A SHEEP breeders' association has highlighted the generosity of farmers by raising funds for a charity at its annual show.

Addingham & District Sheep Breeders’ Association staged its 14th annual show and sale at Skipton Auction Mart when local farmer Chris Ryder stepped up with the supreme champion for the second year running, a North of England Mule wether lamb, which sold for £1,150.

It when later sold multiple times in aid of Sue Ryder Manorlands Hospice in Oxenhope.

The victor was one of many lambs and additional sale items donated by local farming communities, along with kind-hearted individuals, meaning the West Yorkshire hospice this year has received £4,121 in total. Over the years, the seasonal showcase has raised more than £50,000 for Sue Ryder Manorlands.

Chris Ryder, who farms with his wife Christine at Scaife Hall Farm, Blubberhouses, again clinched the title and retained the PFS Shield with a Mule by their home-bred DAWYCK K3 stock tup, which also sired three in the couple’s high-priced £205 per head pen of 10 at Skipton’s annual opening NEMSA ewe lamb show and sale in September.

The socially-distanced show was judged in pens by Laura Robinson and Jenny Dolphin, who, as well as farming in their own rights, both work on the Skipton Auction Mart site for leading agricultural and rural supplies company, Carrs Billington.

When their chosen champion entered the sale ring, it first sold to John and Pauline Turner, of Draughton for £220. As in past years, the Turners again re-donated the lamb, and it sold in turn to Gargrave’s Simon Spensley for £220, then Skipton NFU for £240, the Carrs Billington co-judges at £120, the same price to James Spensley, of Elslack, mart foreman, Andrew Wright, and local haulier, Geoff Dunn, of Steeton, also chairman of Skipton Charities Gala Committee, and, finally, for £100 to regular sheep ring buyer Andrew Atkinson, of Felliscliffe, Harrogate.

Back in the show class, all prizes fell to North of England Mules. Standing runners-up were Ellis Bros, of Addingham, Moorside, with the 2020 Skipton Christmas hill lamb champions, Ken and Lynne Throup, of Silsden Moor, finishing third and Nick Houseman, of Lindley, Otley, fourth.

A further Mule lamb donated by Nidderdale sheep farmer Richard Harker was also auctioned off in support of a campaign by Nidderdale Young Farmers' Club president David Brown, raising raising £810 in total for the Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Cancer Unit in Northallerton.