Rob Ellis, centre, with the family’s July prime lamb champions and show judge, Mick Etherington.
Strong trade for quality prime lambs
The 3,000 plus prime sheep penned for sale at Skipton's latest weekly Monday sale comprised 2,374 spring lambs, the largest turnout of the season to date, which sold to a sharper trade than seen in recent weeks, with meat and weight proving good to sell.
The best handy weighted lambs regularly sold for between 380 to 420p/kg, with well-backed first cross lambs selling at between 355 and 370p/kg and more commercial grass types to between 335 and 350p/kg. The outcome was an overall springers average of £154.20 per head, or 357.8p/kg.
Topping at £182 per head or 433.3p/kg were the July prime lamb show champions, a pen of five 42kg Beltex cross from Ellis Bros, Addingham Moorside, tapped out by judge Mick Etherington, Eldwick, which sold to Knavesmire Butchers, York.
A second 45kg pen from the same home also made the same money.
At £174 per head were 43kg Suffolks from Amy Peel, Glasshouses, which sold to Nick Dalby, Hartwith, while the third prize 43kg pen from the same home sold to J. and E. Medcalf and Son, Halifax.
The second prize and reserve champion 43kg pen from the Wharfedale-based Crabtree family, Clifton, made £166 each to Andrew Atkinson, Felliscliffe.
Auctioneers: CCM
READ MORE: High of 10,000gns for Charollais rams at Worcester
Store lamb average up on the year
The store lamb season got off to a strong start at Bentham, with just over 2,500 lambs sold and a sale average of £101.22 - up more than £10 on the year. Topping the sale at £150 were Texels from W.M. and E. Dugdale, Giggleswick, with this consignment averaging £125.52.
A ring full of Texel cross Mules from B.W. and M. Haygarth, Dent, sold to £142.50 and £142 with A.J. Haggas, Skipton, topping the Beltex section at £141.50. Strongest and better bred lambs sold for £130 plus, with a cut below £105 to £115.
Small young lambs sold to £80 to £100, with only an odd pen slipping below. There were also a handful of Mule lambs in the entry, with 41 from J.W. Hall, Langcliffe selling to £101. J.H. and S.M. Mason, Clapham's, consignment included a few hill lambs with Swaledales to £65 while Gritstones topped at £72.
Averages: £101.22 (+£10.26 on the 2024)
Auctioneers: Bentham & District Farmers Auction Mart Co
Kemi Kap tops Dolgellau
A top bid of £13,700 led Dolgellau's July timed online sale of working sheepdogs in which demand remained strong for well trained and well-bred sheepdogs, with 16 lots selling for more than £5,000.
Sale leader was Kemi Kap, a two-and-a-half-year-old fully trained dog from Kevin Evans, Brecon, which sold to an Ayrshire-based buyer.
David Henderson, Northumberland, had the day's second top bid at £13,200 for Burndale Max, a fully trained dog which found a new home in the USA.
Shadwell Pie, a fully trained bitch from Ricky Hutchinson, Lancashire, made £10,700, again selling to a US-based buyer.
At £10,300 was another from Mr Evans - Glebefort Peg, while Burndale Kara, a black and tan bitch from Mr Henderson, made £9,900.
Highest price in the partly trained section at £6,300 was Bobby, a two-year-old dog from Thomas Lane, Abergavenny, which sold to a US-based buyer.
Topping the pup section at £3,550 was 12-week-old Beacon Jazz, from David Evans, Brecon.
Averages: Trained, £5,443; partly trained, £1,795; pups, £1,120.
Auctioneers: Farmers Marts Dolgellau.
Panda Holsteins top at 15,000gns
A packed ringside assembled for the Pathway of Panda sale event, the first public auction of cattle from the Panda Holstein herd, hosted by father and daughter Andrew and Molly Westwood on-farm at Molland Ridge Farm, Chulmleigh, Devon.
Topping the sale at 15,000gns was Panda Christmas O'Kracker, a December 2023-born daughter of Blondin Alpha. This heifer hails from the O'Kalibra family, developed at Panda Holsteins, with her fifth dam being Decrausaz Iron O'Kalibra EX97. It sold to Andrew Bailey, Lancaster, who dispersed his herd in 1998 and confirmed that he will leave the heifer at Panda Holsteins.
