AN increased entry of 162 feeding bulls saw healthy trade at Craven Cattle Marts’ latest fortnightly midweek cattle sale.(January 19).

Good bulls in the nine-to-11-month range were keenly sought, with A Lodge, Malham Moor, leading at £1,600 and £1,510 with a pair of 10-month-old Limousin-x. He also sold two further pairs of nine and ten month bulls at £1,480.

The Walker family from Dunsop Bridge sold Limousin Blue-x to £1,550 and £1,500, John Mellin, Black Lane Ends, sold 11 month Limousins at £1,530 and 10 months at £1,500, whilst M Taylor & Son of Rathmell presented an excellent run of Limousin bulls to a top of £1,500 at just over 10 months old.

Richard Elliott, Tadcaster, made to £1,480 with Simmentals, as did D&S Hollins of Pecket Well.

Jeff Pickles, Ribblehead, made £1,560 and £1,480 of yearling bulls, followed by JM&SP Cooper, Dacre, at £1,530 of yearling Limousins.

Smaller younger bulls under 9 months went to £1,370, again to the Walkers.

The average for 9 to 11 month bulls was £1,224, with over 12 months at £1,283.

Buyers were on the lookout for feeding cows with 47 head going well to an average of £984. Fleshy sorts did particularly well, with L Bamforth & Son of Wainstalls seeing a nice trio of Limousins fetch £1,440, £1,420 and £1,400. S&D Robinson, Helwith Bridge, weighed in at £1,420 with a Limousin, while other strong thick cows were in the £1,200s.

First cross nice sorts were in the mid £900s, depending on condition, and there was a good call for good framed leaner types.

Store cattle saw steady trading with anything of feeding age and size selling well again, particularly medium dairy bred goods at 16 to 20 months.

Younger under 12-month cattle met a fierce trade with plenty of farmers looking for good hard bullocks and heifers to turn into feeding cattle for next year’s sales.

Nine to 10-month-old top end sorts from a number of vendors sold to a competitive audience, with MR Ewbank, Pateley Bridge, selling 2021 May born heifers at £1,260 and £1,250, while other 9 to 12-month-old suckler bred heifers fetched £880 to £1,100.

Bullocks sold well again with buyers looking for growing potential as Limousin bullocks of similar ages sold at £860-£990. D Wallbank, Oakworth, sold 2021 April born bullocks to £1,130.

Young native heifers and bullocks were in high demand and more could have been sold to vendor advantage, while retail heifers from 12 to 18-month-old also saw plenty of buyers travel from across the country due to the North Yorkshire quality.

Plenty sold between £1,200 to £1,350. Beasts with more age and thick ends and loins sold at £1,400 to £1,520, with three different vendors - James and Deborah Ogden, Austwick, L Bamforth & Sons, Wainstalls, and K&J Marshall, Skipton - topping at £1,520.

Other Blues and Limousin heifers fetched £1,350+, with natives topping at £1,200 from JM Smith & Son, Skipton.

Feeding native heifers fetched £980 to £1,080, and strong thick meat Angus to £1,100+.

Growing Angus heifers went for £750 to £880, strong native bullocks from £1,140 to £1,200, with the top price from DA&SA Fort, Glusburn, and KM&L Throup, Silsden, both selling Angus to £1,200.

Hereford bullocks topped at £1,260 from David and Iris Boothman’s Halton herd for some homebreds.

Dairy bred Blue bullocks sold well with the best getting away nicely to a top of £1,250 for dairy bred bullocks from AE Schindler, Skipton.

Plenty of other good strong beast with frame and weight made £1,100 to £1,1180, whilst the next grade down looked less on the fortnight at £1,020 to £1,090.

Some dairy bred goods at 16–20-month-old could be purchased around £880-£980. Dairy bred heifers to feed made £1100+ for weight and frame, £950-£1060 for leaner feeding goods.

A large show of breeding cattle included a part dispersal and several annual consignments.

Messrs Mallinson of Mount Tabor had a part dispersal of good hill cross, mixing mainly Simmental, Limousin and Charolais bloodlines. They saw nine go at £2,000 or more, to a top of £2,300 for a Simmental-x heifer with a Limousin heifer calf at foot. Two other Simmental crosses went for £2,250 each.

Six cow and calf outfits went from £2,000 to £2,100 for Simmental-x cows with Limousin bull calves.

In-calf heifers went from £1,400 to £1,600.

Messrs Handley of Gunnerfleet brought a consignment of quality black Limousin x Blue heifers, mainly 6-7mo in-calf, these peaking at £2,500 and £2,400 for heifers due late March.

One other larger consignment on the day was a run of cow-making British Blue cross Friesian Heifers in-calf for March onwards to the Limousin from Andrew Haggas, Otterburn, that sold at £1550(x2) £1520(x2) and £1500.

Young bulls continental-x averaged £1,190, natives £1,201. Beef bred feeding cows averaged £984, bulls £1,200. Store bullocks continental-x averaged £1,051, and natives £1,026. Store heifers continental-x averaged £1,102, natives £940.