Carlisle – Traditional – 7th October 2022

Carlisle – Friday 7th October, 2022

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The final instalment for the Bluefaced Leicester sale season on the mainland and as a manic season draws to a close, there were still plenty of fireworks still to go off as buyers and sellers from all over the UK flocked to Borderway Mart at Carlisle, which saw the biggest sale of the year for the breed with 972 sheep catalogued to go under the hammer through the three sale rings in operation. A day which set off in torrential rain and finished in glorious sunshine, had plenty of highlights for the sellers there.

The Traditional section of the sale has been building up and regaining lost ground over the past few years and trade has been strong at all the sales this year, with demand for these clean sheep very high as the Cheviot mule rides on a crest of a wave fuelling the increased confidence in the sheep. Topping the days trade for the sale as a whole was a stonking lamb from the Espley flock run by Michael and Nicky Gray, Morpeth with their one and only entry at the sale. He took the days championship ticket, after being judged by Peter Forster, who had some very strong tup classes to cast his eye over, whilst Stuart Nelson was at the reins for the female section. The champion lamb was by a Logie Durno tup, a son of the £5500 Burndale K1 bought out of Builth, that they bought privately as a tup shearling last year and is proving to be a worthwhile investment. His mother is a sheep that they showed as a gimmer lamb and a shearling, picking up prizes along the way, and is from a strong line of good females. Bidding was fast and furious for this lamb, with the bids flowing in fast and when the hammer landed at £23,000 it eclipsed the previous best from the Espley flock by some amount, with their previous best £9500 that they got at Builth a few years back, quite a highlight for this flock which has been breeding Blues and sticking to big strong type of sheep for the past 20 years. Taking the tup lamb home was Alan McClymont to his Kirkstead flock, who was smiling at his purchase, despite being unable to hold the boys back when it came to the bidding!

Next highest in the Traditional ring went to one of the oldest flocks in the breed, who were breeding Bluefaced Leicester’s even before the flock books came out! Father and son team of Joseph and Andrew Hewson’s Parton flock from Burgh by Sands, Carlisle, which runs to around 50 ewes, took a personal best when they sold their first lamb for £9000 to Martin Quinn, Whinnyhall. Brought out by shepherd Stephen Taylor, it is by an old Towdy Potts tup they bought out of Carlisle many moons ago and is now still going strong, with a perfect mouth, at 7 years old, and is behind the breeding of most of the flock now. His breeding has reached far into the breed, with the 1^st prize old tup at the sale, which sold for £3000 for Watersyke, by him and another grandson from fetching £3500 from the same flock.

Another of the old flocks starred as the famous Woodcroft flock, who lamb around 20 ewes, from Weardale enjoyed a cracking trade, kicking of with their first tup making a thousand and then the next two climbed after that with the second making £3800 and the next hitting £4500. They were all got with the P1 Towdy Potts, a lamb that they bought last year for £4500. The one at £3800, R2 Woodcroft was out of a gimmer shearling by the M4 Towdy Potts and sold to DW Williams Anglesey, after having stood reserve champion at this year’s Wolsingham show. The other was the same way bred but headed the other direction up to Girvan with Messrs Currie, Pinclanty loading him up and taking him home.

Traditional Type – Sale Averages 

10 Aged Rams                                    £1181.00

59 Shearling Rams                             £  619.66
218 Ram Lambs                                  £  812.94
20 Aged Ewes                                     £  403.50

11 Shearling Gimmers                       £  568.18

12 Ewe Lambs                                    £  375.83