A buoyant trade was seen at Skipton Auction Mart’s fortnightly sale of dairy cattle where a widely admired entry of 32 milking and in-calf cattle sold to £3200 for the pre-sale champion.

Selling at this price was Aytonian Annie 522, a Mogul daughter bought in a batch as an in-calf heifer. Consigned by the Oversby family from Townhead Farm, Grassington, Annie is backed by five generations of Ex or VG dams, and sold fresh in her third giving 57kg per day. The buyers were Will and Michael Oldfield, Gisburn.

The Oversbys who run a 300-strong dairy herd with 260 head currently in-milk, not only produced the top three cows at the pre-sale show, but also the lead heifer, which went on to land the reserve overall honours. This was a home-bred entry from ABS Grazier, which calved down on January 22, and sold giving 32kg to Richard Crabtree, Clifton, Otley.

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Another from the same stable, a 50kg second calver by ABS Outback, made £3100 selling to Redmayne family in Lancashire. The 20 lots from Townhead averaged £2286.

David Crane from Stixwold in Lincolnshire sold a trio of fresh heifers, with his third prize winner, Gibraltar Sangria Audrey which sold giving 30kg, making £2780 to Queensbury’s Richard Sutcliffe, while the 32kg Gibraltar Kimball Miranda made £2700.

The second prize in-milk heifer from Calton’s Robert Crisp made £2650. Green Hammerton’s Jack and Alan Wilson sold two of the three in-calf heifers forward, to top the section at £1980. She sold to John Howard, Skipton.