Bluefaced Leicester sale at Hawes reaches £45,000

With Mule ewe lamb prices well up on the year, such was the demand that 12 lambs sold at £10,000 during this 12-hour sale which saw the final lamb sold at 9pm. Raymond Lund, who retired from full-time duties earlier this year and was presented an engraved glass from the Society, kicked off the sale selling the shearlings and aged rams

Champion lamb from Andy Hunter, The Steel made £30,000 Scottish judges, Obie Sharp and Alan Rogerson, Lauder, found their champion in a lamb from Andy and Caroline Hunter’s Steel flock, Hexham, which had two lambs in the top six placings and also produced two of the lead four sellers at £45,000 and £30,000.

Full brothers, they are sired by the £25,000 Midlock Magic which has been casting his spell over the Steel and the Carry House flocks, breeding top Mule ewe lambs for the past couple of years. Midlock Magic was the sire of four of the pen’s nine top priced lambs which averaged a colossal £13,389.

Reserve male champion was this Carry House T1 lamb which later realised £20,000 The Steel’s champion lamb, which was also breed and inter-breed champion at Bellingham Show, is bred from a home-bred ewe by the P2 Spurrigg ram and made £30,000 when selling to Jim and Muriel Forbes of the Moosblues flock from Clunebeg, Killiecrankie, Perth.

The full brother, which stood fifth at the show, was knocked down at £45,000 when selling jointly to brothers Ian and Colin Campbell and their families for the Glenrath and Happrew flocks based near Peebles.

Another from the Carry House pen made £18,000 Another Magic son from the Steel flock made £14,000. He sold in a three-way split to Allan Wight, Midlock, Crawford; Finlay Robertson of the Beeches flock, West Calder; and Paul Fairburn, Marriforth.

Messrs Lord’s Hewgill pen also proved popular having produced the champion Mule ewe lambs at Hawes and Penrith. Their No 5, by the old Hewgill Z14 which sired many champion winning Mules, bred from a ewe that is the full sister to the £30,000 N1 Hewgill, made £35,000. Kirkby Stephen breeders Richard Hutchinson, Kirkby Redgate and George Shields, Skeughdale, were the final bidders.

Messrs Lord, Hewgill sold this lamb for £32,000 Hewgill’s pen leader by a £3000 Sealhouses tup bought last year, which was a son of the K1 Steel, made £32,000. The dam is the M39 Hewgill. Robbie Hallam, High Birkwith; Shaun Procter, Spurigg; the Wights of Midlock and; Malcolm and Gary Thornborrow, Easter Dawyck, Peebles, went in partnership to buy this lamb out of a the M39 Hewgill ewe.

The reserve champion was another Midlock Magic son, this time from Martyn Archer, Carry House, Hexham, who is dispersing his flock later in the year. Bred from a ewe by Carry House Ronaldo, he made £20,000 selling to the judge Obie Sharp, buying for her Newbigging Walls flock, Lauder.

Midlock T16 made £18,000 for the Wights The reserve champion goes back to the full sister of Carry House Jackpot, K42 Carry House, which was the mother to T38 Carry House – the pen’s No 6 lamb which made £18,000. He is by the Ronaldo ram and sold to Andy Hunter, Steel, and J Warnock, Coultermuir, Lanark.

Midlock enjoyed a good trade, with a top of £18,000 paid for the T16 Midlock, a son of the M1 Riddings, out of a ewe and former champion winner at the Royal Highland in 2019, by the L27 Midlock. The buyers were the Porters of the Riddings flock, W and D Lawson, Gragareth, and Messrs Ridley, Shitlington.

Second top price was £35,000 from Messrs Lord, Hewgill The pen leader from the Wights, by the Breck House tup bought last year and out of a M1 Riddings daughter, made £10,000 to Breck House Enterprises, York. Midlock also took £9000 for a lamb by the home-bred R26.

Marion and William Porter’s fourth prize lamb from the Skelgate flock – a son of the S1 Brennand the family’s Riddings flock bought last year out of Hawes for £12,000, bred from a £6000 Hewgill ewe, made £16,000 – sold to Jamie Pirie, Blarnavaid, Drymen.

