| 2018-08-01 |    |
Kieran Celebrates Young Handlers Show Hat-trick
Kieran Robinson may only be five-years-young, but he is already an old hand in the livestock show area, as the West Craven youngster clearly demonstrated when taking the supreme championship for the third year in succession at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual young handlers’ prime lamb show and sale. (Monday, July 31)
Kieran clinched a remarkable show hat-trick – he first won it aged just three- when his pure-bred 39kg Beltex lamb was first adjudged winner of the Under 10’s show class, before being picked out as overall champion by show judge Clare Cropper, of Long Preston.
Five-year-old Kieran Robinson with his latest CCM Skipton young handlers’ prime lamb show champion, joined by mum Laura.
Like Kieran’s previous two show appearances, both young handler and his charge were again immaculately turned out. And like the first two frontrunners, young Kieran’s latest champion was home-bred on a smallholding in Barnoldswick by his parents Scott and Laura Robinson.
Dad was young handlers reserve champion at Skipton last year, while mum has twice won the title in the past. Livewire Keiran also finished third in his age group with a home-bred gimmer lamb in the young handlers class at this year’s Great Yorkshire Show.
By the Robinsons’ Scottish-bred stock tup, Airyolland Clansman, the 2018 Skipton victor easily headed the day’s prime lamb prices when selling to the show judge for £152.
Clare remained in the same age group, the largest show class with 11 entries, when nominating the second prize winner as her overall reserve champion. It was shown by three-year-old Isabelle Newbould, whose parents Michael and Becky Newbould run a dairy farm in Gisburn.
The 46kg Beltex-cross lamb was bred by Becky’s parents, who are members of the well-known Ellis Bros farming family on Addingham Moorside, and prepared for the show arena by her brother Robert Ellis. By a Borderesk tup, out of a home-bred Texel ewe, the reserve champion sold for second top price of £135 to Keelham Farm Shop, and was one of several prize-winning acquisitions for its Skipton and Thornton shops.
Two members of Pendle Young Farmers Club won the red rosettes in the remaining two show classes for other age groups. Standing first in the 10-16 years section was 14-year-old Sam Phillipson, whose parents, James and Christine Phillipson, farm at Netherfield Farm, Burnley. Sam’s home-bred 42kg Texel-cross-Beltex lamb, by a Whiteford tup, made £101 when joining regular buyer Paul Watson, of Hellifield, who also bought other prize winners.
First prize winner in the 17-26 years show class was Thomas Hartley, of Pendle Valley Farm, Roughlee, run by his parents Mark and Elaine Hartley. The 38kg Beltex-cross was fully home bred by 19-year-old Thomas, who has established and runs his own 250-strong commercial flock. He works both at home and on a dairy farm in Thornton and saw his red rosette winner sell for £90, again to Paul Watson.
The annual showcase at the beginning of the school summer holidays again provided an opportunity for farming’s future generations to gain valuable experience in both the show arena and the sales ring. It attracted 22 competitors across all three show classes, which were supported by Wynnstay, Carrs Billington and CCM Auctions.
Full
results, selling prices and buyers were:
Under 10s -1st Kieran
Robinson £152 43kg to Clare Cropper, 2nd Isabelle Newbould £135
46kg Keelham Farm Shop, 3rd Bobby Crabtree £110 44kg Andrew
Atkinson, 4th Issy Thompson £92 £39kg Paul Watson.
10-16 years -1st Sam Phillipson £101 42kg Paul Watson, 2nd Zara Pratt £110 45kg Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop, 3rd Molly Phillipson £94.50 £46kg Andrew Atkinson, 4th Ryan Whitehead £94 42kg Keelham Farm Shop
17-26 years -1st Thomas Hartley £90 38kg Paul Watson, 2nd George Throup £113 49kg Swaledale Foods, Skipton, 3rd Tom Carlisle £86 42kg Keelham Farm Shop, 4th Thomas Walmsley £104 42kg Paul Watson.
Also showing lambs were Jess Crocker, Jack and Thomas Thompson, Archie Allen, Thomas and Jack Thornber, Jimmy Crabtree, Jack Metcalfe, James Moorhouse and Henry Mellin.
The young handlers highlight formed part of Skipton’s weekly sale of 2,270 prime sheep and the 1,961 prime lambs among them showed an improvement in both meat and weight, with over 90% of the entry tipping the scales between 40kg and 46kg.
Creep-fed lambs were good to sell all day long, the first of the Mules also coming forward, with odd lambs at 180p/kg, but most £60 to £69 per head. The overall prime lamb selling average was £78.86 per head, or 184.22p/kg.
Also penned for sale were over 300 cast sheep. Cull ewes topped at £106.50 per head for a Texel pen from Robert Smith, of Steeton, averaging £42.48 per head. Cast rams averaged £79.50.
Produce in ready demand
Skipton Auction Mart’s latest weekly Monday produce sale attracted
four lorry loads. One carrying 2018 barley straw hestons sold
at £130 per tonne, another 2017 load making £125 per tonne.
Wheat straw mini hestons sold to £35 per bale and quad hay
to £54 per bale.
The auction mart says there is increasing discontent that, with reduced supplies of bedding material because of the hot weather, livestock farmers are having to pay record prices for straw to compete against green energy suppliers who are subsidised by government grants.
