Champion Holstein sells for leading price of £2,350

Local milk men bagged leading honours at CCM Skipton’s opening March Craven Dairy Auction.

Brian Moorhouse, of Bell Busk, a multiple past champion, lifted the title again with his first prize newly calven pedigree Holstein Friesian heifer, while the second in class, a commercial first calver from the Blackwell family in Gargrave – the first time they have ever shown dairy cattle at Skipton Auction Mart – was reserve champion.

Mr Moorhouse, whose runs his Aireburn pedigree herd from Hesper Farm, was victorious with a home-bred ten-days calved daughter of Regancrest Baltimore, his first-ever by the Semex sire, out of a 10,000kg dam rated excellent.

While father and son John and Mick Blackwell, of Priest Holme Farm, regularly sell prize-winning calves at Skipton, they have not sold dairy cattle anywhere for a good number of years, but now have one or two surplus animals among their 120-strong commercial herd. Their show debut runner-up was a ten-days calved home-bred by the Genus bull Kelstein Dynasty.

The performance of the principals in the sales ring underpinned the choice of show judge Colin Whitelock, of Gargrave, when the title winner, giving 34kg, achieved the day’s leading price of £2,350 and the 26kg reserve the second top call of £2,220.

The victor fell to Daniel Reed, of Bielby, York, who continues to source quality dairy cattle at Skipton as he further builds his commercial dairy herd, with the reserve finding a new home in Cumbria with T H Gibson and Son, of Kendal.

Andrew Ayrton, of Eastby, sold two newly calven heifers at £2,120 and £1,950, both becoming further Daniel Reed acquisitions, while Richard Close, of Starbotton, achieved £2,000 with a newly calven Shorthorn-cross heifer knocked down to T Pickup, of Turton, Bolton.

The first prize newly calven cow from T D and M Bell, of Normanby, sold for top price in class at £2,100, with the same vendors also selling a second entry for £1,700 to Gisburn’s Frank Wrathall. The second prize newly calven cow, a pedigree from Raymond and Robert Johnson, of Felliscliffe, fell for £1,750 to Wick Williams, of Nantwich.

Two in-calf heifers, both due to Limousin sires, from Bishop Thornton’s Peter Baul averaged £1,520 and returned to the same village when bought by brothers Shaun and Peter Sowray. A pedigree newly calven Brown Swiss heifer from David and Pauline Brown, of Ramsgill, also sold well when joining D A Fort, of Glusburn, for £1,650.

While trade for the 34 head of dairy cattle fell short of the exceptional prices achieved at the previous sale a fortnight earlier, demand was again strong from a ready ringside of buyers, with pedigree newly calven heifers averaging £2,064 and commercial first calvers £1,761. Newly calven cows averaged £1,568.

There was also significant interest in a post-dairy auction sale of ten five-to-six-week-old Holstein Friesian heifer calves consigned by Jos Lancaster, of Horton-in-Craven. All from nominated sires, they sold to a wide variety of buyers to average £290.83 and a high of £330, this falling to Cowling’s Andrew Ogden.

At the main weekly calf sale, the 52 youngsters forward sold well to average £156.63 a head, well up on the week.

Geoff and Margaret Booth, of Lothersdale, headed the day’s trade at £400 with a British Blue-cross bull calf that fell to Tony Binns, of Clint, Harrogate, while the upsurge in demand for younger black and white calves was maintained with an overall per head average of £80.07, up over £3 on the week. An eight-week-old calf from Fred Houseman, of Church Farm Enterprises, South Stainley, reached £165, with a second black and white from the same vendor also making £142.

Church Farm Enterprises presented three further top price entries – a British Blue-cross heifer calf at £335 and Aberdeen Angus bull and heifer calves at £250 and £220 respectively. In fact, Angus calf buyers took the trade to an average of £223 for bulls and £207.50 for heifers. D and R F Kitching, of Threshfield, sold a Limousin-cross bull calf at £360.