By Robin Moule

Trade of the day at CCM Skipton’s Christmas Craven Dairy Auction was £3,350 for the first prize junior heifer in milk and overall champion from Brian and Judith Moorhouse, Aireburn herd, Bell Busk.

Their victor is by Denovo Sizzler, a bull marketed by new CCM dairy sponsor Genus ABS and bred from the Bevin family, descending from a cow family which the Moorhouses invested in from the Ingham herd, Norfolk, dispersal sale.

The widely admired fresh heifer arrived with a picture perfect udder, a nailed on fore and rear udder with impressive veining, while she was also great on the move and blended strength and dairyness in equal measure.

At 27kg and rising daily, the heifer clearly impressed Calderdale show judge John Harry Hitchen, backing his decision on his champion in the pre-show sale when claiming her for the day’s top price. She joins the family’s dairying enterprise at Crib Farm, Luddendenfoot.

Next in the line-up of both top prices and awards was the first prize senior heifer in milk and overall reserve champion from Andrew Ayrton and family at Hawbank, Eastby, and their 28kg Hawbank Elway Peace 69, born in early September, 2022. With a 10,210kg at 5.12% fat and 3.18% protein Boastful-sired dam, she made £2,500, selling locally to Alan and Emily Middleton, Beamsley Bank.

At £2,300 was the senior heifer class runner-up, a real robust, good-uddered third calver and the last cow to be sold from the highly successful Dykelands herd dispersal at CCM of Airton-based Paul and Janet Bolland, and son James. Just a week fresh and already at 37kg, she travels up the road to John Howard, Gargrave, the day’s volume buyer.

Mick Ryder, Haverah Park, Harrogate, brought another run of well grown in-calf heifers for January, which made a clean sweep of the prizes in their show class and twice reached £1,750, the curtain on the festive highlight falling with a run of a dozen bulling heifers from Peter Baul’s Ravensgate herd, Bishop Thornton, which also picked up all three rosettes in the maiden heifer show class.

Ravensgate heifers often command good prices in milk at CCM and those ringside acknowledged the potential in this next generation, only offered for sale due to a genuine surplus of numbers of that age on farm They twice peaked at £1,000 for the first and second prize bullers from members of the Ruby and Poppy families respectively, both backed by 10,000kg-plus grand dams and deeper pedigrees of long lived high yielding cows.

While trade overall was more selective than of late, 19 heifers in milk averaged £1,850, cow in milk £2,300, three in-calf heifers £1,733 and 12 bulling heifers £853. The final Craven Dairy Auction of 2024 is scheduled for Monday, December 9.

In the prime cattle ring, 20 cull cows sold to an overall average of 160.30p/kg, or £1,076 per head, with black and white parlour cows from the Dakin Partnership, Hellifield, responsible for the top gross and by-weight prices - 184.5p/kg for a 788kg entry, or £1,459 for a 813kg cow.

Plenty of fleshed parlour cows sold at 165-180p/kg, with leaner cows 150-165p/kg and only the plainest 125-145p/kg. Shorthorn bulls sold to 167.5p/kg, or £1,822, from Andrew Fisher, Pateley Bridge.

Over 3,000 prime sheep were again penned for sale, the 2,712 prime lambs producing an overall selling average of £141.12 per head, or 316.58p/kg (SQQ a lively 325.58p/kg). While there was a nice trade for big lambs, it was the handyweights that saw the average move sharply uphill, though 36 pens of heavies still managed between £170 and £200. Tops at £200 belonged to A&AR Phillipson, Briercliffe, closely followed at £196 from Richard and Mark Ireland, Whalley.

Smart-skinned Beltex and three-quarters Texel ‘fed in the shed’ lambs were very good to sell, especially if smart looking, seeing a 400p/kg average for the best end, the next grade levelling at 370p/kg. In fact, 17 pens achieved 400p/kg or more and 51 pens hit 375p/kg or more, with John Brotherton, Addingham, topping the sale at 446p/kg when his 38kg pen sold at £193 per head. M&S Eddleston, Great Harwood, sold 26 lambs to top at 420p/kg and average 404p/kg.

Handy commercial lambs were 320p/kg-plus for most types, a commercial hard fed lamb either side of 40kg more like 335-350p/kg. Of the Mule, Masham and Cheviot wether lambs, meat was in demand and good to sell, Mules hitting £150 top price most pens of better lambs £140-plus, Of the cast sheep. 440 cull ewes averaged £118, with medium smart ewes selling regularly at £185 up to £231.50.