Mart regular Mr Lancaster, joined by son Richard and his wife Mary, had been reserve supreme champion in the past, this time clinching overall top spot – and the bragging rights to go with it - with the first prize and champion Continental trimmed trio of lowland lambs, home-bred 41kg Beltex-cross lambs all by a ram from Andrew John Wood, who runs the Withy Trees Beltex flock near Preston.

With the 2018 Skipton Christmas supreme champion prime lambs are, from left, Mary, Richard and Ian Lancaster, joined by, from left, buyer George Cropper Jnr, Claire Radley, from mainline sponsor Skipton NFU, and lowland judge Jim Holden.

The title winners have been shown with great success this summer, one standing reserve champion at the recent English Winter Fair in Staffordshire, this and another from the same pen finishing third in the pairs class.

With retail butchers and wholesalers from across the region again going head-to-head at the ringside to secure some of the best prime lambs that money can buy for their customers’ festive tables, the 2018 victors were bought by George Cropper Jnr for his Sandersons Butchers Shop in Baxenden, which he took over around two-and-a-half years ago.

It was the first time he had purchased the Christmas supreme champions at Skipton, also adding the third prize 49kg Beltex pen from the 2017 Ribble Valley supreme champions, Whalley father and son, Richard and Mark Ireland, at £145 per head.

The reserve supreme championship fell to the 2015 supreme champions, Martin and Val Brown, who farm at Dovecote Barn, Leyburn, with their daughter Hannah. Their 41kg Beltex-trio finished second in class to the overall victors and these lambs had been shown with marked success this summer, with multiple local shows wins, two in the pen also clinching the pairs championship at Countryside Live, along with a Great Yorkshire Show championship success.

Home-bred and among the first crop of lambs by Hallcrake Bucaneer, a ram acquired from Mark Jennings, of Kendal, the overall runners-up sold for second top call of £200 each to G&C Cropper Family Butchers in Accrington Market, run by George Cropper Snr and his daughter Clare.

For the first time this year, an untrimmed lowland lamb championship was staged, when the inaugural winners were Anthony and Emma Thompson, of Foulridge, with a pen of three 51kg Beltex-cross claimed by Nick Dalby, of Darley, on behalf of Kendalls Farm Butchers for its two shops in Pateley Bridge and Harrogate.

The Thompsons also sent out the first prize 48kg Suffolk-cross pen, sold at £132 per head, top price in class, to butcher Anthony Kitson for his four Kitson & Sons Butchers four shops in North Yorkshire and Durham. He also paid £155 each for a second prize untrimmed Continental pen from Ian Bell, of Carleton

Mike Allen, from Staithes, was untrimmed lamb reserve champion with a first prize pen of 38kg Beltex lambs, by a home-bred stock tup, out of pure Beltex. They sold for £120 per head to the Foulridge-based Thompsons.

Standing first and second in another show class for trimmed Continental lambs was Calderdale’s John Midgley, of Luddendenfoot, his 36kg victors selling for £132 to Hartshead Meat Co in Mossley, the 38kg runners-up to John Summers Family Butchers in Clayton, Bradford, at £130.

Retail butchers buying other prize-winning lowland lambs – they were judged by Jim Holden, who buys cattle for Morrisons Supermarkets’ meat processing company, Woodhead Bros in Colne - were Knavesmire Butchers, York, None Go Bye Farm Shop, Yeadon, and hill lamb show judge and livestock buyer, Morgan Helliwell, of Milnrow,

Mr Helliwell, of RM Helliwell, was also the single most prolific buyer of hill lambs, acquiring a total of seven prize winning pens, most notably his chosen champions, the first prize pen of 48kg Scotch Blackface wether lambs shown by first-time husband and wife entrants, Andrew and Jenny Hutchinson, and their son, Ian, from Raven Hill Farm, Faceby, in Hambleton.

