A large crowd gathered in Blessington Livestock Mart for the annual all-star Suffolk sale that included the complete dispersal of the Errigal flock.

With 108 catalogued lots, there was very active ringside bidding leading to an overall clearance rate of 98%.

Topping the sale at €4,200 was an upstanding shearling ewe from the Kilmacoo flock of Brian Doyle.

She was the result of the combination of Solwaybank Major and a homebred Kilmacoo ewe.

She was sold scanned with twins to the 2024 NI sire of the year Sportsmans Masterplan and was picked up by Richard Thompson of the Ballinatone flock after fierce ringside bidding.

The Kilmacoo flock hit the headlines again with their next top-priced shearling ewe selling €4,000. She was again scanned in-lamb to Sportsmans Masterplan.

It was John Oakman that made the final bid on this Strathbogie A Kind of Magic daughter.

The Wicklow-based Kilmacoo flock sold a total of four shearling ewes to give them the top pen average of the day at €2,725.

Also, hitting the €4,000 mark with a shearling ewe was Alan Kilpatrick of the Convoy flock.

This massive shearling ewe was sired by Cairnton Chaos and scanned carrying a single to Crewelands Red Bull.

It was well-known Suffolk breeder John Molloy that picked up this powerful ewe. Kilpatrick sold a total of six in-lamb shearling ewes to give him a strong pen average of €2,150.

Errigal dispersal

Included in the sale was the entire female portion of Seamus Browne’s Errigal flock.

There was a total of 75 Errigal lots made up of stock ewes, shearling ewes and ewe lambs. Bidding remained swift thorough the dispersal with a 100% clearance.

The top-priced Errigal lot was a powerful 2021-born stock ewe that was a daughter of 23,000gns Limestone Gold Rush.

She was scanned in-lamb carrying a single to Errigal Simply the Best. After strong ringside bidding, auctioneer John Doyle knocked her down to Mark Priesty of the well-known Limestone flock.

Browne sold a total of 50 stock ewes to average €1,361/head.

With a slightly smaller number of in-lamb shearling ewes from the Errigal flock the demand remained high.

The top-priced shearling sold for €2,400 to Eamonn Duffy. She was scanned carrying twins to 23,000gns Limestone Gold Rush.

The small entry of six shearling ewes sold very consistently to average €1,375.

Ewe lambs

The ewe lamb section was topped by a smart January-born Errigal ewe lamb. She was a daughter of Errigal Bahama Breeze and she sold for €3,000 to Donegal man Joe Marley.

A total of 19 ewe lambs were sold from the Errigal flock to average €1,045.