WHILE there was a more mixed selection forward at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest fortnightly Wednesday store lambs sale trade saw no let up, with total clearance of 7,133 head at very acceptable prices, all levelling at £81.88.

Trade was epitomised among the North of England Mule wether lambs, which again competed for the Stephen Foster Memorial Trophy in their annual show for pens of 50, the red rosette going to A Newbould & Son, of Dallowgill in Nidderdale.

Husband and wife, Paul and Caroline Newbould, keep a flock of 300 pedigree Swaledale ewes, crossing them with Skipton-bought Bluefaced Leicester tups to produce their North of England Mules, with 300 gimmer lambs and the same number of wether lambs on the ground this year.

It was the first time they had won the Skipton show class, their charges selling at £90 per head, a price matched by East Yorkshire’s CJ Wardell, both just behind the £90.50 top price pen of 40 from Cowling’s Julie Metcalfe.

Back in the show, the runners-up from V Verity & Son in West End made £82.50, the third prize pen from Rosemary Berry, also from Cowling, doing better at £86.50. With buyers seeking and finding numbers, the 1,964 Mule wethers got away at a strong overall breed average of £79.54.

Beltex crosses were keenly contested, several better pens making £110-£120 and topping at £121 from TB Moorhouse and Son, of Dacre. A single lamb was donated for sale in aid of The UK Sepsis Trust and again in memory of Cumbrian young farmer Hannah Brown, of Dufton, who passed away earlier this year. Part of their Great Yorkshire Show Championship-winning team, it sold for a heady £400 to long-time Brown family friend Mike Allen, of Staithes.

Texels peaked at £106 and £105 for quality pens from W Mason & Sons, of Appletreewick, other strong lambs regularly away in the £90s. Suffolk prices mirrored the Texels and remained in good demand, reaching £100 per head from Swinbank & Briggs in Malham.

Cheviots are now coming forward in larger numbers, the best end making £85/£90, to a top of £90.50 from Grain Farms in Wadsworth.

Other individual breed averages were: Beltex £93.16, Suffolk £82.67, Texel £82.63 , Charolais £81.72 , Cheviot £78.83 and Berrichon £61.