Two £40,000 BFLs at Hawes
NO fewer than 16 ram lambs sold at five-figure prices with 39 selling at £5000 or more, at the Bluefaced Leicester breed sale at Hawes, which saw a catalogued entry of 710 head go under the hammer between 9am and 10pm.
Such was the demand for the cream of the crop, that 423 ram lambs averaged £2374 – up £40 per head on the year – having sold to £40,000 on two occasions.
First to hit that price was a show lamb from Kevin Ridley’s Shitlington flock, Wark, Hexham.
Champion at Roman Wall Show, this natural, Marchborn lamb is a son of a Hewgill M1-sired Dawyck tup bought at Carlisle for 1000gns, which bred four lambs in the Mr Ridley’s top pen of Mules that stood second at Hexham, and most of the lambs in the flock’s first 100 lambs that averaged £168. Another Mule ewe lamb by the Dawyck tup was champion and reserve inter-breed at Bellingham Show.
The £40,000 lamb is out of one of the flock’s best ewes by the G1 Midlock and sold to Archie and John MacGregor, Allanfauld, Kilsyth, the Wights at Midlock, Crawford, and GM Pears, Flash House. Shitlington averaged £8164 for seven lambs
Much later in the day, an ET lamb from Lords’ Hewgill flock up on Stainmore, Kirkby Stephen, matched the £40,000 sale when selling to Jamie Pirie, Blarnavaid, Drymen and Andrew Campbell, Overburns, Biggar. He is the result of a flush from the flock’s favourite gimmer by the M39 home-bred son of E1 Hewgill and sired by the £5500 Marriforth tup purchased last year by a Greenriggs ram.
His embryo brother was next in the ring and made £15,000, selling in a three-way split to Midlock; Finlay Robertson, Beeches, West Calder and Alec and Anders Brown, Macqueston, Thornhill, Dumfriesshire. Hewgill averaged £8737 for eight lambs.
Mary Marston and her husband Neil of the Highberries flock from Cockermouth sold 15 lambs to average £4300, with one of Mary’s lambs leading the fray at £34,000.
Selling at this price was champion winner at Cockermouth Show, a tup lamb by Golden Boy, a homebred son of the G34 Midlock, that bred half of the second prize pen of ewe lambs at Hawes and six of the 15 sale lambs at Hawes.
Bred from one of Mary’s ewes by the L3 Low Tipalt, he sold in a five-way split to Northern Ireland breeders, S Laverty, E Harkin, A McKillop, J Loughery and PG Mullan.
Ram lambs from Midlock as always proved popular with the pen leader, a son of last year’s £23,000 Riddings purchase at Hawes, out of a ewe by the L27 Midlock, making £25,000 to Martyn Archer, Carry House and Andrew Hunter, The Steel, Bellingham.
The third Midlock lamb, full of fresh bloodlines, made £16,000 to Sam McClymont and sons William and Scott, Auld Tinnis, Yarrow, Selkirk. He is the first tup sold by the K1 Dyke bought some time ago and out of a Shafthillsired homebred ewe.
Last year’s record priced £65,000 Riddings bred three five-figure priced sons for Malcolm Thornborrow and sons Gary and Craig, Easter Dawyck, Stobo.
Their dearest at £17,000 was the R7 Dawyck, bred from the L45 Dawyck ewe by the K1 Shafthill. He was knocked down to P Teasdale and JE Carruthers.
His full brother then made £16,000, selling to Colin Dick, Hamildean, Peebles, Alan McArthur, Cretlevene, Balfron, and Kyle Campbell, Claylands, Kippen, Stirling.
Dawyck also received £10,000 for another son of the Riddings tup bred out of a gimmer by the Smearsett M2. He sold down to Wales with Michael James, Stephen Abberley, Henry Bennet and Iestyn Richards all taking an equal share.
Another two lambs hit £16,000. The first, from Marion Porter, Riddings, by Skeughdale N2 – the sire behind last year’s record breaker – out of her best breeding ewe by Riddings Thumper, which has already produced tups sold to Kilnstown and Riddings. He was knocked down to Paul Fairburn.
The other at £16,000 came from Northern Ireland breeder, Eamon Harkin, Moneygran. His lamb is by an Orraview tup he bought a quarter share in last year at Ballymena, while the dam is a homebred ewe by the G1 Midlock. He was bought in a three-way partnership by of James Herdman, Edlingham Newtown; and Biggar-based breeders, Richard Wood, Kingledores and Andrew Campbell, Overburns.
Young Finlay Robertson also had a great day at the office, just weeks after topping the Kelso Ram sales at £8200. His pen leader at Hawes, by the Highberries M1 and out of a Macqueston bred ewe by the Hewgill K26, made £14,000 to Graham and Julie Loughery, Temain, Northern Ireland. His full brother made £5000.
The champion female, a gimmer from GA and BB Ainslie, Linkshead, topped the section at £4600 selling to Lousie Nash, Merryboro Farm.
LEADING prices
Ram lambs – Messrs Lord, £40,000, £15,000, £3600, £3500; MW and CM Ridley, £40,000, £5500, £3200, £3000; NC Marston, £34,000, £6500, £4000, £2800, £2600 x2; J Wight and Sons, £25,000, £16,000, £6500, £3000 x2; M Thornborrow, £17,000, £16,000, £10,000, £5000, £3000, £3000 x2, £2600; E Harkin £16,000; M Porter, £16,000; F Robertson, £14,000, £5000, £3500; RD Archer and Son, £13,000, £5500, £5200, £5000 x2, £2600, £2500; W and D Lawson and Son, £13,000, £4500, £3000 x2; WA Dinsdale & Son, £10,000, £4500, £3000, £2800; J Hunter and Sons, £10,000, £6500, £3500; J Allison and Sons, £9000, £5200, £2600 x2; WM Hutchinson and Son, £8500, £2800 x3; WC Porter & Son, £8000, £3500; J Mcquistin and Son, £7500, £2800 x2, £2600; M Pirie, £6800; JC and E Pedley and Sons, £6000, £5000 x2, £2800; KA Brown and Sons, £6000, £3500, £2500; JE James, £5000 x2; J Buckle, £5000; WM Reed and Sons, £4500; M/S Lawson, £4500, £2500; RW and JH Emmott, £4500; I and P Brown, £4500; Messrs Pears, £4500; GT Birkett, £4200, £3800; C Campbell, £4200; J Middleton, £4000; AC and K Pye, £3800, £2600; SC Emmott, £3600; WA and A Booth, £3600, £3500, £3400, £3200; JC Walker and Son, £3500; Breck House Enterprise Ltd, £3500, £3000; JA and R Caton, £3500 x2, £2500; D Cowie, £3200; J and A Brown, £3200, £2800; GP Taylor & Sons, £3000; P Ayrton, £2800; RJD and FJ Wilson, £2800; R and PE Hargreaves and Son, £2600; S Allan and Sons, £2600; I Borthwick, £2500.
Shearling rams – J Wight and Sons, £2000, £1800; E Fairburn and Sons, £1800 £1600 x2, £900; GA and BB Ainslie, £1600; Breck House Enterprise Ltd, £1600, £1200; JS Cloughton, £1600, £900; Ellis Bros, £1200; N and H Bowker, £1200; R and PE Hargreaves, £1000.
Aged rams – W and D Lawson and Son, £5000; R and PE Hargreaves, and Sons, £3000, £1200, £1000; JA and R Caton; £1600, RJD and F Wilson.
Gimmers – GA and BB Ainslie, £4600. Ewe lambs – GA and BB Ainslie, £1400, £1200, £900; I Borthwick, £1300, JH Critchlow.