Yearling ewes to £500 at Bishops Castle
The sale of 3,500 breeding sheep at Bishops Castle included a flock dispersal of 60 Charolais and Texel yearling ewes from J.S. and B.M. Vance and Son, Minsterley, which averaged £389/head topping at £500/head. Overall the 2,322 yearling ewes averaged £237.50.
The winning of pen of Welsh Mules from Phillip Pugh, of N.L. Pugh and Co, Much Wenlock, went on to sell for £280/head.
The Derek Pugh Challenge Cup for the highest priced pen of 10 or more commercial-bred ewes was also won by Messrs Pugh with a pen of 20 Texel ewes which sold for £272/head.
The 180 aged ewes averaged £160 and peaked at £202 for G. and S.J. Jones, Bishops Castle, with 1,000 ewe lambs averaging £160 and peaking at £186 for G.H. Bayliss and Son, Kerry.
The 12 breeding rams averaged £475 topping at £650 for a Texel shearling from N. and K. Unwin, Carno.
Auctioneers: Halls.
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Simmental heifer sells for 8,000gns
Simmental females sold to 8,000gns at the joint production sale for the Ballinalare Farm herd from Joe and Alan Wilson, Newry, Co Down, and the Ranfurly herd of David and Jonny Hazelton, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, at Rathfriland Farmers Co-op.
The sale topper was the show heifer Ranfurly Weikel 52 from Messrs Hazelton. This 15-month-old heifer is by the Auchorachan ACDC son, Ranfurly Limelight out of Ranfurly Weikel. It was junior champion at the NI Four Breeds Calf Show 2023; reserve junior champion at Balmoral in 2024 and a first prize winner at the National Show, Antrim, and sold to John Warnock's Templefyn herd, Carrowdore, Co Down.
Two heifers sold for 6,000gns. First was the January 2022-born in-calf heifer Ranfurly Weikel 47 by Samark Superman. It sold, in-calf to Clonagh Tiger Gallant to David Smith and Rachael Reid for the Bowhill herd, Ayrshire.
Also selling at 6,000gns was the November 2022-born Ranfurly Stella 15 a Woodhall Ferrari daughter, which went to John Byrne, Banbridge.
Leading Joe Wilson's Ballinalare Farm line-up at 4,900gns was January 2023-born Ballinalare Farm Polly by Curaheen Wakeman. Buyers were P. and R. Murtagh, Newry.
Averages – Ranfurly – 2 in-calf heifers, £4,515; 12 maiden heifers, £4,646; Ballinalare Farm – 2 heifers with calf at foot, £3,412; 19 in-calf and maiden heifers, £2,990.
Auctioneers: Rathfriland Farmers Co-op.
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Mule gimmer lambs to £500/head at Kirkby Stephen
More than 8,000 North of England Mule gimmer lambs went under the hammer at Kirkby Stephen averaging £154.38, up £33.66 on the year, with a 100% clearance and no lambs selling under £100.
The sale topped at £500 for the overall champion pen of 10 lambs from H.R. Hayton and Son, Great Asby, which were bought by Messrs Brown, Leyburn.
The first prize winners in the small breeders class from from Messrs Burrow and Rutter Armstrong, Langwathby, were also reserve champions and went on to sell for £260 to Messrs Fox, Clitheroe. They also had the leading average of £216.36 for 22 lambs.
The second prize in the open class went to K.A. Brown and Sons, Great Asby, whose lambs sold for £380/head to James Robinson, Carnforth.
Also making £380/head was the fourth placed pen of 10 lambs from W.M. Hutchinson and Sons, Redgate, which were bought by Messrs Richardson, Dufton.
Messrs Brown sold a a pen of 22 at £240/head, a pen of 20 at £198 and a pen of 30 at £195.
Kilnstown Farms, Roweltown, sold their top pen at £320/head, a pen of 20 at £210/head and averaged £166/head for 504 lambs. Messrs Buckle, Bleathgill, also sold a pen of 20 at £210.
The trade of the day was for the running lambs with most of these selling between £130-£150.
Auctioneers: Harrison and Hetherington.
Working Genes sale tops at £14,000
There was a complete clearance at the Working Genes online production sale on behalf of the McGowan family, Incheoch, Perthshire.
