WHILE heavier Spring lambs met a sharp trade mainly due to better finish levels at CCM Skipton Auction Mart’s latest weekly Monday turnout buyers were more cautious when it came to a standard and lighter lamb weighing in the 30kgs if not fully fleshed. Overall, the 1,347 forward met a very similar average on the week at 311.4p/kg.

A good run of Texel lambs from John Mellin, Black Lane Ends, topped the per head prices at £195 and a trio of vendors sold pens at £192 each - Wilf Dolman, Burnley, Mark Crabtree, Kettlesing, and the Hutchinson family, again travelling down from Faceby on the edge of the North Yorkshire Moors.

A further seven pens made £180 or more, 29 pens £170 and upwards, the main of the good heavier lambs achieving £155-plus.Handier weights accounted for the better per kilo prices, with 45kg Beltex from Tim Robinson, Longridge, selling for 395p/kg, or £178, the Threshfield Kitchings hitting 390p/kg, or £160, with a 41kg Beltex pen, E Pennock & Son, Beamsley, repeating this feat with a Texel pen. Smartest handy lambs made 350p/kg-plus.

Individual Spring lamb selling averages and leading prices were: Beltex £138.59, 331.2p/kg (TA Robinson £178 and 395.6p), Texel £133.27, 312.2p/kg (TH Mellin £195, E Pennock & Son 390.2p), Suffolk £137.35, 310.6p/kg (ML Evans £184, TH Mellin 366p), Blue Texel £132.79, 310.2p/kg (FA Holmes £163 and 339.6p), Charollais £142.77, 317.9p/kg (EP&JM Hutchinson £169 and 331.4p), Dutch Spotted £95.40 per head, 287.3p/kg (J Sugden £110 and 305.6p), Dorset £155.80, 323.6p/kg (M Crabtree £192 and 342.9p).

Just 70 prime hoggs were penned for sale, these averaging 215.5p/kg, with a per head high of £122 for Suffolk from JA Brown & Son, Newark, and by-weight top of 259.1p/kg for Texel from Kevin Marshall, Dacre.

A good entry of 912 cast sheep produced another strong cull ewe trade and while lighter ewes were less money than previous weeks both heavy ewes and full meat fleshed mediums were still keenly sought, the section averaging £121.80.

Texel ewes sold to £251.50 and £194.50 twice from Thomas Ogg, heading north from Lincolnshire, while smart-ended ewes with weight commanded £200-£230, mediums £170-£190. Plenty of heavy first-crossed ewes sold at £170-£190, the next grade full meat and full fleshed ewes away at £150-£165, lots of full meat medium ewes making £130-£145, with leaner ewes £120-£135 and just the feeding or lightweight ewes selling either side £100.

North of England Mule ewes sold well, heavy goods making £128-£139.50, the section peaking at £161.50 for a pen from Robert Metcalfe, Brearton, lean Mules trading at £100-£120 and plain types £70-£90. Horned sheep sold to £116.50 for Swaledale ewes from Wharfedale regulars Francis and James Caton, Weston.

Cast rams averaged, £142.92, a Texel from doing best at £197.50, followed by a £191.50 Suffolk, both consigned by the Nottinghamshire Browns.

Trade for 36 dairy-bred rearing calves was just as hot as the previous week, with a sale high of £580 for a Limousin-x bull from G Hayton & EC Stocks, Bolton Abbey, and plenty of bucket-reared Continental bull calves at 4/6-weeks-old selling either side of £500 for well-shaped goods.

The Sowray brothers, Bishop Thornton, sold a trio of Charolais bull calves from £510-£545 section top, the same home also responsible for the £500 top price Charolais heifer calf. At the same price, another Limousin-x bull from J Howard Jnr, Skipton, made its mark, while Blue-x bull calves peaked at £450 from Edward Fort, Silsden Moor, their heifer counterparts trading to £410 from Alan and Emily Middleton, Beamsley.

Of the native youngsters, Aberdeen-Angus bull calves topped at £385 from Allan and Susan Throup, Silsden Moor, who also headed the Angus heifer prices at £280. Other Angus bulls with strength made £300-plus, other Angus heifers £220 upwards. Black and whites sold to £145 for a bull calf from James Gooch, Cononley.

Over in the prime cattle ring, a handful of dairy-bred cull cows sold to a by-weight top of 181.5p/kg from N&R Sutcliffe, Todmorden, with a per head high of £1,411 from Anthony Bolland, Bolton Abbey. Meat parlour cows all sold between 167.5-181p/kg, the section seeing an overall average of 176.5p/kg, or £1,150.78.

CCM yesterday (Wednesday) staged its high profile opening show and sale of store lambs, with a catalogue entry of 3,239 first draw lambs. This will be covered in next week’s Herald and online.