SKIPTON Auction Mart’s final fortnightly Wednesday cattle sale of 2023 attracted an anticipated smaller turnout of 114 head, 104 bullocks and heifers among them trading well across all classes. Dairy-bred British Blue bullocks sold to a top of £1,690 from David and Jacqui Coates, Coniston Cold, who also headed the native prices with a £1,580 Aberdeen-Angus bullock.

The largest Blue bullocks with size and flesh made £1,600-£1,690, strong framed bullocks £1,500-£1,585, lean bullocks the next grade down £1,350-£1,470, next grade growing/feeding bullocks £1,150-£1,280.

Charolais bullocks sold to £1,700 from NJ&SJ Pinder, Coniston Cold, Limousin bullocks to £1,800 from M Ryder & Sons, Harrogate. Suckler-bred bullocks with size and flesh made £1,600-£1,800, leaner goods £1,400-£1,520, next grade down bullocks £1,250-£1,350.

Heifers with flesh made £1,300-£1,380, lean heifers £1,140-£1,260. Blue heifers sold to £1,600 from N&J Thwaite, Hellifield, with many more dairy Blue heifers at £1,400-£1,510, the next grade of leaner feeding heifers £1,220-£1,340, plainer end goods £1,100-£1,200.

Back with the natives, all feeding bullocks got away at £1,440-£1,580, native heifers selling to £1,380 for an Angus from MP Jennings, Cowling. Store bullocks averaged £1,432, store heifers £1,264.

Individual section averages and top prices: Store bullocks – Charollais (av £1582), £1700 £1580 £1570 £1480 NJ&SJ Pinder; Limousin-x (£1544) £1800 M Ryder & Son; £1480 £1360 JK Wilson & Son; £1460 £1450 JM Ewin Newhouse; Aberdeen-Angus (£1447) £1580 D&J Coates; £1560 £1550 £1440 RD&K Brewer; £880 P&J Brown; British Blue-x (£1449) £1690 £1600 £1580 D&J Coates; £1680 £1585 £1520 N&J Thwaite; £1580 GT Booth; £1500 JM Ewin Newhouse; Black & White (£951) £1170 KM&L Throup; £990 MP Jennings.

Store heifers – Simmental (£1030) £1030 JW Barker; Limousin-x (£1357) £1650 M Ryder & Son; £1520 JE Cowperthwaite; £1510 JK Wilson & Son; £1500 KA&HL Fawcett; £1490 A&AR Philipson; Bazadaise £1030 M Wolfenden; Aberdeen-Angus (Av £1272) £1380 MP Jennings; £1340 M Ryder & Son; £1260 £1240 M Wolfenden; £1140 JW Barker; Hereford £1400 KM&L Throup; British Blue -x (£1203) £1600 N&J Thwaite; £1510 £1270 JW Barker; £1470 £1430 £1270 MP Jennings; £1260 J Greenwood.

The nine beef-bred feeding cows on parade averaged £1,023, with a top of £1,500 for a British Blue from John Wood, Trawden, a brace of Hereford from Heather Whittaker, Norwood, also doing well at £1,380 and £1,290, a Simmental from D Pawson & Son, Blackburn, next best at £1,280. A trio of Galloway young feeding bulls from Chris and Christine Ryder, Blubberhouses, topped at £1,140, averaging £1,010. Cull cows sold to a robust ringside audience and are looking strong for the opening New Year sale on Wednesday, January 3.

Also staged the same day was the ever-popular pre-Christmas sale of oven-ready poultry – 279 birds on a non-feather in total, with trade strong compared to the previous year, turkeys averaging around £3 per lb or £42 per bird, and a high of £92 for the first lot, a 29.5 pounder from well-known Briercliffe breeder John Atkinson. Capons were also good to sell, averaging just shy of £30 a bird, topping at £41, while chickens averaged £29.81 Earlier, the twice-yearly sale of Border Fine Arts and Beswick ornaments saw the main sale ring packed with 329 individual pieces, a busy ringside, coupled with strong online interest, resulting in 90% clearance and a top of £900 for a threshing mill figurine.

Other leading prices were: £700 Awkward Cow, £540 Lincoln Red Cow & Calf, £510 Where There’s Muck, £500 Under the Hammer Limousin, £500 Under the Hammer Charolais, £440 Arriving at Appleby, £400 Gentle Giants. The next sale is on Saturday, May 11.

Finally, the last monthly Saturday livestock collective sale of 143 stirks, weaned calves and young store cattle produced strong trade. A pen of dairy Blue bullocks from PA&PJ Ormerod, West Marton, sold to £840, others away at £530-£650 regularly for 5 to 7-month-old goods. A good run of cattle from CT&EM Hammond, Harrogate, sold to £990 for Blonde bullocks, plenty of other yearling bullocks away at £800-£980. Limousin and Simmental bullocks traded to £940 from JT Moran, Wigglesworth.

W&M Bland, Kirkby Malham, sold Angus bullocks to £885 and black and white bullocks to £650, with a pen of ten from B Hawksworth, Sheffield, making to £630, bettered at £920 by Limousin heifers from the same vendor.

Again, all heifers were well bid for, buyers keen to fill sheds before the New Year. Blue heifers sold to £730, also from the Ormerods, the Hammonds returning to make £825 with a Simmental heifer and a section top £960 for a Blonde heifer.