WE haven't much to thank our Weather Gods for this season - perhaps we should be sacrificing a few fatted French calves on the cliffs of Dover to appease their wrath - but, mercifully, the rain held off for the whole of Tuesday morning at the Christmas fatstock show in Malton to enable Peter Hogg of Fletchers Butchers to carry out his judging duties, which I have to say were done immaculately.

It was sad to be without Bert Harper for the first time in many years, as he has been such a staunch supporter and regular winner of trophies at Malton. Nonetheless, the quality of cattle forward was quite excellent and congratulations have to go to all those that competed and those that went on to win prizes.

The supreme champion of the day went, appropriately, to George & Nick Marwood of Harome who have, over the months, been the most consistent producers of quality heifers at the market. This very pretty champion made 225p/kilo before being knocked down to judge Peter Hogg.

Brian Lunn produced the Champion Bullock to win the W A Cundall cup and made 125p/kilo.

Mark Bulmer took the Frank Beal Trophy for the Best Homebred Heifer and went on to make 140p/kilo.

In the bull section, Geoff Featherstone won the Reg Stephenson Memorial Trophy and made 124p/kilo for his very handsome Limousin bull.

Most rewarding of all was that the competitors, whether or not they won prizes, commanded a modest premium over commercial rates.

The sheep were judged by Jim Dodsworth and the Champions came from the stable of Bill Jackson, making £54 before going to Brian Glaves.

In the lightweight class, Ken Houlston took 1st prize and made £40.80, whilst the heavyweight class was won by Gordon Harper at £52 per head.

A full list of all the prize winners comes below; and our thanks to David Cussons, Champion of Ryedale District Council (yes, he's also the chairman) for presenting the trophies.

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It wouldn't be the same if I didn't have my weekly dig at Europe but, to be truthful, the French have really deserved all the criticism for their painfully selfish behaviour over our beef.

However, last week I did urge caution, proposing instead of a ban, that we should try and get the Europeans playing on the same cricket field as ourselves. Being an avid Gazette & Herald reader, the Minister has done as we asked; and it looks as though a series of Europe-wide measures will not disadvantage the UK.

What now concerns me is that we should enforce the measures as rigorously with imported meat as officialdom has done with the home product over the past five years.

We want seriously to divert a lot of man power from our abattoirs to the ports where the meat is landing and make sure that there is no danger to the British consumer.

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The awful truth about the drop in farm incomes has been made official; and provisional figures released by the Ministry of Agriculture this week show that total farm income fell by 29pc this year. The figures cover not only profit but also all other income to farmers' partners and directors and the accumulative fall since 1995 is a staggering 72pc.

Nick Brown described the figures as depressing, adding that it showed the failure of the CAP to protect farm incomes.

I am afraid his white paper is not going to do a lot either as, to my mind, much of their effort is directed towards supporting advisory-type programmes and other such nebulous projects which tend to provide fees for middle men and no substantial cash for the farmer.

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You will remember the cattle census that was carried out in September on all older cattle and my reporting how successful we had been in Ryedale.

Now the voluntary phase is over and it becomes compulsory for anyone who hasn't done so to register these older cattle by January 29, 2001. I cannot over-emphasise the importance of complying with these registration regulations, as cattle will not be allowed be move off the farm unless they carry one of the new type passports.

Charlie Breese has been helping farmers complete their forms and anyone who still hasn't done so is welcome to contact him.

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This year's good cause which the market is supporting is the Ryedale Macmillan Nurse Appeal, which needs to raise £250,000 to provide two extra specialist cancer care nurses for the Ryedale area.

The market is acting as a collecting centre and donations are coming in well. If you are able to help at all, please feel free to drop in at the market and make a donation or contact Charlie Breese.

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The Christmas Farmers Market is this Saturday, starting at 8.30am prompt. There should be a near-record show of stalls with a wonderful variety of local produce to fill your Christmas freezer, so come along and support.

MALTON CHRISTMAS SHOW WINNERS

Supreme champion George Marwood (225p/kg to Peter Hoff of Fletcher's Butchers)

Champion bullock Brian Lunn (125p to M Douglas

Champion home-bred heifer Mark Bulmer (140p to Frank Turner, Rillington)

Champion bull Geoff Featherstone (124p to Bramall)

Champion pen of sheep Bill Jackson (£54 to Brian Glaves, Brompton-by-Sawdon)

Class winners

Medium bulls, Ian Rooke, Dave Sunley, John Thompson

Heavy bulls, G Featherstone, W H Tindall, D A Robinson & Co

Light bullock, W Dunning,

Medium bullock, 1 & 2 T F W Morley, C F Beal

Heavy bullock, K & B Lunn, N Hurst, T F W Morley

Light heifer, D Boyes, Longwood Farms, W H Tindall

Heavy heifer, 1 & 2 G I Marwood, E Dodsworth & Son

Light hoggs, K Houlston & Sons, C T Stonehouse & Son, C R Fawcett

Medium hoggs, W H Jackson & Son, H W Ward & Sons, C R Fawcett

Heavy hoggs, G Harper, C Milburn, H W Ward & Sons

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all the competitors.