They fell for joint top section price of £100 per head, with Mr Helliwell also snapping up three other first prize hill pens – 48kg Mules from Robert Tarbatt, of Winterhill, Darwen, 43kg Swaledales from Carleton’s John Smith at £77, and 42kg Dalebreds from JM Wilson & Sons in Beckwithshaw, also for £77.

All Mr Helliwell’s Skipton acquisitions were acquired on behalf of regular retail butcher customers across the north-west.

The Wilson family also stepped up with the first and second prize Masham pens, the 49kg victors going on to be crowned reserve hill champions and selling for £100 joint top to a regular buyer at the festive fixture, Andrew Ashby, who has The Millstones & Mill 67 in Skipton Road, Kettlesing, where they will again be served in the carvery restaurant and bistro. 

The Wilsons’ second prize Mashams weighed in at 47kg and sold for £80 each to meat wholesaler Swaledale Foods in Skipton, who purchased several prize-winning pens of hill lambs– many find their way to top London restaurants - as did Yorkshire Halal Meats in Keighley. Others fell to Skipton-based Stanforths Butchers and Kettlesing’s Andrew Atkinson.

Continental lambs met a nice trade, with Beltex entries averaging 309.2p/kg, or £133.39 per head. Hill-bred lambs were also well represented, handy weighted Mule and Masham lambs selling at 160-175p/kg. Horned lambs were a good trade, the best 39-43kg wethers making 165-170p/kg.

For the first time this year, an untrimmed lowland lamb championship was staged, when the inaugural winners were Anthony and Emma Thompson, of Foulridge, with a pen of three 51kg Beltex-cross claimed for £160 by Nick Dalby, of Darley, on behalf of Kendalls Farm Butchers for its two shops in Pateley Bridge and Harrogate.

The overall selling average of the 234 butchers lambs penned for sale was £99.93 per head, or 225.3p/kg.

Christmas Carcase Showcase
Giggleswick husband and wife, John and Alison North, of Brackenber Fold, were supreme champions in the annual lamb carcase competition staged as part of Skipton Auction Mart’s 11th annual Christmas primestock shows and sales.

With their parents away for the weekend, the title winner was shown by the Norths’ two children, Isobel and John, aged nine and seven respectively, who were accompanied by their aunt, Jill Perrings. She runs the Pergill pedigree Texel flock in Rathmell and it was one of her rams, Pergill Yipee, that had sired the victor, bred out of a three-quarters Texel ewe.

With a live weight of 44kg, dead weight 23.5kg, killing out percentage of 53.4% and AHDB grading of E2, the title winner was snapped up by £420 top price by Andrew Warren, of Cleckheaton, a private buyer purchasing the carcase as a “special Christmas treat” for family and friends.

Standing reserve champion was the first prize 35-40kg Continental carcase from Anthony and Emma Thompson, of Foulridge, By a home-bred stock tup, the lamb, a third prize winner at the recent Agri-Expo in Carlisle, had a live weight of 39kg, 20.7kg deadweight, killing out percentage of 53% and E2 grading.

It sold for £160 to Cropper Family Butchers, run by father and daughter, George Snr and Clare Cropper, for their long established shop in Accrington Market, with the same buyers also paying second top call of £340 for the third prize Beltex-cross 21.9kg deadweight, E3L carcase from last year’s reserve champion, Hannah Brown, of Leyburn, which also received a special prize from the Northern Beltex Club. Both carcases will be prepared for the forthcoming Christmas trade.

The under-35kg Continental show class fell to another Beltex from Tosside brothers, Trevor and Clive Robinson. With a live weight of 32kg, 17.7kg deadweight, killing out percentage of 53.3% and E2 grade, it was claimed for £115 by Anthony Swales for his Knavesmire Butchers in York.

Runners-up in the same show class were Whalley father and son, Richard and Mark Ireland, with a17.5kg deadweight, E2 graded Beltex carcase, which returned to its place of origin when claimed for £200 by SR Hallworth Butchers in Accrington Road, Whalley. Owner Steven Hallworth is, like his customers, a great fan of Ireland prime lambs and he also went to £200 each to successfully claim another two carcases from the same home.