Father-and-son duo Alec and Anders Brown’s Macqueston flock from Thornhill, Dumfries, also had a field day, securing a personal best of £10,000 for a lamb by the S6 Carry House, selling to J Carr, Camp Hill.

Tops from Alec and Anders Brown's Macqueston flock at £10,000 The Macqueston flock also saw another bid of £7500 for a son of their Farden S3,

Northern Ireland breeder Declan McKillop, of the Giants Causeway flock, picked up third prize with his Mistyburn Monty-sired lamb. Full brother to last year’s £9000 lamb and bred from a Popeye daughter, he made £10,000 selling to Sandy Ainslie, Linkshead.

averages: 527 sheep forward – ram lambs: £2571.70; shearling rams, £1624.00; aged rams, £1463.00; ewes, £900.00; gimmers, £567.00; ewe lambs, £496.60.

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Leading Prices

Ram lambs – J Hunter and Sons, £45,000, £30,000, £14,000, £9500, £6500, £5500, £4800, £3000; Messrs Lord, £35,000, £32,000, £8000, £5500, £5000, £3500, £3200; RD Archer and Son, £20,000, £18,000, £6000, £5200, £5000, £4200, £3800 x2, £3500; J Wight and Sons, £18,000, £10,000, £9000, £3800, £3200, £3000; M and W Porter, £16,000, £5000; J and A Brown, £10,000, £7500; A and D Mckillop, £10,000, £3800; G Loughery, £9500, £5800, £5500 x2; NC Marston, £9000, £5500, £5000, £4800, £4200, £3200, £3000 x2; WM Reed and Sons, £9000, £6500, £4500; E Fairburn and Sons, £9000, £4800; Messrs Lawson, £8000, £6000, £3500 x2; PL Heard, £7000; W and D Lawson and Son, £6500; JC and E Pedley & Sons, £6000; W Ridley, £5500; I Borthwick, £5000 x2, £3000; MW and CM Ridley, £5000, £4800, £4000; J Warnock and Sons, £4500; JA and R Caton, £4500, x2; WA and A Booth, £4500, £3800, £3600; J Allison and Sons, £4200, £3200, £3000; C Campbell, £4000, £3800; G and HR Shields, £3800 x2; JC Walker and Son, £3800; H Huddleston and Son, £3200; M Thornborrow, £3200; P Ayrton, £3200; R and L Browell, £3200; J Middleton, £3200; A and H Watson, £3200; WA and GR Sedgley, £3200.

Shearling rams – JA and R Caton, £7500, £1800; J Wight and Sons, £3000, £1900; Breck House Ent Ltd, £2800, £1500; WC Porter and Son, £2300, £1300; DIL Jones, £2000; JC and N Throup, £1700, £1300, £1200, x2; SD Thompson £1600; JL Cloughton and Son, £1500, £1000; KM and SM Sayer, £1300, £1100; K and A Woof, £1300, £1100; RJ Hargreaves, £1200; J Middleton, £1200 x2; Bank House Farms, £1200, £1100.

Leading Flock Averages

Flock (No) Average (£)

Ram lambs

The Steel (9) 13,389.00

Hewgill (8) 11,800.00

Carry House (10) 7170.00

Temain (4) 6575.00

West Biggins (4) 5625.00

Macqueston (4) 4925.00

Broomie Bank (3) 4333.00

Midlock (15) 4273.00

Happrew (3) 3433.00

Otterburn Lodge (6) 3300.00

Hundith (9) 3267.00

Giants Causeway (9) 3089.00

Highberries (17) 3088.00

Smearsett (7) 2842.00

Yelland (4) 2700.00

Shitlington (11) 2591.00

Skeughdale (5) 2560.00

Brennand (3) 2400.00

Gragareth (7) 2386.00

Coultermuir (3) 2367.00

Marriforth (10) 2300.00

Sealhouses (11) 2191.00

Asby Hall (7) 2186.00

Dawyck (6) 2160.00

Snab Green (4) 2150.00