€1,000 top at Beltex Premier

A top price of €1,000 was achieved twice at the Irish Beltex premier sale held at Tullamore Mart last week. Overall trade on the day was good, with 73% of lots finding new homes and purchasers willing to pay that bit more for age.

Shearling rams ranged from €380 to €1,000 with an average of €678, while ram lambs made between €300 to €820 with an average of €450.

On the ewe front, shearlings made in the region of €300 to €1,000, with an average settling at €632, while ewe lambs made €250 to €500 with an average of €402 .

The top price of €1,000 was hit twice on the day. First at the money was the day’s champion Quarrymount Bushel from Brian Mathews, Killeigh, Co Offaly. Brian is a regular exhibitor at both the premier in Ireland and at the Carlisle premier in England.

His January 2016 shearling champion was sired by Beetles Willie Wonka and found a new home with John Kidd.

Matching him at the price tag was John and Dudley Maher, Roscrea, with their third-prizewinning ewe Ballinakill Betfair ET. Also born in January 2016, this shearling ewe is sired by Headlind Tease Me out of a Pentland Showman-bred dam. Successful buyer here was Michael McGrath.

Reserve overall championship was awarded to the ram lamb class winner Cloneycaven Chuck. Bred and exhibited by Stephanie and Hugh O’Connor, Ballivor, Co Meath, Chuck is sired by Heatheryhall Back-Up, while the dam is Hillview-sired Cormac Ana Bel 2. Securing the reserve champion at €800 was Peter McLoughlin.

A further four rams hit the €800 or higher mark. Two of these came from the pen of the aforementioned Brian Mathews. Both sired by Hillview Weapon, Quarrymount Bohemian sold to John and Shane Moore at €880, while Quarrymount Brian Boru sold to Hugh Doyle at €800.

John and Sean Browne also got two rams away for €800 or more, the first being Boherwillin Billy. This second-prizewinner to the champion was sired by homebred Boherawillin Alcopone. Another son of Alcopone, Boherwillin Crumpet, found a new home with Brian Corrigan at €820.

In the female section, after the joint-high seller, a further two ewes broke the €800 mark. These ewes were placed first and second respectively in the shearling ewe class. Topping the class and selling for €840 was Woodies Razzle Dazzle-sired ewe Carrigans Lower Betty Martin, owned by Oliver Kerins, Ballymore, Co Sligo. Placing second to Betty and selling for €820 was Brian Mathews’ Quarrymount Brid, sired by Headlind Tease Me.

The Texel Sheep Society UK’s premier show and sale in Lanark last week was its highest-grossing sale yet. High-end bidding from top pedigree flocks, coupled with a surge in ram lamb prices, saw the total settle at over £1.2m.

Topping the sale at 130,000gns (£136,500 or €147,460) was Sportsman A Star from Charlie Boden, Cheshire. This ram is a son of last year’s 70,000gns sale-topper Teiglum Young Gun, with his dam being a daughter of former Lanark champion Cairnam Talisman.

With an opening bid of 5,000gns, some quick back-and-forth bidding saw the ram soar over the 100,000gns mark before the hammer finally fell to successful bidders Hugh and Alan Blackwood, Auldhouseburn, and John Forsyth, Glenside.

The second-highest price was 50,000gns paid for Deveronvale Ace of Diamonds from Graham Morrison’s Aberdeenshire-based flock.

Sired by Millars Windbrook and out of a Scholars Twenty Twelve-bred daughter, she was secured by the breeder of the high-seller Charlie Boden.

Overall, 415 ram lambs sold to average a massive £2,702.

The strong lamb trade witnessed throughout the summer has helped to restore confidence in the sector, with not only the Texel breed reporting record highs.

Earlier this month, the Beltex society held its premier sale in Carlisle. It recorded a record ram price of 27,000gns, as well as hitting the highest numbers sold at sale in the breed’s history.

Setting the record was Richard Wood and family’s ram lamb Kingledores Crusader. This ram had been placed as the reserve male champion at this year’s Royal Highland Show.

Sired by Glantre Armani, Crusader is out of the noted Kingledores Pearl and was secured by Irish buyers Wade and Alison McCrabbe. More than 900 rams sold across the two days to an average price of £1,300.