A RIBBLE Valley farming couple have swept the board at a Christmas dairy cattle show.

Chris and Erika Bargh, of Osbaldeston Hall Farm, Osbaldeston, came away from the Gisburn Christmas Dairy Cattle Show and Sale with a string of awards.

It was the first time the couple had gone to the show, sponsored by East Lancashire accountancy firm PM&M, to sell surplus from the herd they have built up for eight years.

And among the Bargh's prize winning animals a two-year-old newly-calved pedigree heifer, picked up three trophies in the pre-sale show.

She won the Directors Silver Challenge Cup for best animal in show, the Henry Bradley Trophy for the best home-bred animal and the Horace Bowen Memorial Trophy for the best pedigree animal.

The heifer made top price in the sales auction, selling for £1,300 to a pedigree livestock agent, on behalf of a Northern Ireland farmer.

Chris said: "It was fantastic to win, and we were delighted with the price. We have put a lot of hard work into the herd over the past few years."