Mule wether lambs at Skipton top £59.80 a head

The annual show and sale of Mule Wether lambs at Skipton saw more than 7000 lambs go under the hammer, with much demand forcing prices to top £59.80 a head.

Top price paid was for the champion pen of Mule wethers forward from Mark and Susan Harrison, Whitmoor Farm, West End, Summerbridge. They were snapped up by Frank Towers, Lancaster.

The second prize pen from D M Gott, Cowling, sold for £56.50 each to Roger Naylor, Ilkley, with the third prize pen from Granville Fairburn, Apperley Bridge, acquired at £57.80 a head by R Lloyd, Ruthin, North Wales.

Suffolk crosses sold to £66.80 for Miss J M Thompson, Darley. Texel crossed sold to £68.50, for R G Greenwood and Son, West Marton. Charollais crosses sold to £60.50 for A Wilson and Son, Malham. Beltex crosses sold to £63.40 for JGE Heseltine, Bolton Abbey.  Masham Wthrs sold to £50.00 for K Lister and Son, Kettlewell. NC Cheviot to £59.00 for S Bradbury and Son, Saddleworth.  Zwartbles sold to £65.50 for R Holroyd, Littleborough. Swaledale to £46.00 for J and T Simpson, Malham.

The average price at this years sale was just over £56 a head- about £2 up on the previous fortnightly store lamb sale. It also represented a further improved performance when compared to the £50.75 average selling price at the corresponding 2009 fixture.

The sale also used the EID race for the first time, with Craven Cattle Marts’ farmstock sales manager and auctioneer Ted Ogden reporting that the equipment had passed its initial test with flying colours ahead of the big Autumn sheep sales season