New Zealanders Rob and Steph Trainer and Hennie and Kerrie Verwaayen, secured the day's second-top price, Panda Hulu Hip Hop, a granddaughter of S-S-I Doc Have Not 8784 EX96, for 10,000gns.
Making 6,000gns was PANDA CHRISTMAS o'karol, another heifer with the O'Kalibra stamp. By Walnutlawn Sidekick, it sold to C.R. and Y.S. Bennett, Newton, Devon.
Two lots sold for 5,800gns. The first at this money was the first lot through the ring, Panda Amberley O'Kalibra Red, a four-year-old freshly calved third lactation cow, which sold to Messrs Evans, Shrewsbury.
The same buyer also paid the same again for Panda Black Ivy, an October 2024-born calf by Progenesis Ambrose.
Making 5,000gns was another October 2024-born calf, Panda Im A Gem RC. This one, also by Progenesis Ambrose, sold to Messrs Jones, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire.
Averages: 13 cows and heifers in milk, £3,911.25; 4 in-calf heifers £3,832.50; 20 yearling heifers, £3,953.25; 12 heifer calves, £3,377.50; 1 bull sold for £1,470; 1 IVF session, £3,360; 35 embryos, £558.60; 20 doses of semen, £89.25/straw.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington
READ MORE: Charollais centre record set by Edstaston flock
Leyburn dairy to £3,500
A £3,500 bid led Leyburn's monthly dairy sale, with trade averaging at £3,023.
Sale leader was a calved heifer from Matthew Bell, Bainbridge, which sold to Tom Wilkinson, County Durham.
Calved heifers from Metcalfe Farms, Leyburn, sold for £3,400 and £3,300, with the day's champion, Cowside Clock, a pedigree Holstein heifer from the same home, making £3,200 to Little Newsham Farms, Darlington.
Averages: Calved heifers, £3,023
Auctioneers: Leyburn Auction Mart
Texel females to 2,400gns
Bidding in the Summer Sensations online sale of elite pedigree Texel females topped at 2,400gns for a Duncryne Houdini-sired Teiglum ewe lamb from Teiglim Livestock, South Lanarkshire. The buyers were Radley Pedigree Livestock, Dumfries.
The same buyers also paid 2,300gns for a Garngour shearling gimmer from Alan Clark's Garngour flock, Lesmahagow. This one by the £22,000 Midlock Flockstar was selected as part of the 2025 show team. At 2,200gns was an Allanfauld shearling gimmer by Knap Godzilla from Archie and John MacGregor, Kilsyth. This one sold to Messrs Shaw, Cockermouth, Cumbria, with another shearling gimmer from the same home, by Sportsmans Grand Slam, selling for 2,000gns to Messrs Allan, Linlithgow, West Lothian.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington
Gisburn dairy sale tops at £3,700
At Gisburn Auction Marts' first weekly dairy sale of July, it was the first prize pedigree heifer which made the top price of £3,700.
The 34kg heifer was from G. D. Donkin's Copdon herd, Blackburn, and a daughter of Soureth Conra from the herd's Roxy family.
Pedigree cows topped at £3,420 for Hillrobin Bunting 123 from B. W. and J. Robinson, Treales, Preston. Having given 8,971kg as a heifer, the Denovo Zinger second calver is out of a Superior Production EX90 dam and 70 tonne grandam.
A Broholme heifer from R. M. Shackleton, Broughton, Skipton, made £3,050, this one a Denmire Rebo daughter out of a Westcoast Lighthouse sired dam, while two at £3,000 were a Greengrass heifer from J. T. Swales and Sons, Yarm, Cleveland, and an Audbrook entry from Messrs Gibson and Berry, Endmoor, Kendal, who also took a £2,900 bid on a Westcoast Lugnut sired heifer.
The non-pedigree section also saw a top of £2,900 which came for a fresh heifer from G. and M. M. Dakin and Sons, Bolton by Bowland, while G. and P. S. Fleetwood, Hopton, Mirfield sold at £2,850. Meanwhile M. T. Fish, Heap Bridge, Bury had two heifers at £2,800 and at the same price was one from M. D. Drake, Cononley, Keighley.
