NORTH Craven’s Graeme Jackson was crowned breed champion in the North of England Mule Sheep Association (NEMSA) show classes and overall commercial champion at last week’s Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate.

Graeme, who farms with his partner Amy and daughter Ellie at Mount Pleasant, High Bentham, clinched the title with his first prize single geld shearling ewe, which was among a ten-strong gimmer lamb pen purchased at Bentham Auction Mart last year from John Hutchinson, of Hebblethwaite Hall Farm, Cautley, Sedbergh.

As well as being a major coup for Graeme – he has won several past Great Yorkshire NEMSA championships, along with another overall commercial title - it was equally so for John Hutchinson, who just two weeks earlier had taken the Swaledale breed championship at the Royal Highland Show with a 2-crop ewe from his Hebblethwaite flock .

John farms with his wife Kirsty and parents, Ernest and Dorothy, who bought Hebblethwaite Hall Farm four decades ago. They now put some 250 ewes from their pure Swaledale flock to the Bluefaced Leicester tup to produce the all-purpose North of England Mule.

Back at the Great Yorkshire, Mr Jackson also won the Mule ewe with two lambs at foot show class, the dam bred by the Watson family, Alston, the lambs by a Cheshire-based Paul Slater Texel tup. Full details, results and pictures can be seen in the news section at www.nemsa.co.uk while live video action from the show classes can be accessed via NEMSA’s Facebook page.

Meanwhile, this week’s Monday market at Skipton Auction Mart saw 1,856 Spring lambs trade to an overall average of £121.38 per head, or 283.5p/kg, Alastair Jenkinson, Langbar, Ilkley, topping both per head and per kilo with 43kg Beltex at £178 and 414p.

Hot on his heels from a little further down the valley were P Crabtree & Son, Clifton, Otley, with 47kg Beltex at £176, while from the same neck of the woods the same per head price was achieved for 51kg lambs from father and son, Francis and James Caton, Weston. Plenty of other pens made £160-plus.

Good overweight lowland lambs were generally £100- £125, a more commercial type £85-£100 and heavies generally £80-£110, depending on quality, while best handyweight lambs were around £95-£110, or 340-400p/kg. Mule wether lambs peaked at £130 from KA&HL Fawcett & Son, Dalehead, Barden.

Also penned for sale were almost 500 cast sheep, with heavy pure ewes trading at £180-£221.50, this for Texel from Owain Chapman, Skyreholme, with pen after pen of heavy ewes selling at £150-£170. Suffolk ewes sold to £194.50, while Mule ewes were dearer on the week, with a top call of £124.50 from JR Airey, Elslack. Swaledale ewes were also dearer, the Wharfedale Catons leading the way with a pen of four at £85.50. The overall cull ewe average was £109.51, cast rams averaging £116.72.

A small entry of cull cows averaged 170.6p/kg, or £1,133, Mark Smith, Winterburn, topping with a black and white at £1,326, 174.5p/kg.