Five-week-old bull calf secures top trophy at Skipton sale
A five-week-old British Blue-cross bull calf presented by brothers Shaun and Peter Sowray, of, Bishop Thornton, lifted the title at Skipton Auction Mart’s August show.
The victor, by the Genus bull Warrior, sold for £430 to D T Houseman, of Harrogate, while the Sowrays, multiple calf champions at Skipton, were also responsible for the first prize Limousin-x heifer calf, the second prize British Blue-x heifer calf and the third prize British Blue-x bull calf.
(Picture:Shaun Sowray is pictured left with his Skipton calf champion, joined by show judge Tony Binns, centre, and BOCM-Pauls’ Keith Colley.)
Prices peaked at a heady £500 for the first prize Continental-x male, a 47-day-old British Blue stirk from Cowling’s Andrew Ogden, sold to B Haigh, of Oxenhope. The same vendor was also responsible for the day’s top price calf, the first prize British Blue-x heifer and reserve champion, which joined J Ashton, of Cross Roads, for £450.
In addition, Mr Ogden presented the first and second prize Limousin-x bull calves, the former sold for £290 to the Watson farming family from Ripon, the second prize British Blue-x bull calf and the first prize Continental-x heifer stirk.
Edward and Terry Hanson, of Skegness, were again to the fore, making a clean sweep of the prizes in the other Continental bull calf class, with the Simmental-x red rosette winner becoming a further D T Houseman acquisition at £350. The Hansons also had the first prize native-x heifer calf.
Richard Spence, of Sutton-in-Craven, who has had four monthly calf champions in 2012 and was reserve champion last month, missed out on the show classes when stuck in traffic, though made up for it when selling two Limousin-x bull calves at £408 each.
The first prize black and white native bull calf, a British Friesian from the Heron farming family in Bramhope, achieved £190 at just 19-days-old when joining D Ellis, of Hampsthwaite.
British Blue-x bull calves averaged £360 and heifer calves £304, with Limousin-x bull calves averaging £284 and heifer calves £239. Hereford-x bull calves sold to a top of £300. With a high turnout of 142 calves, the overall average selling price was £207.87 per head.