The third prize under-35kg Continental, a 17.5kg deadweight, U3L grade carcase from Ian Bell, of Carleton, made £110 when joining regular buyer Stephen Hodgson, who runs the Falcon Inn in Arncliffe and also went to £120 to secure another Ian Bell third prize winner, a 23.5kg deadweight, U3L carcase. Both will again appear on the pub’s Christmas menu

Another £160 sale fell to a second prize-winning 24.1kg, E3H, Continental carcase from Scott and Laura Robinson, of Barnoldswick, claimed by Featherstone Butchers in Howden, Goole, closely followed at £150 by another second prize 24.9kg deadweight, E3LContinental carcase from the Heseltine family in Bolton Abbey, bought by George Cropper Jnr for his Sandersons Butchers in Baxenden

In the hill lamb show class, the red rosette winning Mule carcase from the Stockdale family in Burnsall had a live weight of 42kg, deadweight 19.7kg, killing out 46.9% and 04H grading. It sold for £70 to Skipton-based Stanforths Butchers

The Dalesbred show class again fell to David Wilson, of JM Wilson & Sons in Beckwithsaw. With a live weight of 42kg, dead weight 19.7kg, killing out 56.4% and 05 grading, the carcase sold at £100 to Swaledale Foods in Skipton, who also paid £88 for a second prize hill-bred carcase from the Wilson family.

The 24 lamb carcases on show sold to an overall average of £162.60. As in past years, all had first been delivered to the mart and weighed live, before slaughter at John Penny and Sons in Rawdon, returning to the CCM Quality Foods meat processing plant, run by Stanforths Butchers, who also sponsored the five show classes, which were judged by Howden butcher Philip Parkin.

Porkers Christmas Champions
Daniel Thackray, of Prospect House Farm, Fewston, won the prime pigs championship for the first time at Skipton Auction Mart’s 11th annual Christmas primestock shows and sales.

He secured the title with his first prize trio of 87.3kg home-bred Pietrain-cross gilts, the pick of a litter of ten from a Large White sow. The victors were claimed for £5 per kilo, or £436.50 head, a total outlay £1,039.50, by retail butcher Anthony Kitson. It was a new record high price for pigs at the Christmas highlight, also believed to be the most paid for prime porkers anywhere in the UK this year

They will be prepared specially for the Christmas trade for Kitson & Sons Butchers four north-east shops - the latest Five Houses Farm Shop and Kitchen in Crathorne, along with established retail butchers shops in Northallerton, Stockton-on-Tees, and Hutton Rudby.

Mr Thackray has been breeding pigs for six years, keeping just ten sows. Others successes in the exhibition arena include a best local pig and most points in show coup at Nidderdale Show in Pateley Bridge, along with second and fourth prizes at the Great Yorkshire.

Matthew Bamforth, who trades as JG Bamforth & Son at Heyknowle Farm, Slaithwaite, narrowly failed to rattle up a fifth successive Christmas championship when finishing reserve champion this year with his first prize trio of home-bred 98kg Pietrain-cross trio, by a White Maxgrow boar. They sold for 150p/kg, or £147 each, to Stephen Taylor, of William Taylor & Son in Bamber Bridge.

Mr Bamforth was also responsible for the second prize 80kg Pietrain-cross trio, which made 128p/kg, or £102.40 per head, when falling to to Anthony Swales for his Knavesmire Butchers shop in Albermarle Road, York.

The third prize 70.3kg trio from regular vendor, 18-year-old Louise Findlay, of Coverdale, sold for 150p/kg, or £105.45 per head, to show judge Simon Barker, of Skipton-based Stanforths Butchers, who also runs the CCM Quality Foods meat production unit at the mart

A great show of 29 prime pigs sold to six different retail outfits at an overall average of £162.60 per head, or 196.8p/kg.

Christmas Prime Cattle
After standing reserve supreme champion the previous three consecutive years, local breeder John Stephenson, of Bordley Green Farm, Bordley, finally got his hands on the title he had long sought when crowned overall supreme champion for the first time at Skipton Auction Mart’s 11th annual Christmas prime cattle show and sale.