Averages: Pedigree newly calved heifers £2,678; non-pedigree newly calved heifers £2,570; pedigree newly calved cows £2,608.
Auctioneers: Gisburn Auction Marts.
READ MORE: Blue Texels lead the sheep rings at Royal Norfolk Show
Gleave dispersal to £3,080
A top price of £3,080 was realised at the dispersal of the year-round calving Holstein Friesian herd, held on behalf of the Gleave family, Crewe, at Market Drayton Market.
Sale leader at 3,080 was a fresh calved commercial heifer off an 8,369kgs 4.67% butterfat 3.42% protein dam.
The same buyer also gave £3,000 for a fresh third calver by Relough Razzy.
An October-calved red and white heifer, due again in early November, also sold for £3,000, with 11 cattle in total making more than £2,800.
Averages: 111 milking cows and heifers including faults, £2,187; 2 in-calf heifers, £1,875.
Auctioneers: Gwilym Richards and Market Drayton market
Dairy averages steady at Carlisle
Trade in Carlisle's monthly dairy day sale remained strong for fresh milkers and close calving cows and heifers, where a top price of £3,250 was achieved four times.
Thomas Blackwood, Lesmahagow, sold two fresh heifers at £3,250, the first was Colvend Erratic Emma, a January 2023-born Colvend Erratic daughter, which sold to Messrs Lloyd and Partners, Crundale, Haverfordwest. The next was Langhill Alma 169, a daughter of Welcome Silver Griff, which sold freshly calved to Messrs Carlyle, Longtown, Carlisle.
Will Booth then sold Feizor Pepper D Flo, a fresh calved second lactation Delaberge Pepper A2A2 daughter, which also sold to Messrs Lloyd, with the same buyer also securing a fresh two-year-old from J. and A. Johnstone, Pettinain, Lanark, at the day's top price of £3,250.
Dry cows sold to a top of £2,850 for Newmeadow Awesome Flo Molly from the Innes family, Nairn, to Bowdler Farms, Shropshire.
Averages: 27 Holstein cows in milk, £2,538.24; 68 Holstein heifers in milk, £2,751.84; 8 British Friesian cows in milk, £2,293.75; 6 Jersey cross cows and heifers in milk, £1,950; 95 dry cows, £2,094.42; 4 faulted cows and heifers in milk, £1,567.50; 46 in-calf heifers,£2,235; 10 short-bred heifers, £1,495; 17 Pro-Cross in-calf heifers, £1,966; 14 bulling heifers, £1,186.43; 6 maiden heifers, £950.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington
Coose top at £3,200
Bidding in the Coose Livestock Dutch Spotted sale, held online on behalf of J. and R. Tuohy, Co Clare, saw a £3,200 high for Coose Ice Ice Baby, a February 2025-born ewe lamb by Broadwater Hulk out of Broadwater Gina.
Making £3,000 was the first lot sold, Coose I-Spy. This January 2025-born ram lamb by Coose Gunpowder, out of Coose Gold Star, sold to Pearsbyhall Farming Partnership, Lockerbie.
At £1,200 was Coose Irish Cream, a January 2025-born ewe lamb by Gunpowder
At the same money was Coose Ivanna, another by the same sire which sold to Messrs Priestley, Downpatrick, Co Down.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington
Prime lambs in demand
Prime lambs and cast sheep sold to demand at Carlisle's weekly sale, with demand for lambs especially high as numbers were back on demand.
A Texel ewe from Gary Bell, Lockerbie, topped the ewes, selling at £475 to Yorkshire Halal, Osset, with many pens with weight and meat making above the £200 mark.
Demand for prime lambs saw a section high of £280 and 608.9p/kg for a 46kg lamb from Messrs Moralee, Hardriding, Hexham, who sold 59 lambs to average 444.44p, the buyer of their top price being Bowland Foods, Preston.
The same buyer also paid £220 for a pen of 41kg Beltex from the same home, while heavier weight Suffolk lambs from Maxwell farming, Dumfries, also made £220.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington
