Foot and Mouth mars annual Skipton Suffolk sale

While the high profile show of pedigree Suffolks on offer at the Northern Counties Society sale at Skipton went ahead as planned on Friday, the sale scheduled for the following day was cancelled when the mart called in a ministry-appointed vet to seek guidance as the national ban on the movement of livestock took immediate effect.

Unaware of the imminent upheaval, Suffolk enthusiasts from across the north and midlands, also joined by exhibitors from Scotland, East Anglia and Wales, lined up for the annual show, with 112 pedigree sheep forward.

The outcome resulted in back-to-back championship successes for the Sitlow Suffolk flock of Steven and Louise Buckley, Derbyshire, with a January-born ram lamb, which, like their 2006 Skipton ram lamb champion, was sired by the all-conquering Perrinpit High Peak.

Overall reserve champion was the first prize January-born ewe lamb and champion female from mother-and-daughter breeders Glynis and Jane Soulsby’s Cumbrian-based Williamsgill flock at Temple Sowerby, Penrith.

The reserve champion female, a January, 2006, single shearling ewe, by Flodden Fernando out of a Cairness Compatriot-sired dam, was exhibited by Alan Blair, of Thornton Cleveleys, Lancashire.