+ .20 I CLITHEROEADVERTISERSTIMES www.clitheroeadvertisor.co.uk Thursday,0ctober2,2014 FARMING NEWS


Quality rams with good gigots were very much in demand at Gisburn Auction Mart’s evening “Twilight Tups” ram sale.Pre-salejudges GeoffCarr, of Barnoldswick, and Andrew Haggas, of 0 tterbum, Skip ton, awarded the championship rosette to Mark Worthington, of Ramsbottom, for his powerful Charollais shearling, which sold for £700 to C.G. Heeley, of Westhoughton, Bolton. However, it was a Texel shearling from Richard Wilson, of Beckwithshaw,


Harrogate, which was the sale leader at £760 when sold to Tom Robinson & Son, of Slaidbum. ThomasandJames Whiteford, o f Brampton, Carlisle, had a worthwhile trip down the M6 when they sold a pen of 12 Beltex-cross-Texel shearlings to average £534, topping at £710 to Anthony Hewetson, of Bank Newton, Gargrave. Alan Harker, ofLong Preston, sold a Texel shearling for £700 to John Hartley, of Rimington. Another nine shearling rams from the same


vendor sold to level at £541. Jason Craddock, of Bolton by Bowland, sold his Texel shearling for £710 to Gordon Whitwell, of Waddington, and another Texel shearling for £510 to P. & J. Brown & Son, of Otley. Renowned prime lamb producer Robert Towers, of Farleton, had a good following withhispenof four Charollais-cross-Beltex ram lambs, which were all snapped up between £440 and £460 Auctioneers were Richard Turner and Son.


Busiest sheep day of year at Gisburn


Gisburn Auction Mart’s Saturday sheep sale on September 20th was the busiest of the year, with a strong emphasis on horned and hill going sheep. Show judge Richard


Mawson awarded the first prize and championship


Pre-saleshowjudges Geoff Carr and Andrew Haggas with Mark Worthington (centre) and his champion ram.


■ to Jim Baines, of Trawden, for his pen ofio Swaledale ewes, later bought at £120 by Nathan Wade, of Brad­ ley, Skipton. Next in the Swaledale


Herd dispersal boosted pedigree sale


Astrong entry ofi2i cattle were forward at Gisburn Auction Marts September 18th dairy sale, which included the Co­ gent pedigree show and a herd dispersal.


Leading the sale was regular


vendorColinSingleton.ofGoo- snargh,at£2,420withaCogent Loader-sired heifer, two weeks calved and giving 37 litres. She sold to David Talbot, of


Ribchester, who also picked up the same vendor’s next lot, a Gillette Winners ETM- sired heifer, 10 days calved


litres.ShesoldtoDoug Graves, of Carlisle, who also bought the champion animal in the pre-sale show, a Curtismill Mr Sam-sired heifer from Jeremy Taylor, of Broughton, Skipton, at £2,000. The commercial newly-


From the left are Ian Plew, of show sponsors Cogent UK, with Jeremy Tay- lorand David Booth with their champion and reserve champion cattle.


and giving 29 litres, at £2,300. in the pre-sale show, a Sandy- DavidBooth.ofEarby, achieved Valley Bolton-sired heifer,just £2,350 ofhis reserve champion nine days calved and giving30


calved section was well sup­ ported and the predicted price drop seems to have been avoid­ ed, with heifers from Frank Shaw (Blackburn), Fred Parkin­ son (Chipping), Peter Holden (Stonyhurst) and Robin Cowgill (Little Hoole) all hitting£2,ooo,


with the top price of £2,320 be­ ing to Eric Armer, of Catforth. Following the pedigree sale


came the dispersal of the Hy- low herd from I. Moorhouse & Sons, of Waddington. These traditionally farmed


cattle, including a handful of Ayrshires, met a fast trade, es­ pecially the black-legged heif­ ers which looked good in every way. Recently calved heifers sold to £1,850 and Ayrshire heifers to £1,840. In-calf cows due September to November topped at £1,660.


