THE agricultural community have been starved of any social or business contact for the past eight months; and the video auction last Thursday provided an opportunity for everyone to get together and watch the premiere of a screen sale in Yorkshire.

On the positive side, it was satisfying to see so many people and the rugby club was absolutely packed with ghosts from the good old days when Malton had a live market twice a week. It was also with great relief that Roger Pearce, Charlie Breese, Keith Warters & Co saw the technology perform without a hitch and the presentation on the screen was really very good.

All the sheep offered could be seen pretty clearly, despite some moderate weather conditions for filming, and it was perfectly feasible to buy them with confidence.

The best trade of the day was in the store lamb section where we had a virtual complete clearance of the 1900 sheep offered.

Prices for lambs varied from £19 to £26.50 and all the vendors would be very satisfied.

The breeding ewes were the most disappointing, with many potential buyers disheartened and put off by the strict autumn movement controls which are exacerbated by our region being divided into four separate designations, none of which are allowed to cross over into each other. However, in the end we managed to sell nearly 800 gimmers and 250 ewes which helped a little.

The best price of the day was achieved by Raymond Twiddle with the first lot of shearlings which made £60 per head; but the average was around £55. Ewes could be bought from £30-£36 per head dependant on age and quality.

There was an excellent show of 270 tups but, regrettably, with a complete lack of confidence in sheep breeding for next year, there were relatively few that changed hands. It was Doug Jewitt with a Texel shearling who topped the day at 310 guineas closely followed by a Suffolk from the Bulmer flock at 300 guineas. Many other useful breeding rams sold from 180-250 guineas.

At the end of it all I think the verdict would be reasonable success but much appreciation from everyone for putting on the event.

We desperately need to keep doing something in Ryedale if we are going to move stock and keep in business for another year.

Encouraged by the 'sheep experience' we are now going onto producing a sale catalogue to mirror the usual suckler cattle sales which we have each autumn. Accordingly, Charlie Breese and Keith Warters are commencing work on a catalogue of store cattle, suckler cattle and store lambs for Wednesday, October 31 at 11am. The venue will be the same and if you would like to enter, please give the help lines a ring.

As far as I can see off the website, there have been no material changes to our boundaries this week and the main innovation remains with the introduction of the Sole Occupancy Licences. These are the only logical answer to farmers who have land or premises in several different locations and yet the original controls prevented any movement between them.

The Sole Occupancy Licence now allows movement with the following basic rules:

- premises must be within the same disease status area

- premises must be within a 20km circle

- vehicles must be disinfected and cleansed but need not be sealed

- local vets can carry out the inspections

- no blood testing is required for sheep

The last recorded case of foot & mouth in North Yorkshire was on August 17 at Whitby and before that it was August 7 at Thirsk.

Fingers crossed, and touching a lot of wood, the worst may be over and we look forward to a few more practicable relaxations in the coming weeks.

Last Friday at Settrington, the church pews overflowed with mourners at Bill Watson's funeral. Born in 1928 at Pickering, which he always referred to as 'God's own town', Bill remained a Ryedale citizen all his life.

As a young man, he was keen on sport and was a founder member of Malton Rugby Club. He later turned to golf which he played with his friends in a group happily christened 'EGGS' (Elderly Gentlemen's' Golf Society!).

His main business career was in the Midland Bank where he rose to manage several branches, including Thirsk and Malton, with a now old-fashioned style which earned him great respect and many customers.

After 30 years he moved to serve the rural community in a new post as group secretary of the NFU until he finally retired, only to be struck down with debilitating arthritis.

Bill's old friend, the RevJohn Manchester, whose pulpit delivery does not allow minds to wander, gave a wonderful address and the service ended with the Chanticleers singing Mozart's Ave Verum as Joy and the family thanked everyone for coming.

John properly described Bill as the quintessential English gentleman and he will be much missed by everyone.

A bit of good news is that the sheep worm has turned, with prices lifting gently away from the 140p low and at certain abattoirs we have been able to get 150p/kilo.

Above this, smart continental lambs and retail prices can make a bit of difference with a top last week at 185p/kilo.

Unfortunately, the strict movement control regime is still having an impact on the cattle trade with a lot of unfinished stock being put into abattoirs, depressing the trade.

I understand further south the big boys have put their 'R' grade classification down to 152p/kilo from Monday but up here we are still running around 160p or a shade better for clean cattle. Anyone who is in a position to hold fat cattle for a while without them getting too fat should consider doing this as I am sure there is suddenly going to be a shortage at some stage. We can still make 175-185p for selected quality cattle to selected quality butchers.

The pork trade has melted a little and baconers are running from around 90p/kilo upwards with lightweight porkers at 102p/kilo.

Help us to help you and ring our help lines at Malton on (01653) 697820/692151 and York on (01904) 489731.

Updated: 09:35 Thursday, October 11, 2001