WITH retail butchers busy in the run-up to Christmas, an entry of quality, heavy cattle led to an excellent trade at Craven Cattle Mart this week, on the crisp first Monday of December.

The day’s top gross price was £2,292 for an 823kg Charolais cross steer from N Morphet of Stainburn, which was sold to Robert Pearson on behalf of Ralph Pearson for 278.5p/kg. The top price per kg was attained by Hargreaves Farms of Walton le Dale for their 634kg Limousin cross steer, sold to Ralph Pearson again, for 308.5p/kg (£1956). A Limousin cross from CD & RF Kitching of Threshfield took the top price per head for heifers, selling for £1908.

Continental cattle weighed well across the board, averaging 620kg; with steers averaging 303p/kg and heifers 289p/kg. Encouragingly, CCM general manager and auctioneer,Jeremy Eaton believes trade for heavy, good quality breaking cattle is likely to remain very good.

Cast cows continued with a very similar trade to previous weeks. Heavy dairies sold to 160p+/kg, Steaking cows 150p and plain cows 100p. The heavy, thick meated native cows reached the highest prices of 170p/kg. The highest prices per head were achieved by A&E Middleton for their Black & White at £1,316, JSS Verity with a Jersey selling at £828, and DAB & SD Ogden with an Aberdeen Angus at £1,315.

Calves also proved a strong and steady trade this week, with British Blue bulls selling to an average of £286 and topping at £385 for RE Ayrton & Son, Eastby. The younger end of the Blues sold in the £218 - £260 range, and mediums £270+. A larger Blue heifer sold for £290 from J&A Stevenson, Saltburn-By-The-Sea. Medium Blue heifers sold between £220 and £260 and younger sorts £180 - £220. A strong Aberdeen Angus bull calf from A&SL Throup & Son of Silsden topped at £325, with the younger end averaging either side of £200.

A few smiles were cracked ringside of the sheep sales in Skipton this week, too, with the prime lamb average up 2p/kg on the week. The slightly larger showing consisted of many good runs of lambs, interspersed with some leaner and lightweight sorts lacking cover. In general, smart lambs would be a shade easier on the week but well-fed commercial sorts proved dearer, with buyers spearing keener.

Messrs Jordan of Doncaster took top price per head when selling overweight Texels at £180 to Joe Bosworth. A quartet of pens made £160 per head, first with Brian Lund of Hebden Bridge selling heavy Texels, and then D Breaks of Slaidburn achieving the mark on three occasions all with heavy Continentals. Ellis Bros of Addingham Moorside made £157 of heavy Rouge crosses, and also achieved the three highest prices per kilo when selling three pens of Beltex crosses at 353p/kg (43kg, £152), 352p/kg (42kg, £148) and 351p/kg (44kg, £155). Other pens of smart lambs weren’t far behind, selling for 300-350p/kg.

Commercial Lambs were sharper on the week, especially for handier weighing sorts. Most lambs averaged either side of 240p to 255p, with just a handful of lowland pens around 235p, including some store-type lambs. Mule and hill bred lambs seemed a stronger trade, with better pens around the 240p mark for Mule wethers; 43kg / 44kg weights around £104 to £106.50, and some heavier sorts going at £120. Pens of good, heavy Scotch Black Faced wethers from EP & JM Hutchinson of Faceby sold at 230p/kg (£129) and Steven Sutcliffe of Horton in Ribblesdale made £98 on 43kg Swaledale wethers.

There was a good show of cull ewes again, with 757 cull ewes and tups through the ring. Meat of all breeds proved good to sell, as well as lean continentals. However, plain, horned ewes were harder placed. Best ewes selling over £200, with a top price of £224.50 from N & AD Boynton, Grewelthorpe. Pure ewes were well sold with the better end topping at £170+ and mediums £140-170. First crossed heavy continentals sold at £135-155. Full meat ewes with less weight averaged £115-£130, light ewes £75-£110 and plain feeding ewes £65-£85. Mules were a shade easier selling, with the heaviest ewes selling from £105 to a top price of £118.50 for W Thwaite, Clitheroe.

Best Swale ewes are £65-£75.50 and mediums with meat £40-£55, whilst lean ewes sold in the £28-£35 range and plain ewes anywhere from £10-£26. Heavy cast tups were in demand, with £150 to £180 a common price for decent sorts and leaner tups averaging £110 to £140. Cast tups overall averaged £125 across the board, though a Texel climbed to £194.50.

Upcoming sales at the mart are:

Wednesday, December 14 - fortnightly store lambs (inc. Addingham Sheep Breeders Show & Sale) *Entries closed!*

Saturday, December 17 winter sheep sale (Texel, Beltex, Blue Texel and Continental x breeds).

Saturday, December 17, Christmas sale of 174 Border Fine Arts.

Wednesday, December 21, store and feeding cattle and store lambs and feeding ewes (joint sale for both ahead of Christmas).

Catalogues online at: www.ccmauctions.com