderson’s Butchers in Baxenden, was again in attendance.

He claimed a trio of cattle, including the day’s two leading price per head entries, a brace of heifers both consigned by ever-present Threshfield farming brothers, Charles and Richard Kitching.

One, a 585kg British Blue-cross, sold for £1,489, the other, a 570kg Limousin-cross at £1,451, the pair each making 254.5p/kg.

Top price per kilo at 262.5p, or £1,404, fell to a 535kg Blonde-cross heifer from West Yorkshire’s Steven Jowett, of Thornton.

This was to become one of three purchases by ringside regular James Robertshaw on behalf of Keelham Farm Shop in Skipton.

Another at £1,412 was the top price steer, a 575kg British Blue-cross from North Craven father and son, Francis and Andrew Smith, of Masongill.

In addition to his Keelham Farm purchases, Mr Robertshaw was also a keen bidder for his own Robertshaw’s Farm Shop in Thornton, picking up a brace of cattle including a 570kg Limousin-cross steer again from the Smiths at £1,405, or 246.5p joint top per kilo.

Making exactly the same price was a 570kg Bazadaise-cross from the Critchley beef farming family in Hutton, near Preston.

This returned to Lancashire with another familiar face at Skipton, Alan Beecroft, of Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop in Lancaster Leisure Park.

He is a regular buyer of Critchley cattle, claiming three of their entries among a five-strong weekly haul.

Also among this week’s vendors was Phoenix Grain Co in Tarleton with a 560kg Limousin-cross steer.

It made £1,347, or 240.5p/kg at the fall of the gavel.

The impressive beast became one of two buys by Simon Barker for his mart-based wholesale business, Barkers Yorkshire Butchers.

Retail butcher Paul Ellison also returned to the ringside where swift bidding saw him purchase three cattle for his family-run Ellison’s Butchers, in Cullingworth.

A very useful entry of retail cattle met another very strong trade, producing solid averages of 239.39p/kg for steers and 234.12p/kg for heifers.

The 20 cast cattle, all but one cull cows, had plenty of meat on display, with others, among them some young lean dairies, exhibiting scope for improvement. Here again, trade was solid, producing an overall cull cow average of £785.47 per head, or 113.71p/kg, a major improvement on the previous Monday.

The leading cull cow price both per head and by weight of £1,039, or 131.5p/kg, fell to a beef-bred Blonde-cross from Mark Evans , of Steeton, while dairies sold to a four-figure high of £1,090 for a black and white from Jeremy Taylor in Broughton, with Threshfield’s Angus Dean responsible for the top price 126.5p/kg dairy.

A single mature Aberdeen-Angus bull from Brian and Judith Moorhouse in Bell Busk made £1,158, or 156.5p/kg.

The countdown continues to the first of the new Craven Pedigree Sales at Skipton Auction Mart on Wednesday and Thursday, May 13 and 14.

This much-anticipated launch fixture will be an all-breeds sale of cattle to be sold via a timed online auction and entries are already looking good.

Earlier this week, the mart reported that entry levels had passed the 70 mark, the majority pedigree bulls, but with a number of females also to be offered for sale.

Entries will be catalogued in their breed section in age order and include Aberdeen-Angus, British Blue, Limousin, Beef Shorthorn and Hereford.

Pre-sale viewing will be available from May 4 to 11 utilising state-of-the-art technology, with the chosen software allowing the addition of video, which can be sent from smart phones via WhatsApp.