Selling averages soar at CCM Skipton gimmer shearling opener

In the six breed show classes for pens of ten, two saw last year’s victors successfully defend their crowns, the others falling to fresh faces, three of whom were exhibiting at Skipton for the first time.

Continental: Continental shearlings sold to a packed ringside of buyers for all classes of sheep, with Texel averaging £245.81, up £72.34 on the year.

Section champion on debut was the Ribble Valley’s Ryan Sharp, who farms with his father, Arthur, in Oswaldtwistle, with a pen of near pure Texel bought out of Skipton when standing first prize gimmer lambs last September and returning un-lambed.

Involved with the breed for nigh on half a century – they currently lamb some 60 ewes – the victors, recipients of the James Boothman Memorial Trophy, donated and presented by mart regular, Linton’s Thomas Boothman in memory of his late father, sold at £340 top call of the day and for the second year running to Richard Crabtree, Clifton, Otley.

2023 class winners Angela Nairey and Stan Lucas, and son James, Blackburn, had to be content with the runners-up ticket this year, their Texel pen making £305, Sam and Jen Bradley, Addingham, selling their third prize pen at £250.

D&SJ Pinder, Newton-in-Bowland, sold seven Continental pens at £310 to £320 three times. Overall, smart shearlings with both size and frame sold either side of £300 for the best, the next grade at £220-£260. Plenty of strong first crossed shearlings sold at £240-£260, some good sheep with stretch and power making £260-£285, other first crossed sheep £210-£235 regularly and some later-born shearlings that had not been pushed £190-plus.

North of England Mule: With good demand, Mules saw solid rises in values and averages right across their runs for most vendors, the whole sale +£39.55 on the year to level at £202.87. Top end sheep made from £230 to £280, two vendors taking this joint top call. First was the champion pen, which also originated from the Ribble Valley and for the third year running from James Towler and partner Sammy Fawcett, Grindleton, who again retained the Edgar Boothman Trophy, also presented by nephew Thomas.

As usual, all their shearlings were purchased at last autumn’s annual North of England Mule Sheep Association (NEMSA) gimmer lamb sales, with some again by tups from Chris Sharp, Chapel-le-Dale, and the Dunn family, Breck House, Bransdale. All had lambed as hoggs and they sold, once again for the second consecutive year, to Tom Walmsley, D&A Livestock, Haverah Park, Harrogate.

Also standing £280 joint top with a pen of 11 were fellow Ribble Valley vendors Thomas and Sheila Binns, Downham – these selling locally to the Coates family, Coniston Cold - followed closely with ten at £270 from Fox Farms, Withgill, Clitheroe, then Messrs Towler and Binns again with two further pens at £265.

David and Michelle Buck, Barnard Castle, sold pens to £260, also consigning both the second and third prize show pens, which made £240 and £230 respectively. Fox Farms chipped in further with a brace of £260 pens, as did JW Hall & Son, Darnbrook.

Plenty of other strong pens of Mules made £210-£250, middle pens of shearlings finding a market at £185-£210, with lower pens in runs £165-£180.

Association Masham: The Barnard Castle Bucks – they farm at Quarry Grange - followed up with a class victory in the annual Masham Sheep Breeders Association show with the pick of two pens of gimmer lambs purchased last year from Nidderdale’s David Verity and Tom Willoughby, Redmire.

Involved with the breed for some ten years - they only ever buy two pens for the summer show season - the champions topped their section at £260 when going to Leicestershire with CL Parker, Market Harborough, followed at £255 from Mike and Betty Allen, Staithes, plus a trio of pens at £250, one the third prize winners, from KA Liddle & Sons, Stainburn, Otley. Section victors the previous five years, WD Douthwaite & Partners, Kirkby Overblow, who run their Mashams on a second farm at Menwith Hill, had to settle for the runners-up slot this year, their charges making £240.

Non-Association Masham: This show class once again fell to multiple past winners V Verity & Son, West End, Summerbridge, represented by Mark Harrison and schoolteacher daughter Holly. Again by well-utilised Ernie Bainbridge tups, they made £240 per head, also going to CL Parker, the second prize pen from the same home making £220, a third heading the section prices at £245.

Across both classes, a very strong trade for Masham shearlings produced an overall selling average of £222.02, up £54.08 on the year. Middle runs made £190-£220 and smaller sheep £150-£185.

Cheviot Mule: These, too, met a fiery trade, with an overall average of £227.86, an increase of £58.93 on the previous year. Chipping brothers George and Henry Hamlet, showing for the first time at Skipton, won with shearlings bred by and bought from their grandfather John Stott, also Chipping, and himself a familiar face and regular prize winner at the North Yorkshire venue with his Bluefaced Leicesters. Closely involved with the family-run Hamlets Butchers in Garstang, the brothers saw their debut victors sell locally for section top £250 to Emma Wright, Airton. Another large contingent from WF Alton & Son, Kirk Deighton, Wetherby, sold to £245 twice. Plenty of Cheviot Mules sold at £215-£230, some shearlings that hadn’t been pushed away at £180-£200.

Suffolk: The journey north from Knutsford, Cheshire, to show for the first time at Skipton paid dividends when Mick Mitchell and grandson Robert, who trade as A Mitchell & Son, claimed top honours with their home-bred shearlings shown by Robert’s fiancée Ruth Kennerley. Out of their own Cheviot Mules, the red rosette winners made a section-topping £260 when again going to Emma Wright. The second and third prize pens from P&S Lofthouse, Grewelthorpe, Ripon, made £235 and £205 respectively, this latter price and upwards seen for shearlings with still some growth about them. This section, too, saw a marked increase on the year, the average up £73.43 at £233.80.

The rest: Of the remainder, Beltex shearlings averaged £264.79, MJ Beckwith and WG Beckwith, both Gargrave, selling pens to £285 and £270 respectively, Dutch Spotted averaging £226.43 to £250 from C Thornber, West Bradford, Clitheroe, and Dales Mules levelling at £195.

Breeding Ewes & Rams: A tidy turnout of 261 ewes saw nice sheep in sharp demand, with Thomas and Sheila Binns again to the fore when selling Texel 1-crop to £285, top call among the ewes, and Mule 1-crop to £240, their six pens in total making from £220 upwards.

A dispersal sale on behalf of Halton East husband and wife, David and Iris Boothman, witnessed six pens of 2, 3 and 4-crop Continental ewes sell for over £200, their other mixed Continental and Suffolk-cross ewes making £165-£200, older Mule ewes, full mouth correct £120-£150. The couple also sold a trio of rams, a Texel and a Beltex both at £350, a Blue Texel at £320.

Texel, Cheviot Mule and Suffolk show classes were judged by John Harry Hitchen, Luddendenfoot, Masham by Andrew Fisher, Pateley Bridge, and North of England Mules by Tom Heseltine, Bolton Abbey. Co-sponsors were the British Wool Marketing Board and Top Tags Animal ID.