Accompanied by son, also John, he secured the coveted title with his first prize British Blue-cross heifer and female champion, a 14-month-old home-bred by Tattan Harlequin, shown to good effect all summer, winning at several local shows, including the Gargrave championship, as well as standing third in class at the Great Yorkshire.

The sire, acquired seven years ago from North Wales, had also been responsible for past Skipton reserve supreme champions and has bred some first-rate show stock, along with quality home-bred bulls.

With many independent retail butchers again present at the ringside and keen to source top quality beef for their customers’ Christmas tables, the 580kg victor was the subject of spirited bidding, before falling for top price in show of £2,726, or £4.70 per kilo, to Anthony Kitson, of Kitson & Sons Butchers, which has four retail shops in North Yorkshire and Durham.

Mr Kitson took home eight cattle in total, all prize winners. As well as the supreme champion, he also went to £2,090, or £3.80 per kilo, to acquire another Stephenson red rosette winner, a lighter by weight 550kg Blue-cross by the same sire.

A third Stephenson-bred purchase was a second prize 585kg Limousin-cross steer at £1,813, or £3.10p/kg, along with a fourth from the Stephenson camp, another second prize 595kg Limousin-cross steer at £1,666, or 280p/kg.

Also forming part of the Kitson shopping list were two further first and second prize Limousin-cross heifers. The red rosette winner, which also won a special prize for the best home-bred beast, was a 590kg Limousin-crss from the Baines family in Trawden, which sold at £1,770, or £3 per kilo, while the 610kg runner-up from Stephen and Nicola Jowett, of Queensbury, also nominated the best beast purchased from CCM Skipton at Craven Champions Day in February this year, made £1,555, or 255p/kg.

In addition, Mr Kitson bought the runner-up in the young handlers show class, a 640kg Limousin-cross from Lee Hopwood, of Oldham, at £1,792, or 280p/kg, along with another red rosette winner, the first prize native-bred Aberdeen-Angus heifer from Geoff and Margaret Lawn, of Skipton, which weighed in at 515kg and made £1,365, or 265p/kg.

All Kitson & Sons’ buys will be prepared for the Christmas trade at its latest Five Houses Farm Shop and Kitchen in Crathorne, along with established retail butchers shops in Northallerton, Stockton-on-Tees, and Hutton Rudby.

Anthony Kitson also purchased the supreme champions at both the English and Scottish Winter Fairs this month and was due to travel to the Royal Welsh Winter Fair two days after the CCM showcase in a bid to buy the supreme champion there. It was a feat he achieved two years ago when securing all three victors at the UK’s three Winter Fair highlights, the first time an independent family-run retail butchers had pulled off such a coup.

Mr Kitson described his Skipton supreme champion as “a very good heifer – comparable to anything I’ve seen at the English and Scottish Winter Fairs.”

From an entry of six home-bred cattle, all prize winners, John Stephenson saw his other red rosette winner, a 505kg Parthenais-cross steer, sell for £1,616, or 320p/kg, to George Cropper Jnr for his Sandersons Butchers shop in Baxenden – he also purchased the same day’s supreme champion prime lambs.

Another regular butcher buyer, Anthony Swales, claimed a further John Stephenson’s third prize winner, this time in the young handlers show class, a 640kg Limousin-cross at £1,536, or 240p/kg, for his Knavesmire Butchers Shop in Albermarle Road, York.

The 2015 Christmas prime cattle supreme champions, Clare Cropper and John Mellin, who farm in Long Preston, again won multiple accolades, claiming both the male and female reserve championships, with the latter progressing to become overall reserve supreme champion.

The Spring-bought British Blue-cross, known at home as “Apache,” and second in class only to Mr Stephenson’s supreme, had also been shown with great success this summer, standing champion at Malham, the Royal Lancashire and Bury Shows. It weighed in at 590kg and went on to sell for £2,124, or 360p/kg, to D&A Gregory Butchers in Bacup.

