The long trip south from Aberdeenshire to Bentham paid dividends for Ross Bros, Wardhead, Strichen, when they sold the second top priced lot at the mart's breeding sheep sale – a single black gimmer at £410 with other Half-breds at £305 and £300.
Ross Bros also sold Scotch Mule ewes to £182 with their run of 1-3 crops averaging £170. The firm's Lleyn cross ewes peaked at £195 to average £165.
While continental types met a more selective trade, the top price of £420 was paid for a pen of Beltex cross gimmers from Dan Towers, Curwen Hill.
First time vendor, Tom Cockburn, Kingside, Leadburn, topped the Cheviot Mule gimmers at £300 with a single, while others sold to £275 for a pen from JW Hall, Darnbrook, to average £244.77.
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North of England Mule gimmers reached £380 from DW and DM Elliott, Mungrisedeale purchased by I Edmondson, Ulverston, while the champion pen from Robinson and Ward, Carnforth, made £370 to the judge, Matt Harrison of Harrison Bros.
Demand for Mule ewes was stronger than in previous years, with the first prize pen from T and S Binns, Downham, reaching £255 to the judges, the Harris family of Warwickshire with other pens from the same home to £245. The second prize pen from Fox Farms, Clitheroe made £250.
Texel cross Cheviot ewes peaked at £300 for a single from Chris Slinger and Laura Eaton, Middleton, while commercial pens of Texel cross Mules were topped at £255 and £252 from Thomas Binns, Downham.
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