Crossflatts butcher buys Skipton prime lamb champions

Champion prime lambs will be on sale from this Friday at Stuart Price Butchers in Crossflatts for the traditional Easter trade.

The Lime Court shop bought the title winners at the opening monthly show and sale of prime lambs at Skipton Auction Mart, on Monday.

Stuart Price Butchers often purchases Skipton “champions” and the latest 40-kilo Texel-cross twin lambs were bought by the shop’s Mick Etherington, who had earlier judged the show, for £114 each (£2.85 per kilo). They were exhibited by Basil Jarvis, of Marton-cum-Grafton, York.

Basil Jarvis, left, gathers in his Skipton prime lamb champions with the aid of show judge and buyer Mick Etherington.Local butcher buyers or their representatives were much in evidence at the ringside as they sought to source top quality lambs for Easter tables.

The reserve champions, a pair of 49-kilo Suffolk lambs from Mark Evans, of Steeton, sold for £105 each (£2.14 per kilo) to Nick Dalby, of Harrogate, on behalf of Stephen Maskill Butchers, Halifax, where they will again be on sale for Easter.

Monthly prime lambs shows will now be held throughout the year at Skipton, the majority on the first Monday of each month.