The Cropper and Mellin male reserve champion was a class-winning Welsh-bred 585kg Blue-cross bullock sold for £1,872, or 320p/kg, to co-judge Alan Beecroft, of Countrystyle Meats Farm Shop and Restaurant in Lancaster, another regular buyer at Skipton.

A further red rosette came the way of Clare Cropper in the young handlers show class with a 640kg Limousin-cross heifer that had claimed six championships this summer, including one at the Royal Lancs Show, plus a class win at the Great Yorkshire. It sold for £2,240, or 350p/kg, to JC&J White, of Middleton-in-Teesdale.

From the same home came yet another red rosette winner, a 495kg Limousin-cross steer, reserve champion at Great Harwood Show this year, which became a further acquisition by Sandersons Butchers at £1,559, or 315p/kg.

Completing the Cropper and Mellin tally were a second prize a 515kg Blue-cross heifer, sold for £1,854, or 360p/kg, again to Countrystyle Meats, a third prize 590kg Blue-cross heifer claimed by Hamlets Butchers in Garstang for £1,593, or 270p/kg, and a third prize 550kg Limousin-cross steer that became another Knavesmire Butchers’ buy at £1,650, or 300p/kg.

From Hutton, near Preston, the Critchley beef farming family, who have clinched multiple monthly prime cattle championships at Skipton this year, were also prominent among the festive prizes, including a clean sweep in one of the Limousin-cross heifer show classes.

Both the 470kg victor and the 465kg runner-up again fell to Countrystyle Meats, the former at £1,410, or 300p/kg, the latter at £1,441, or 310p/kg. The 410kg third prize winner sold for £1,312, or 320p/kg, to K&J Green Butchers, of Preston.

The Critchleys also finished second and third in another show class for Limousin-cross steers, their 535kg runner-up selling at £1,658, or 310p/kg, again to Countrystyle, who bought eight cattle in total, the other at 475kg for £1,235, or 260p/kg, to Leyburn’s Martin Brown. The family also stepped up with a third prize 530kg Blue-cross heifer, which became a further Sandersons’ Butchers buy at £1,855, or 350p/kg.

For good measure, the Critchleys were also responsible for the overall champion in the un-haltered show classes, a Spring-bought 540kg Blue-cross heifer that received the Dick Binns Trophy, before selling for a section top of £2,160, or £4 per kilo, again to K&J Green Butchers.

Back in the haltered show classes, the Lawn family supplemented the native class win when also sending out the runner-up, a 570kg Aberdeen-Angus heifer that became a further Martin Brown buy at £1,482, or 260p/kg.

Janet Sheard, from Almondbury, Huddersfield, had a third prize success in one of the Limousin heifer show classes with a 565kg entry sold for £1,610, or 285p/kg, to Hammond Butchers in Bainbridge.

Jonathan Shorrock, of Cliviger, Burnley, was another second prize winner with a 485kg Blue-cross heifer sold to Felliscliffe’s Andrew Atkinson for £1,309, or 270p/kg, with the same buyer also digging deeper when paying £1,586, or 260p/kg, for a third prize steer from S Fawcett and H Challis, of Middlesmoor.

The Queensbury-based Jowett family, of Lower West Scholes Farm, were also responsible for the male champion, a red rosette-winning Limousin-cross steer that was the only one of the prize winners to return home on the day,

Reserve champion in the un-haltered section was the first prize 578kg Limousin-cross heifer from Threshfield brothers, Charles and Richard Kitching, which made £1,449, or 252p/kg, when claimed by another regular buyer, Keelham Farm Shop, for its Skipton and Thornton shops.

Other butcher buyers of prize-winning un-haltered cattle included Countrystyle Meats, Skipton-based Stanforths, John Kearns in Shipley and Ellisons of Cullingworth, with Hargreaves Farms in Walton-le-Dale also among the purchasers.

The 57 under 30-month show cattle on parade sold to a solid overall average of £1,541.49, or 280.2p/kg.

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