The countdown is on to the highlight of Skipton Auction Mart’s festive show and sale season, the annual Lingfield Christmas primestock event on Sunday, 1st December, which attracts both butchers and farmers from miles around,Butchers, both traditional family-run independent retail businesses and leading meat wholesalers who buy on behalf of their own butcher customers, target the day because it presents an opportunity to purchase the cream of the region’s locally reared primestock for their customers’ Christmas tables – and meet the farmers who produce it in person.
Now into its the sixth year as a Sunday showcase, styled on London’s famous former Smithfield Christmas Fatstock Show, the event is the climax of the Craven Cattle Mart’s primestock year and regularly attracts well over 1,000 people.
There are ten butcher’s cattle classes and eight butcher’s sheep classes, featuring all the popular local breeds and a host of special prizes up for grabs by vendors. Last year’s prime cattle champion sold for a mart record price of £3,810, or £6.35p/kg, with the prime lamb title winners making a staggering £500 per head, or £12.20p/kg. The prime pig victors sold for £235 each.
Last year’s inaugural lamb carcase competition proved a runaway success and is being repeated at this year’s renewal. It is regarded as an opportunity for butchers, hotels and restaurants to purchase award-winning carcases for display and sale in the run up to Christmas.Skipton’s festive show and sale season begins with the Christmas calf and dairy shows on Monday, 25th November. There are also Christmas cast cow and sheep shows on Monday, 2nd December, with the Christmas poultry show on Saturday, 14th November.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
