| 2020-04-17 |    |
Over 500 Feeding Cattle Sold at Skipton Midweek Fixture
A total of 540 head was consigned and successfully sold at Skipton Auction Mart’s fortnightly Wednesday feeding cattle fixture. (April 15)
Store bullocks and heifers were in the majority as is usual, the 386 forward meeting a mixed response from feeders at the ringside. On the plus side, smarter, older cattle suitable for the retail market were short of requirements and sold reasonably well, with traditional family-run butchers and farms shops reporting ample demand at the moment.
While older cattle, mainly dairy crosses and plainer sorts, were more difficult to sell in the face of the factory price for these types being under severe price pressure, three pens of older black and white bullocks to graze from Roger Naylor, of Langbar were still able to command £860 per head.
Older native cattle were also a nice trade, four pens of Aberdeen-Angus bullocks achieving over £1,100, with a section high of £1,190 for a pen from Harewood Farming, with 37 pens in total averaging £947.
While trade for younger cattle, yearlings and under, was again mixed the nice Charollais/Limousin/Angus grazing sorts among them still found favour with an early turnout to grass possible. Like the older bracket, plainer younger sorts, though harder to sell, still looked a handy price.
Store bullocks sold to a Continental-cross average of £934 and a native average of £831, with respective heifer averages of £889 and £730, and a section top of £1,230 for a Limousin-cross from the Wood family in Birstwith, represented at the ringside by farm manager Andrew Bradley.
With the bulk of the 136 young feeding bulls penned for sale 2019 Spring-born, the overall selling average of £969 was similar to the previous fortnight, said to represent a positive result against a falling factory price caused by imbalance of supply and demand.
Small bulls continued to be in strong demand, with heavy bulls looking better value for money. Pendle’s Ben Townsend, from Laneshawbridge, topped the section prices, first with a £1,260 British Blue-cross, followed by a Limousin-cross at £1,250
Sixteen beef-bred feeding cows met a very good trade, averaging £866 and hitting a top of £1,400 for an export cow, a British Blue from mart regulars Ken and Hazel Gamble, of Easingwold, with a handful of grazing cows a very useful trade. A brace of bulls sold in this section averaged £910.
Another turnout of over 500 head is anticipated for the next fortnightly sale on Wednesday, April 29.
