As we head into mid-October, the first of the pedigree autumn sales have started to take place across the water.

First up was the Hereford breed, which hosted its society autumn sale last weekend in Shrewsbury.

It seems trade has started as hot for the autumn sales as it finished in the spring. This was particularly evident for females, which saw a 96% clearance rate to average £3,327 (€3,918).

While demand was high in the regular sale, a number of exceptional prices were also achieved in the reduction sale of the Sky High Herd, which took place after the general run of heifers.

This reduction was consigned by breeders Boomer Birch and Graham Brindley and saw seven heifers sell to an average price of £6,315 (€7,437).

Leading the sale was the 7,000gns Sky High 1 Staffordshire. This rising three-year-old daughter of well-known Canadian sire Remitall Super Duty 42S is out of two-time female of the year Dendor 1 Jennefer 15th.

Stacked with strong indices, she sold having been run with Irish-bred bull Gouldingpoll 1 Stockman.

She was the pick of Will Medforth, who also forked out 6,500kg for her heifer calf at foot, Sky High 1 Staffordshire Lass.

This calf was bred the same way as the expected calf from her dam, with the sire being Gouldingpoll 1 Stockman.

The Sky High Herd was started just over 10 years ago and only hosted this major reduction due to loss of ground at home.

For this reason, some of the herd’s newest additions were also offered. One of these was Gouldingpoll 1 Duchess 967, originally bred by Kerry breeder Matthew Goulding.

This three-year-old daughter of Fabb 1 Northern Star was sold with her Gouldingpoll 1 Stockman heifer calf at foot for 6,800gns.

SkyHigh L’amour Lucy was next in line when she hit the market at 6,200gns. This two-year-old Spurstow 1 Super Duty daughter is a maternal sister to the record-priced female and national calf show champion, Sky High 1 Lancome Lucy.

In the normal run of heifers, a top price of 5,500gns was hit on two occasions. First at the money was the first heifer through the ring, Harveybros 1 Crocus S6.

This April 2019-born heifer was bred and exhibited by George and Sophie Harvey from Scotland. Sired by successful show bull Normanton 1 Laertes, her full sister was reserve female champion at Highland Show this year.

Matching the money was Moorside 1 Dawn 4th from G and MC Shepherd. This 18-month-old heifer is a daughter of Hoghton View 1 Gold Mine and a homebred dam.

Also breaking the 5,000gns mark was Milovaig 1 Lady Jane 2nd, selling for 5,300gns. This March 2020-born heifer is by Shraden 1 Perestroika and out of a homebred Solpoll 1 Ferrari daughter.

There was less demand for bulls, with Barwise 1 Tango MU T1139 from Carolyn Fletcher leading the trade at 4,000gns.

This April 2020-born bull offered an outcross pedigree, having been sired by Danish bull Moeskaer Ultra and the dam sired by New Zealand bull Otapawa High Voltage.

More sales

We now head into a busy week with the Irish Salers and Irish Hereford hosting their premier sales this Saturday. Carlisle hosts the British Limousin autumn sale on Friday and Saturday and the renowned Stirling bull sales start on Sunday.