NORTHALLERTON butcher Anthony Kitson bought the English Winter Fair's supreme cattle champion for the third year running.

He paid £5,700 in the post show-auction for Garnedd Ira, a 665kg pedigree Limousin heifer from father and son, Trevor and Jonathan Lyon, of Bourne, Lincolnshire.

By the 10,000gns Overthwaite Ben (by Sympa) out of the Attirant daughter, Garnedd Fame, she was was bred by KI & E & HI Jones, Betws - Y - Coed.

The same bull had sired the Lyons’ 2010 English Winter Fair Supreme Champion, the Limousin crossbred steer Meat Loaf, also bred by Ken Jones.

January 2013 born Ira was heifer champion at the Royal Norfolk and Newark County Shows and took first-prize tickets at the Great Yorkshire, Royal Welsh, Beef Expo and Countryside Live.

Reserve supreme was Phil & Sharon Sellers’ Fieldson Alfy-sired heifer, More of That, who took the same slot at Borderway Agri Expo and was supreme champion at Countryside Live. Out of a Limousin-cross cow, this 610kg July-born heifer was bred by Andrew Harrison and purchased at Carlisle in March.

The Lincolnshire-based Sellers also took the reserve and reserve overall pedigree championship titles with another pure Limousin heifer, Powerhouse Iadora, Bred by C & W Phillips, Hereford, she was purchased at this year’s Brecon Show Potentials for £1,500.

In the Baby Beef cattle classes the top honour’s went to Dashin Lady, an April-born British Blue x Limousin heifer owned by Robert Miller of Northern Ireland and shown by Luke Wilkinson, 13, of Leyburn. which was reserve baby beef champion at Borderway Agri-Expo.

Reserve overall crossbred animal was Black Beauty, the reserve heifer champion, from Mark Harryman and his girlfriend Sarah Warriner from Newlands, Keswick. Born in May 2013, she is Limousin-sired out of a Limousin-cross dam and was bred by AC Iceton and purchased at the Middleton-In-Teesdale Suckled Calf Sale. Scaling 600kg she went on to sell for £3,000.

Crossbred Steer Champion was Stevie Gee, a Fieldson Alfy-sired Limousin bullock and out of a Limousin x British Blue dam, from Neil Slack, Newby, Penrith. This one tipped the scales at 640kg and also won the reserve champion homebred-and-fed award.

Pig breeder Mark Horsley of Skirpenbeck, near York, won a string of championships

His 82.3kg Pietrain-sired Landrace x Duroc gilt entry in the pig carcase classes so impressed judge David Price who runs a thriving on-farm retail butchery that he paid £3.10p/kg (£304.51 gross) for the exhibit. Mr Horsley then saw his 71.5kg boar carcase with similar breeding selected as reserve pig carcase champion.

He then won two championships in the live classes. His single pig winner weighed 94kg and sold for £255 (£2.71p/kg live weight to DR Findley of Leyburn, and his champion pen sold for £144 per head (£1.57p/kg live weight) to John Penny & Sons.

Mr Horsley has 250 sows and supplies John Penny & Sons at Rawdon, near Leeds with prime pork throughout the year.