Calves and Weanlings
A fantastic day in the calf ring for the annual Christmas show and sale of calves at Lancaster with a wonderful offering of show calves, in which credit must go to our vendors for the quality of calves on offer. Thanks goes to our pre-sale judges John and Reece Moore, Grange Over Sands who we thank for their time and expertise. As well as our sponsors Semex represented by Philip Halhead. The championship rosette was awarded to the first price beef bull calf, a British Blue consigned by Drinkall Bros, Over Wyresdale. This much admired seven week old calf was met with eager bidding going on to sell for £590 to John Townson. The reserve championship rosette was awarded to the second prize beef bull, a seven week old Limousin from WN&D Smith & Son, Cockerham going on to sell for £580 to Mr J Moorhouse. The first prize beef heifer calf was awarded to David and Eileen Wallbank, Over Wyresdale with a Charolais which went on to sell for £400 purchased by the judge Mr JB Moore. The Wallbank family was also awarded the third prize in the beef class for a Charolais bull calf which sold for £530. The first prize dairy bull calf was awarded to JK&B Birkett & Son, Morecambe with a Fleckvieh bull calf which went on to sell for £150.
The trade in general saw strong calves a good trade with younger milk calves remaining similar. Leading prices outside the rosettes saw a consignment of weanlings from T&CM Kelsall & Son, Chipping sell Aberdeen Angus bulls to £460 and British Blue heifers to £460. Beef calves on milk saw British Blue bulls peak at £425 and £400 from Wallbank Farms, Over Wyresdale followed by other Blue bulls to £410 twice from Tom Barron Farms and £405 from JP&C Robson, Garstang. Limousin bull calves sold to £485 and £450 from RT Halhead, Cockerham. Plenty of strong quality calves sold in the region of the £300 mark with young beef calves selling in the mid to late £100’s.

Store Cattle

The weekly sale of store cattle saw another rise in trade with buyers ring side keen to secure cattle of all classes and types. A feature of todays sale was the prize show for pairs of store cattle competing for the Tom Owen Memorial trophy. Twelve pair of cattle was presented for the judge Mr Chris Gore, Stoke on Trent who awarded the championship rosette to a pair of British Blue x bullocks from DE&SM Moorehouse, Natland which later sold for a sale topping price of £2100, having been previously purchased at NWA J36 this spring. The reserve champion was a pair of Limousin bullocks from R Capstick & Son, Ingleton who was also awarded the special prize for best pair of home bred cattle and went on to be sold at £1620. Vendors must be congratulated for the quality of cattle forward for the show, with a high number forward being in the hands of the breeders.
Away from the show cattle sold to a top price of £1760 for a pair of home bred Aberdeen Angus steers from Pilling Hall, Pilling with Charollais x also achieving £1760 from WJ&L Barker, Arkholme. Limousin’s sold to £1700 for a pen full home bred steers from R&A Easterby, Westhouse and British Blue steers to £1660 from M Shepherd & sons, Pilling. Heavy well fleshed steers were regularly £1400-£1600. Dairy bred steers sold to £1260 for Fleckviehs from MJ&LC Lund, Quernmore. All steers averaged £1293.
Heifers sold to a top price of £1570 for the first prize pair of homebred Charolais heifers from Cowell & Moore, Woodplumpton with Limousins achieving £1410 from T&E Garlick & Son, Freckleton and a pen of Aberdeen Angus’s achieving £1380 from G Sagar & Son, Caton. Heavy well fleshed heifers were regularly £1200-£1350. All heifer forward averaged £1158.
Next week is the final sale of store cattle at NWA Lancaster for 2022. Vendors are encouraged to entre cattle with confidence.

Cull / OTM Cattle
Another large entry of cull cows saw an overall market averaged of 168p/kg with over half the entry being dairy cows. Top price today of 244.5p/kg was achieved for a Limousin cow from M&L Preece, Kirkby Lonsdale closely followed by other Limousins at 229.5p/kg from B Heys, St Helens and 217.5p/kg from JG&PH Thompson, Selside. Other heavy well bred beef cows regularly sold at 190p/kg to 205p/kg with those suitable for finishing 170p/kg to 185p/kg. Dairy cows sold to a top price of 187.5p/kg for a Holstein Friesian from RE&P Miller, Garstang with others at 184.5p/kg from J Hoggarth & Son, Slyne and Fleckvieh to 184.5p/kg from SH&M Batty & Son, Quernmore. Other heavy well fleshed dairy cows were generally 165p/kg to 175p/kg with medium types 140p/kg to 155p/kg and parlour types 120p/kg to 140p/kg depending on quality and type.
Top grossing cow was a Limousin from JG&PH Thompson, Selside achieving £1653 with dairy cows selling to £1535 for a Ho Fri from I Atkinson, Warton.
OTM heifers sold to 142.5p/kg and £1441 for a Simmental from Barlow Bros, Croston with dairy heifers to 199.5p/kg and £1372 for a Norwegian Red and White from CP&V Cowgill, Bentham.
Cull bulls sold to a top price of 179.5p/kg and £1884 for a Limousin from SJ Gunn, Milnthorpe.