The sale peaked at £14,000 for the Aberdeen-Angus bull, Inchisla Jordon Eric, a Milah Murrah Nugget son, which sold to James Biggar, Chapelton.
The 14 Simmental bulls topped at £10,200 for the dark red, homozygous polled Incheoch Patrick, which went to James Hamilton, Aikengall.
Luings sold to £7,200 for the roan polled bull, Dirnanean Chief, which was knocked down to John Scott, Fearn. Overall, the 19 bulls averaged £6,737.
Rams topped at £7,350 for a Texel son of Easton Dunsyre, which had one of the highest performance figures in the breed. The buyer was Ian Murray, Glenway.
Three more rams by the same sire broke the £3,000 barrier, going to Alister Shaw, West Lethans and two to Jim Logan, Romavale. The 57 Texels averaged £1,845, up £629 on the year.
The 55 Lleyn rams averaged £1,086 up £207 on 2023 topping at £2,750 for the highest index ram, Incheoch Monarch, which sold to Christiane Geiger, Germany.
Clun Forest top at 1,500gns
The 99th sale of Clun Forest sheep at Ludlow topped at 1,500gns for Sarnesfield Gold-Dust, a Aber-Rheon Alun son from L.E. Lloyd and Son, Hereford, which sold to M. Eckley for the Court-Llacca flock, Powys.
Next at 950gns was Nipna George, a shearling ram from Anna Pennell, North Yorkshire, which was knocked down to J. D. Williams and Son, Shipton.
The Honddu flock of I. T. Davies and Son, Brecon, took the red rosette in the three male classes with the male championship going to their shearling ram, Windsor Gruffalo, bred by A Phillips, Pembrokeshire, which was bought privately as a lamb with several daughters retained by the flock.
It sold for 820gns to Messrs Vernon, Staffordshire.
The reserve male champion was the second placed shearling ram, Aber-Rhaeon Gethin, from Messrs Eckley, and bred by M. Davies, which sold for 300gns to D. Duggan, Leominster.
The Nipna flock also had the champion single female, a Nipna Earl-sired shearling ewe which sold for 460gns to new breeder, A. Collier, Lancashire.
The highest female price went to a pen-mate, a daughter of the 2018 Royal Welsh Show inter-breed supreme ewe, which sold for 560gns to F. Hendrie, Talgarth.
The champion pen of females was from the Furlongs flock of G.R. Roberts and Son, Ludlow, which sold for 190gns/head with the highest priced pen of five, two-year-old ewes from the same flock selling at 220gns/head to G. Williams, Gwynedd.
The winning pairs of shearling ewes from S. Thackery, Ludlow, sold for 300gns/head to Messrs Collier.
Averages - shearling ewes (singles), £441; shearling and aged ewes (pens), £190.24; ewe lambs (singles), £249.37; ewe lambs (pens), £138.75; Clun Mules, £210; aged rams, £651; shearling rams, £540.75; ram lambs, £280.87.
Auctioneers : McCartneys.
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Scotch Mule ewe lambs sell to £195
The sale of Scotch Mule lambs at Dumfries topped at £195/head for a pen from Caruthers Farming, Merkland.
The judge, David Morgan, Herefordshire, awarded the championship to a pen from T. and T. Anderson, Dornal, which went on to sell for £185/head.
The reserve champion pen was from D. Henderson, Sweetshawhead, and made £182/head.
Overall lambs averaged £160.10, up £43.50 on the year.
Blackface ewe lambs were a selective trade selling to £115 for Kirkland Farming, Kirkland.
Scotch Mule breeding ewes sold to £188 for Grange Partnership, Barnmuir, with two-/three-crop ewes.
Store lambs topped at £117 for Texels from J.D.M. Thomson, Pilmuir.
Auctioneers: C. and D. Auctions.
New Hill Radnor record set
A new female record of 780gns was set at the Hill Radnor Flock Book Society show and sale at Talybont-on-Usk for the reserve champion. This was a yearling ewe from D.C.L. and C.J. Williams' Trawscoed flock, Brecon, which sold to the Dillon family, for the Gwarallt flock, Carmarthenshire.
