Back-to-back prime cattle championships were clinched by Francis and Andrew Smith, at Skipton Auction Mart’s March show and sale.

The Smiths, from Lodge Farm, Masongill, took the top billing again with a Limousin cross heifer weighing in at 530kg, that was picked out by judge Phil Gregory, who owns DA Gregory and Sons Butchers shop in St James Square, Bacup.

The champion later sold to the judge for the day’s highest per kilo price of 269.5p per kg, or £1428.

In addition, the judge purchased the second prize-winning heifer and overall reserve champion in the form of a home-bred 520kg British Blue cross from brothers Edward and John Parkinson, Haredon Farm, Dunsop Bridge. Sired by a Welsh-bred Dragon Blue bull, she was knocked down at £1235, or 237.5p.

Mr Gregory also purchased the third prize heifer – a 530kg Blue cross – from Threshfield brothers, Charles and Richard Kitching at £1360, or 248.5p.

Topping the price per head at £1456 was a 730kg Limousin cross heifer from Brian Lund, Walshaw, selling to Kendalls Farm Butchers, Harrogate.

The sale of some 26 under 30-month clean cattle saw James Robertshaw as lead buyer with a total of nine acquisitions, taking six for his own Robertshaws Farm Shop in Thornton, Bradford.

Among them was the third prize bullock, a 530kg Blue cross from the Westhouse Smiths at £1306, or top price per kilo of 246.5p.

Mr Robertshaw then bought a 565kg Limousin cross from the Hutton-based Critchley family at £1359, achieving the top price in this section.

Lothersdale-based breeders, Geoff and Margaret Booth, were awarded a red ticket for their 595kg Limousin cross bullock. The AI son of the well-known Genus sire, Lodge Hamlet, out of a Blue cow, sold for £1348 to Simon Barker, of Barkers Yorkshire Butchers.

The 51 prime cattle included 24 cast entries, which met a sharp trade selling to a top of £1004 for a black and white from Winterburn’s Mark Smith.

Cows with improvement were particularly good to sell, with the odd animal under 30-months at 161.5p for a beef cross and 129.5p for a 27-month-old dairy.

Heavy dairies made 117.5p and steaking cows 112p, leaving an overall sale average of 106.31p per kg.

The same morning’s weekly rearing calf sale saw the 40 head on offer sell to a top of £380 for a British Blue cross bull from Joss Lancaster, Horton-in-Craven, who also headed the heifer calf prices with another Blue cross at £300. Blue bulls averaged £295 while heifers cashed in at £242.

In the sheep, Kettlesing’s Henry Atkinson stood supreme champion with a five-strong pen of home-bred 39kg Beltex-cross lambs, with the first prize Continentals going on to sell for the day’s top price of £150, or 384.6p, to Vivers Scotlamb, Annan, Dumfriesshire.

Jeff Burrow, Kirkby Malham, took reserve champion with 40kg Continentals, knocked down at £130, or 325p, again to Vivers.

The weekly primestock sale comprised of 3318 prime sheep saw hoggs selling to average 245p, with Texels levelling at 254p and Beltex cashing in 303p.

Cast sheep saw the 450 ewes and rams forward levelling at £101, peaking at £159.50 for a Texel from Richard Wilson, Beckwithshaw.

Heavy ewes sold well with the Norfolk-based Harveys securing a top price of £149.50 for a Texel-cross pen, to average £122.45, while breeding sheep topped at £265 for Texel ewes with twins, from Chris Craven, York.