Catons again dominate ewe lamb show

The Catons, of Otterburn Lodge Farm, Otterburn, submitted the champion pen of ten Mule gimmer lambs for a record-breaking seventh time, along with the reserve champion pen of 20s.

Their victorious 2012 ten-strong pen – half by home-bred ram lambs, the other half by senior stock tups – sold for £200 per head to co-judge, East Coast sheep farmer Mike Allen, of Staithes, who also paid £295 per head, top call in class and of the entire day, for the fifth prize pen of tens from John and Claire Mason, of Oddacres Farm, Embsay.

The Catons’ second prize pen of 20s had similar breeding, though a quarter of them were lambs from the first crop of last year’s prized new Bluefaced Leicester ram purchase, D2 Middleton Hall, bred by David Watson in Kirkby Lonsdale. They joined Claire Morris, of Barnard Castle, who also bought the Catons’ 2011 champion 20s pen, for £165 per head.

With their first draw of 180 gimmer lambs, the Catons also sold the fourth prize pen of 20s for £150 each to G&E Haynes & Son, of Winslow in Buckinghamshire.

The title-winning 20s pen was shown by another renowned Mule-breeding family, North Craven’s WA & A Booth, of Feizor.

Shown by Robin Booth, they made £260 per head, top price in class, when joining Derbyshire buyers WS Hudson & Son, of Ilam, Ashbourne.

The Booths’ consignment of 140 gimmer lambs also produced five other pens sold at between £142 and £190 per head.

Once again, the annual highlight offered a quality selection of 7,000-plus lambs, over 1,200 up on last year – for both tupping and runn- ing.

While the overall average selling price of £109.11 per head was £11.40 down on 2011, trade at last year’s fixture was phenomenal – the best since NEMSA first began staging its annual sales at Skipton almost 30 years ago.

Craven Cattle Marts livestock sales manager Ted Ogden noted: “The increased show of lambs at this major sale sold to a very sensible trade.

“The best lambs found a ready market, with some top pens slightly up on the year, some slightly down, the main consensus being that they were generally within £5 either way of last year’s prices.

“Lambs in the middle to lower end of vendors’ runs were cheaper on the year, due in part to the fact that some lambs would be a touch smaller given the inclement weather during the late summer months.”

Skipton branch NEMSA chairman Kevin Wilson, of Blubberhouses, who had earlier sold his sixth prize pen of tens for £200 each to B&M Watkinson, of Sessay, Thirsk, said: “The opening fixture proved very successful, with a packed ringside and a nice show of stock all the way through.”