The female champions, a pair of yearling ewes from V. Ellingworth's Rohan flock, Carmarthen, sold for 310gns/head to the Catteshall flock, Surrey. Yearling ewes averaged £248.85.
Two-year-old ewes topped at 300gns and averaged £233, while three-year-olds topped at 180gns and averaged £154.35.
Older ewes averaged £157, while broken mouth averaged £94.50. A three-year-old ewe with a ewe lamb made 320gns.
Top price male at 1,260gns went to a shearling ram from one of the judges, Owain Jenkins, of the Derri flock, Pembroke. It sold to Seth Mather's Holbourne flock, Lancashire.
Next, at 1,080gns, was a yearling ram from the Castelldu flock of D.C. Jones, Brecon, which went to the Amgueddfa flock at the National Museum of Wales, St Davids.
The champion ram, a yearling also from Messrs Jones sold for 790gns and the reserve, a ram lamb from the Trawscoed flock sold for 440gns.
Older rams topped at 600gns and averaged £445.20, yearling rams averaged £530, ram lambs topped at 440gns and averaged £173.25.
Auctioneers: Clee, Tompkinson and Francis.
Mule gimmer lambs to £335 at J36
At the sale of North of England Mule gimmer lambs at J36 the class for the ‘stars in their eyes' individual gimmer lambs was won by T.A. and J.A. Dixon, Yoad Pot, whose lamb sold for the top price of £335.
Overall lambs averaged £151.14 up £34.82 on the year. The main sale topped at £290/head for R. Lawrence, Grange-over-Sands, followed by Messrs Hodgson, Rydal, at £275.
Stronger lambs were £160 to £180, runners nicely £140 to £155, with only smaller and younger lambs £125 to £135.
Auctioneers: North West Auctions.
Breeding sheep in demand at Ruswarp
At the Castleton Crackers evening sale of rams and females at Ruswarp both male and female championships went to Deborah Whitcher, Whenby, with the overall supreme going to her Charollais shearling ram, which went on to sell to J.L. Smith, Hawksker, for £700.
Her champion female, a Charollais gimmer, made £360 to the judge, Jim Stenton, Thornton Dale, with Charollais ram lambs from the same home selling to £400.
Ian Ford, Glaisdale, took reserve champion male with his Texel cross Charollais shearling ram which made £800.
James Floyd, Ugthorpe, had the winning non-MV ram lamb with a Texel which sold for £500. He also sold Texel shearlings to £620.
In the MV section the red rosette went to James Wilkinson, Sneaton, with a Suffolk ram lamb which made £480 with his Suffolk shearlings selling to £500 twice.
M.W. Cook and Son, Kildale, sold a Meatlinc cross Beltex shearling ram for £680.
Brendan Drew, Glaisdale, took reserve female champion with a Cheviot gimmer shearling which made the top price female price of £500. It sold to young local breeder Charlie Parker, Grosmont, who also bought a gimmer lamb from the same vendor for £300.
Auctioneers: Richardson and Smith.
Rearing calves to £750 in Leyburn
The late summer rearing calf show at Leyburn for the Peter Metcalfe Memorial Trophy saw Judy Metcalfe, family and friends there to present the trophy to the champion calf, a British Blue bull from David and John Smith, of M. and D. Smith, Keighley. It went on to sell to the judge, Katie Grainger, Bedale, for £750.
Reserve champion went to a Charolais heifer from Stephen Sowray, Bishop Thornton, which made £680 to Michael Radford, Bedale.
The second placed British Blue bull consigned by Stuart Whitehead, West Burton, made £590.
David and John Smith took all three prizes in the Blue heifer class and made £455 and £450 twice.
Limousin and Charolais bulls from Stephen Sowray took first and second prizes and made £615 and £640, with John Pratt, Bainbridge, in third with a British Blonde which made £565.
The native bull class saw Aberdeen-Angus in first and second place, with both making £595 for Alwyn, Mark and James Spence, Aysgarth, and Mr Sowray respectively. In third was Messrs Smith with a Hereford at £495. They also had first prize heifer of the same breed which made £410.
Auctioneers: Leyburn Auction Mart.
