Both buyers and sellers where not deterred by storm Darragh from attending the West Region Texel Club in-lamb sale held at Roscommon Mart. Judge for the evening was Galway man Pat Lyons of the Turoe flock. He had no easy task, with 60 in-lamb shearling ewes present and 15 high-end ewe lambs.

High-end ewe lambs

Lyons’ overall champion of the pre-sale show was a stand out ewe lamb from the Galway-based Recess flock of Patrick Joyce. This prize-winning ewe lamb was a direct daughter of the 2023 All-Ireland reserve male champion, Knockhill Great Expectation. It was Daire Cregg’s bid at €1,500 that was successful in picking up the show champion.

The demand for ewe lambs continued throughout the sale, with the sale topper also coming from the ewe lamb section. The Claybury Dunkirk-sired lamb was exhibited by Jarlath Joyce of the Connemara flock and sold for €1,680 to Jonathan Kenny.

The next top-priced ewe lamb of the night was from the Brideswell flock of Malachy and Eugene Hand. She was sired by well-known Sportsmans Dare Devil and was picked up by Kerryman Adam Heffernan for €1,400.

A full sister to the €13,000 Annaghdown Goldfinger was offered for sale from well-know Texel breeder Brian Divilly. This strong ewe lamb with a super family line was knocked down to Anthony Rowland for €1,220.

In-lamb shearling ewes

Continuing on from their strong ewe lamb sale were Malachy and Eugene Hand, topping the in-lamb shearling section at €1,280. The Greenhill Fionn MacCumhaill-sired ewe was scanned in-lamb with twins to Brideswell Gladiator and sold to new breeder Brian McDonagh. Following closely behind was another Greenhill Fionn MacCumhaill daughter for the Roscommon duo. She was also scanned in-lamb with twins to Brideswell Gladiator and was purchased by Carlow breeder Martin Doyle for €1,260. Demand was high both at the ringside and online, with 13 in-lamb shearling ewes breaching the €1,000 mark on the night and an overall clearance rate of 90% achieved.