| 2016-12-16 |    |
Baa-Gains Galore as Charity Lambs net over £3,500
Big-hearted bidders were far from sheepish in their support for Addingham & District Sheep Breeders’ Association’s tenth annual charity lamb show and sale at Skipton Auction Mart, when a resounding £3,509, the highest in recent years, was raised for Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope, Keighley. (Wed, Dec 14)
A total of 33 lambs, predominantly Mule wethers and all donated by generous farmers from across the region, were auctioned off to a full ringside of buyers and supporters, with the show champion from the Walker family, based at Brennand Farm, Dunsop Bridge, doing best of all when netting a grand total of £900.
Rob Walker is pictured with the family’s 2016 Addingham Sheepbreeders’ 2016 charity Mule wether lamb champion, joined by, from left, father Jeff Walker and co-judges Margaret Watkinson and John Greenhalgh.
The home-bred Mule wether, by the family’s renowned Midlock Blue Faced Leicester tup, first made £380 when knocked down to John Turner, of Draughton. He then re-offered it for sale, for show sponsor Chris Pearson, of Pearson Farm Supplies, West Marton, to snap it up for a second time at £320.
He, too, handed it back to be resold, this time to Keith Coverall, who runs an agricultural clothing and footwear shop on the CCM site, who also gave it back. In fact, the champion re-sold several times, before auctioneer Sam Bradley knocked it down for a further £100 to fellow auctioneer Ted Ogden, buying on behalf of Craven Cattle Marts, which again waived their commission on the charity sale.
The victorious sheep, recipient of the Pearson Farm Supplies Shield, will be over-wintered, before returning to the Skipton sale ring next Spring, when it will again be auctioned off in aid of Manorlands, for whom the annual charity highlight has now netted over £36,000 in total, with this year’s kitty also boosted by others who had donated auction prizes.
Back with the show, NEMSA Skipton branch chairman Neil Heseltine, of Malham, clinched the runners-up slot with a Mule wether by a home-bred ram lamb later sold as tried shearling. Standing third was Nick Houseman, of Lindley, Otley, with Ian Mellin, of Airton, fourth.
Show judges were Margaret Watkinson, of Hutton Sessay, and John Greenhalgh, of Bashall Eaves.
Co-organiser Joe
Throup, of Berwick Intake Farm, Chelker, said:
“Once again, this
was a superb result and we wholeheartedly thank all who donated
lambs and other items for sale, and the many others who dug deep
at the ringside for an extremely worthy local cause.”
The charity fund-raiser formed part of the fortnightly sale of store lambs, the final one this year. It attracted a total entry of 1,675 head, which met with a sharp trade and sold to an overall average a couple of pence shy of £52. Stronger medium keep lambs were in good demand, while small long keep lambs normally seen at this time of the year traded generally in the late £40’s to early £50s.