Judge Binns paid for top quality


Pre-sale show judge Thomas Binns, of Downham, backed his judgement with hard cash when he snapped up some of the winning animals at Skip- ton Auction Mart’s second an­ nual ewe and lamb show and sale for members of the North ofEngland Mule Sheep Associa­ tion (NEMSA). MrBinnspaid£ig2perhead


forthechampionship-winning pen of 10 from the Smearsett


flock of W.A. & A. Booth, who farm at Feizor, near Settle. Sev­ en sheep in the champion pen were by home-bred Smearsett BlueFacedLeicesterramlambs,. two of which will be offered for sale at Skipton’s annual multi- breedshowandsaleofbreeding rams tomorrow, October 3rd. Mr Binns also bid successfully for the champion pen of 20s shown by regular Skipton ven­ dors, Ellis Bros, of Addingham


Moorsid&Allhome-bredbysev-___ era! tups, they sold a*. £178 per


head, the top price in class. Ellis Bros were also respon- sibleforthethirdprizeandsec-


5- " — !


ond top price pen of tens, which became another acquisition for Mr Binns at £182 each. An iyefe increased entry of 8,201 Mule lambs met with solid trade, sell-


1l'^


ingatanoveraUaverageof£92.ii With thechampionpenofZOMtilegimmerlambsare.fromleft, co-judges perhead,up£344onlastyears ThomasBinnsand John Harrison, Armstrong Watson's Jonathan York corresponding fixture.


Chris Pearson, of Pearson Farm Supplies, and exhibitor Dick Ellis Gardener blooms at sheep sale


Full-time gardener Tim Jackson, who raises sheep as a hobby, bloomed when turning out the first prize pen of Mules at Skipton Auction Mart’s second annual shearling gimmer show and sale. Mr Jackson, of Raigill Farm, Goosnargh, landed the spoils with 10 shearlings bought at a Skipton gimmer


lamb sale the previous year, growing them on athome with the help ofhis father Joe. The victors sold for £170 per head to Chris Heseltine, of Bolton Abbey.However.itwasthethird


Tim Jackson with his first prize pen of Mule shearling gimmers.


prize pen from Thomas Binns, also sold further Mule pens of Downham, that topped the at £182 each, the day’s leading show class prices at £178 per shearling price, £t8o and £178 head when joining E. & A.M. twice. He was also responsible Simpson in Pateley Bridge. Mr forthe topprice£i48 two-shear Binns, a regular at the fixture, pen of Mules.


ewe class was Tom Rob­ inson, ofSlaidburn, with three-crop draft ewes. Pre­ sale showjudge Mr Maw­ son purchased them for £n8.Lonk ewes from the same vendor sold for £82. Perhaps the most an­


ticipated sale was the 350 flock dispersal for H.&F.G. Smalley, of Mitton. First through the ring for this ' vendor were extremely powerful homebred Tex- el-cross-Mule two to three crop ewes which sold to a high o f £142, with pen af­ ter pen being snapped up in excess o f £130. A simi­ lar number of strong Mule ewes readily sold between £100 and £155 and broken­ mouthed ewes just short of £100. The second show of Mule gimmer lambs was


judged by James Towler, of Grindleton. Winning the first prize red rosette was Saddle End Farm, at Chip­ ping,with RichardMawson pickingup the second prize rosette, which sold for £92. Third prize rosette went to Gordon Haynes, of Mitton, his lambs going on to sell for £90. In the Continen­ tal gimmers lambs Matt Carefoot, of Hurst Green, won the first prize rosette for his smart Texel lambs which later sold for £78.


Endangered birds of prey •ear without trace


Two young satellite-tagged hen harriers have vanished from their Ribble Valley home in unex­ plained circumstances.


