It was undoubtedly a day for the Texels at the Kelso Ram Sales, with the breed securing several of top prices and the lead average for the highest number sold – albeit for fewer sold on the year.
In all, 547 registered shearling rams balanced out at £1844.20 – up £190.66 on the year with 44 fewer changing hands.
The breed also produced the day’s lead price of £35,000 when the shearling ram, Ettrick Gruffalo from father and son team, Gordon and David Gray, Sunnycroft, Selkirk. The duo also sold at £18,000 and £7000.
READ MORE | Kelso Ram Sales – Dawyck sells BFL for £18,000 centre record
READ MORE | Record breaking Kelso Ram Sales grosses £4m
Producing a new Kelso high for the Ettrick flock, this lad is a full ET brother to their 42,000gns lamb, Ettrick Grey Goose, sold last year at Lanark.
He is sired by Sadlerhead Fury, a tup bought out of Lanark for 1000gns and bred from a Midcombe Brigadier daughter. He was knocked down to Paul Slater, Whiteley Hey, Macclesfield.
Ettrick Gaucho by the same sire then made £18,000 selling down to Wales with Michael James, of the Duhonw flock, Neuadd-Blaenduhonw, Builth Wells. He is bred from a Claybury Dunkirk sired-ewe. First at the Great Yorkshire and Lesmahagow shows, he also bagged the championship at the pre-sale Texelplus Show.
Ettrick also received £7000 for another shearling from Norman and David Douglas, Catslackburn, Yarrow. A son of Claybury Dunkirk, this naturally bred ram, is a gimmer’s lamb.
Steven Renwick of the Craig Douglas flock from Glenrath, Peebles, sold the third highest priced Texel at £13,000 in a two-way split to Ted Fox, St John’s Kirk, Symington, and Jonathan Watson, Bowsden Moor Berwick-Upon-Tweed. He is sired by the £52,000 Midlock Express and out of a Sportsmans Cannonball daughter.
Texels from Harehead Farms managed by Neil Anderson, Cranshaws, Duns, reached a high of £10,000. Sired by the £6500 Mitchellhill Dynamo and bred from a Blackadder sired-dam, he sold down to Wales with Messrs Watkins, Hay-On-Wye.
Matching that £10,000 sale was a Strathbogie shearling from Jim Innes, Dunscroft, Huntly, purchased by Robert Rennie, Attonburn, Kelso, who got for his money an Ettrick Cocky Bob son bred from a ewe by Broomknowes Comrade.
The Gray family, Scrogtonhead, Galston, had an excellent day when they sold 28 Texel shearlings to average £2910.71 while their pen of 12 Suffolks cashed in at £1279.17.
Their Texel pen leader which made £9500 was a Midcombe Firefly son out of a Knock Brutus daughter. He was knocked down in a three-way split selling to Ian Hunter, Dalchirla, Crieff; Archie and John MacGregor, Allanfauld, Kilsyth; and Meikle and Ross Jackson, Wolfclyde, Biggar.
The same home sold another shearling at £7000. Sired by Midlock Flockstar, a tup that sold here last year for £22,000, with the Grays having used him as a lamb, he is out of another Brutus sired-dam. The buyers were Richard and Chris Thornton, Cornhills, Hexham.
Scrogtonhead also sold two shearlings at £6000 each. First was a Scrogtonhead Funky G son, bred from a Clinterty Yuga Khan daughter. Will Case and family, Plumpton Cottage, Newland, Cumbria, forked out the cash.
Oli Dean and family, Kirkhouse, Brampton, purchased the second £6000 ram, another by Firefly, bred from a Clinterty Yuga Khan sired-dam.
The Ingrams of the Logie Durno flock from Inverurie also enjoyed a phenomenal trade, selling 113 tups across various rings to average £1988.
Their lead Texel made £9000 when selling to Stuart Robson, Buckholm, Galashiels. A son of Logie Durno Braveheart, which has previously sired sons to 32,000gns, he is bred from a ewe bought at the Wilodge dispersal sale.
Just behind on £8500, Logie Durno sold their pre-sale champion in Ring 5, a son of the £40,000 Douganhill Extra Special, bred from one of their most consistent breeding ewes. He sold to Rodney Blackhall, The Green, Raemoir, Banchory.
Another by the same sire made £7500 when the hammer fell to R and B Smith, Slapton Manor, Towcester and two Logie Durno shearlings made £7000.
First was another Braveheart son purchased by RG and RA Jones, Robleston Hall, Pembrokeshire, with the second, by the Douganhill sire, selling Sue Cunliffe, Broughton Grange.
Andrew Provan of the Prime Star flock, Robiesland, Lanark, received £8500 for a son of Harehead Epic, a tup purchased here two years ago for £2800, whilst the dam is by Wester Walston Crackerjack. He was the pick of Jonathan Wales, Thackwood, Carlisle.
On the same price tag was a shearling ram from Malcolm Coubrough, Hartside, Lamington. His son of the 22,000gns Knock Eastwood, out of a Teiglum-bred ewe by Knock Yardsman sold jointly to Lanarkshire breeders, Jim and Andrew Gibb Toftcombs; James and Jamie Orr, Wester Walston and Iain Minto, Townhead.
Aberdeenshire breeder, Sandy Hunter of the Wedderburn flock, Huntly, was next in the money, selling a son of Claybury Dunkirk for £7200. He is bred from a Deveronvale Aftershock sired-ewe and stood first at the Textravaganza Show at Carlisle. The buyer was Martin Furness, Oldhall, Buxton.
Top price for Robert Laird, Cambwell, Biggar, was £7000, paid by Chris Timm, West Farm, Pickering, for a Deveronvale Fastrac son, out of a home-bred ewe by Cambwell Belter.
Martin Furness, Oldhall, was back in the buying seat at £6500, taking a shearling from Jonathan Watson, Bowsden Moor. A son of Wilodge Ex Factor, he is bred from a Pant Wolf daughter.
Midlock shearlings from Allan and Karen Wight and son Ben, Crawford, reached a high of £6200 when selling to Gerwyn Jones, Graig Goch, Conwy. Selling at this price was a son of the 32,000gns Claybury Dunkirk, bred from a home-bred ewe by Midlock Al Pacino.
The best from the Wester Walston pen of James and Jamie Orr, at £6000 was a son of the £20,000 Mitchellhill Diamond Star, out of a home-bred ewe by a £16,000 Blackadder tup. He travels to Ayrshire with the Gray family, Scrogtonhead.
Ram lambs peaked at £2200 from Donald MacPherson of the Hexel flock, Berwick upon Tweed. His Ballynahone Franco son, out of a a Coniston Equinox-bred dam, was knocked down to Andrew Pinney, Northampton.
Centre records were also achieved for an unregistered Texel shearling ram, when an entry from Stuart Robson, Buckholm, Galashiels made £6800 selling to Grant Runciman, Muircleugh. He is by an £8000 Dyke sire.
Averages: 547 registered shearling rams, £1844.20 (+£190.66 for 44 fewer sold); 39 registered ram lambs, £915.38 (+£178.31 for 19 fewer); 551 unregistered shearling rams, £1068.29 (+£108.88 for 20 fewer)
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here