Blues Dominate Skipton Christmas Rearing Calf Championship
26th November 2013
Christmas came early for the North Yorkshire Sowray brothers when they retained their festive rearing calf supreme championship at Skipton Auction Mart on Monday 25th November 2013.
Shaun and Peter Sowray, of Bowes Green Farm, Bishop Thornton, repeated their 2012 Christmas fixture success at this year’s renewal with their first prize home-bred British Blue-cross bull calf, by the Semex sire Newpole Chalky White, out of a Holstein Friesian cow.
Pictured with the Sowray brothers’ 2013 Christmas calf show
champion are,
from left, judge Phil Summers and family members George
Sowray and James Dixon
With buyers out in force, the 42-day-old title winner comfortably headed the day’s selling prices when knocked down for £600, equalling the all-time record high at Skipton also achieved by two Blue-cross bull calves earlier this year.The successful purchaser was Nigel Mason, of Scunthorpe, who regularly travels across from North Lincolnshire to source quality calves at Skipton, which he then improves before returning them to the sale arena.
Emma Mason, 18, with her father Nigel’s £600 Skipton calf champion acquisition.
Mr Mason, who is also an arable farmer, bought a total of nine youngsters on the day, among them the second prize British Blue-cross bull calf and reserve show champion from David Smith, of Sutton-in-Craven, at £440. The runner-up is by the Cogent dairy bull Graymar Flintoff.
Further Mason acquisitions were third prize British Blue bull calf, also from David Smith at £470, and the Sowrays’ first and third prize Continental-x male stirks at £500 and £460 respectively.
The Sowrays, who have landed multiple rearing calf championships at Skipton, were also responsible for the first prize British Blue-x heifer calf, sold for a class-topping and female high of £440 to Tony Wilson, of Barnard Castle.
The same buyer also went to £390 and £350 to secure the second and third prize Blue-x heifer calves, both from Gargrave’s Colin Whitelock.
British Blues easily led the trade on the day, with bull calves averaging £420 each and heifer calves £323.