The female birds, named Sky and Hope, both fledged this year from


nestsontheUnitedUtilitiesBow- land Estate where they had been protected around the clock by RSPB staff and volunteers. Hen harriers are England’s


most threatened bird ofprey and this season there were only four successful nests in the whole country. Sky and Hope were among the first chicks to fledge in England since 2012. Sky was officially named and


adopted by pupils from Bren- nand’s Endowed Primary School


inSlaidburn,whileHopewas giv­ en her name by members of the RSPB’s youth groups from Mac­ clesfield and Leighton Moss, Lan­ cashire. The birds were both fitted


with lightweight solar-powered satellite tags, designed to be op- erationalfor around threeyears. Satellite tags are frequentlyused by conservation organisations to find out more about the move­ ments of species. For example, The British Trust for Ornithology has been following the migration of tagged cuckoos since 2011.


Scientists tracking the move­


ments of the young hen harriers became concerned when their tags stopped transmitting. Sky’s satellite signal stopped sudden­ ly on the evening of Wednesday September 10th with the data suggesting she was roosting at her last known location, while Hope’s last’s known location was sent on the morning of Saturday September 13th. Both of the birds had left their


nest sites on the United Utilities Estate several weeks earlier, but had remained in the Bowland ar­ ea since fledging. Searches were made but neither Sky nor Hope have been recovered. Experts think it is improbable


that the loss of satellite transmis­ sion is due to technical failure. Only a tiny percentage of hen harriers fitted with satellite tags since 2007 have stopped trans­ mitting when it was known the tracked bird was alive. Bob Elliot, RSPB Head of In­


vestigations, said: “In our expe­ rience, this satellite technology is normally very reliable and it is rare for them to fail for techno­ logical reasons. Losing two birds in such a short time frame and in the same geographical area is strange. “Based on the last known da­


ta and our understanding of the technology, Sky appears to have suffered a catastrophic tag fail­ ure at roost, suggesting either natural predation or human in­ tervention as the likely causes for her sudden failure to transmit. However, we would not expect natural predation to stop the tag transmitting data so suddenly.


' Hope’s tag was transmitting re­ liably, with no evidence of any technical problems.” TVpresenter and hen harrier


campaigner Chris Packham said: “It’s incredibly disheartening to discover that two of this year’s chicks have already apparently failed to survive. “It shows how vulnerable hen


harriers are and that four nests are nowhere near enough. With­ out satellite tagging, these dis­ appearances might never have come to our attention but tech­ nology is on our side and we will keep watching.” The disappearance of the


birds has been reported to Lan­ cashire Police and the RSPB is of­ fering a £1,000 reward. Anyone with information


about either of the birds should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 n i or, alternatively, call the RSPB’s confidential hotline on 08454663636.


fm'Jzfem Centre


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Breeding sheep sale was very well supported’


A super show of good quality breeding sheep were forward at the annual show and sale of 1,100 Mule and Continental Gimmer Lambs, plus second sale of Ewes and Shearlings at Clitheroe Auction Mart. The show, sponsored by Dugdale


NutritionandtheBritishWool


Board,wasverywell supported with plenty of entrants in each of the classes and lots of new


buyers in attendance. Judge Mr L. Harrison, of Clifton, awarded the overall champi­ onship to G.M.&J. Stott & Son, ofChipping, for a fantastic pen of 10 Mule Gimmer Lambs,


which sold to T.&S. Binns, of


Downham,at£i38perhead.ln the Continental section, first prize Gimmers were awarded P. W. & I. Dakin, of Bolton-by- Bowland, later selling at £80


to A. Ward, of Longridge. Fol­ lowing the sale, auctioneer Jer- emyGreenhalgh commented:


“A strong trade for tupping lambs, with good demand for running lambs to make big


shearlings.” Show results were: Pen of 10 Mule Gimmer


tambs-1 and3 C.M. f ir J.Stott&SoaChipping. 2GJ.&E.Walker&Sons,DunsopBridge.Pen


oftOContinentalgimmerlambs-1 P.W. & F. Dakin, Bolton-by-Bowland,2and3C.Mellin, Bolton by Bowland.


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