A new record price was hit at the annual Kelso ram sale, with a Texel ram selling for £65,000, £30,000 more than the previous record.

The top-priced Texel ram came from Jimmy and Donald MacGregor, Dyke Farm, Milton of Campsie. It was sold to a two-way split between John Elliot, Roxburgh Mains Kelso, and Ken Hodge’s Greenarch flock at Earlston. The UK record for a Texel shearling stands at £110,000.

The top price for a Bluefaced Leicester was £9,500 from T L Forest and Son Lowes Fell. Cross tups were in demand, with a top price of £,5800 going to Messrs Roots, Kilnford Croft, Dumfries, for a ram from the Taylors at Heatheryhall, Thankerton.

The one-day sale saw 3,536 rams under the hammer for an average of £970/head, up 39% on the 2019 sale.

The shearling averages were £1,045 for Beltex, £487 for Berrichon, £496 for Blue Texel, £1,247 for Bluefaced Leicester, £806 for Border Leicester, £320 for Charmoise, £658 for Charollais, £1,047 for Duth Texel, £438 for Hampshire Down, £449 for Lleyn, £731 for North Country Cheviot, £999 for Suffolk, £1,412 for Texel, £400 for Vendeen and £777 for crosses.

The biggest one-day ram sale in Europe saw over €4m (£3,430,245) spent on sheep. All auction sales took place in outdoor rings to comply with COVID-19 regulations. The sale was well attended after being cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19, the second time in its 180-year history.