Smashing dairy day for Sally Wellock at Skipton Auction Mart
Craven Dairy Auction regular and multiple past champion, Sally Wellock, who runs the Harehills pedigree herd at West House Farm, Oldfield, above Keighley, was the standout performer when hitting £2,300 twice at the latest show and sale at Skipton Auction Mart. (Monday, April 29)
She first stepped up with the reserve champion newly calven heifer, a 30-litre daughter of Picardus, out of a Harehills Ethel, who claimed the opening joint top £2,300 price tag when selling locally to regular buyer John Howard, of Heslaker.
Two lots later Sally again produced the goods with the first prize cow, a 42-litre second calver sold for joint top to another regular purchaser, Aubrey Greenhalgh, of Preston. For good measure, the same vendor then sold a further newly calven cow at £1,980 to the Hartley family in Beamsley
The pre-sale championship went to a newly calven heifer from Peter Baul’s Ravensgate herd in Bishop Thornton. His 15 days calved, 32-litre Ravensgate Bossman Sparkle, by the Genus sire, Bassingthorpe Bossman, and out of a long line of strong Sparkle milkers, went on to sell for £1,950 to Eric Marshall, of Dacre.
A healthy show of 14 dairy stock saw pedigree newly calven heifers average £2,005 and newly calven cows £1,926.
A standalone show and sale for five pedigree bulls produced 100% clearance, with principal honours in the show arena falling to two young up and coming entries from the renowned Aireburn herd of Brian and Judith Moorhouse at Hesper Farm, Bell Busk.
Claiming first prize was Aireburn Harlequin, a December, 2017-born Lineman son, out of the herd’s prolific Honey family. Boasting 12 generations of VG or EX, the red rosette winner sold for 2,100gns to Malcolm Gratton, of Warsill.
However, it was the second prize winner, the January, 2018, Aireburn Alderman, which topped the bulls at 2,400gns. By Mogul and with 11 generations of VG or EX behind him, this bull found many followers around the ring, with the final successful bid coming from Robert Metcalfe, from Brearton. The section average was £1,806.
Both shows were judged by Brian Blezard, of Ribchester, and sponsored by National Milk Records and Skipton NFU.
Rearing calves sell to £445
The same morning’s weekly sale of dairy-bred rearing calves saw the 42 head on parade meet a very buoyant trade. All beef-sired breeds found a high gear, with 19 British Blue-cross bulls averaging £408.18, topping at £445 for one from Fred and Mike Longster, of Fellbeck, with four others from the same home making over £400. Also catching the eye at £440 was another Blue-cross bull calf from the Sowray brothers in Bishop Thornton.
Heifer calves were also on song, with more fresh faces ringside and 13 Blue-cross entries averaging £345, selling to highs of £420 and £410 for a brace from Fred Houseman, of Church Farm Enterprises in Burton Leonard.
Simmentals hit £400, this for a four-and-a-half-week-old bull calf from Horton-in-Craven’s Joss Lancaster, while a couple of Blonde bull and heifer calves from the Whittaker family in Bolton Abbey sold for £395 and £350 respectively. The overall Continental-cross selling average was £376 per head.
Native youngsters were in short supply, but sold to £290 for an Aberdeen-Angus bull calf, again from the Sowrays, with heifers peaking at £170 for another Angus from the Wellock family in Eshton. Natives averaged £243.33 overall.