It was definitely a success although stock was hard to move. A lot of people came just to look. Malton Livestock Auctioneers have spent weeks filming thousands of sheep on owners' farms to allow some form of Michaelmas sale to go ahead. Just under 5,500 sheep, including lambs and breeding sheep, went on sale and farmers could bid when they saw what they liked on the big screen. There was a reasonable sale of lambs, but Mr Breese said the breeding sheep did not sell so well because of all the movement restrictions still in place.
People are reluctant to bring other sheep on to their land.
He said they were also wary of buying without seeing the stock. People are frightened of buying off a screen, they have never done it before. But he said the sooner things get back to normality the better. Andrew Atkinson is a livestock dealer in Harrogate. He bought 60 store lambs at the sale.