IT was the young handlers' lambs that went on to top a show and sale of prime lambs at Hexham and Northern Marts' sale at Hexham. 
Taking the young handler title was Alice Walton, of Linacres, with a Beltex cross lamb scaling 44kg that went on to top the gross trade at £111 when sold to Andrew Atkinson. The reserve, another Beltex cross but this time from Harry Robinson, Bog Hall, led the price per kg at 279.5p. 
Heading up the open section was a pen of five Beltex crosses from T Nixon and Sons, Longlea. They tipped the scales at 40kg and were knocked down to Jamie Curle for £102 per head or 255p per kg. 
The reserve pen, a group of five Texel crosses from RR Reay and Sons, West Moorhouses, also sold to Jamie Curle, this time for £90 or 225p at a weight of 40kg. 
Drew Patrick's Young Farmers' champ was a Texel cross weighing 36kg that sold for £72, again to Jamie Curle. 
The sale of prime cattle and cows also included a pre-sale show, where Bog Hall won the cattle and Glebe Farm won the cows. 
Topping the cattle entry at 241.5p and £1638 were cattle from Manor Farm and Broomhall, while cows reached 193.5p for a Limousin from Manor and £1505 for the winning British Blue from Glebe. 

LEADING awards:

Open section – Five Beltex cross – 1 and champion, Longlea; 2, St Oswalds. Five Texel cross – 1 and reserve, West Moorhouses; 2, St Oswalds. 
YF pair, any breed – 1, Drew Patrick; 2, Gemma Common; 3, James Harrison. 
Young handlers – Beltex cross – 1 and champion, Alice Walton; 2 and reserve, Harry Robinson; 3, Ruby Nixon. Texel cross – 1, Tom Dinning; 2, Jack Dinning; 3, Erika Rayson. Suffolk cross – 1, William Rutherford; 2, Tony Barron; 3, Geoff Barron.