Carlisle Traditional Type Ram & Female Sale

Carlisle Traditional Type Sale – Friday 8th October 2021

Kindly Sponsored by Allflex UK Group & Natural Stockcare

The curtain finally fell on the autumns’ trading in the Bluefaced Leicester circles and after a lot of successful sales and several thousand rams finding new homes, it was the turn of the Carlisle sale, which combines some of the best sheep from both sections of the breed and with nearly 950 sheep catalogued through 3 different rings it was always going to be a busy day for everyone involved, from the vendors to the inspectors, buyers, auctioneers and more importantly the photographer!! When the dust settled at the end of the sale, there was a sense of satisfaction throughout the sale with averages well up throughout all sections, highlighting the buoyancy of the sheep sector, and the breed, which is the focal point for a large part of the national flock.

Topping the day’s trade was the day’s champion from Scott & Claire Thomason with their cracking ram lamb, Piel View P2, a natural twin to the sale topper from Builth Wells a couple of weeks back. By the N2 Kildalloig bought last year and out of the flocks’ favourite ewe…..well she certainly is now anyhow, by the J9 Kirkstead. It caught the judges’ eye early in the show, being picked out early and standing at the top of the line from the very start. It caught the eye of many of the buyers looking for fresh tups and the bidding in the sale ring raced away sharply, with the hammer dropping at £10,000 with Dereck Henderson being persuaded by son David to dig deep into his pocket to clinch one of the best lambs seen in Carlisle for some time according to some breeders. As at Builth, the Piel View flock was full of quality and they saw their second lamb hit £6000. This one was by the Burndale N20 which was purchased out of Carlisle last year and the dam is by F9 Piel View which won the Great Yorkshire Show. This one will be making its new home in Annan after PJ Armstrong was the last bidder for this strong lamb.

Margaret Suddes enjoyed a great trade with her much-admired pen of lambs. It was her third lamb that hit the high notes with a £6000, a personal best for the Towdypotts flock, which runs 19 ewes, which was set up after her good neighbour and mentor Frank Johnson, Ashes, gave her a pet lamb 15 years since. The lamb was full of Ashes breeding as he is by an Ashes lamb that she purchased last year at Hexham for £3200, proving to be a bargain. He is out of a great breeding homebred ewe by the G2 Burndale, she has already bred the flocks highest price tup which sold for £3200 a couple of years back. This corker of a lamb sold to Philliphaugh estates. The first lamb in the Towdypotts run, again by the N2 Ashes fetched £4500, selling to Messrs Peart, Woodcroft. This was out of a ewe by K2 Howlea.

A brace of lambs hit bids of £3500, as the quality of stock on offer reflected the demand for the Traditional sheep. The first at this mark was from the well respected Middle Dukesfield flock, one of the oldest flocks in the breed, run by Alec and Claire Bisset, with some great bloodlines flowing through them. Their pen topper was by N11 Lowes Fell, a purchase from the Hexham sale for £2100 and out of a ewe by Myfrian J1 which has done well within the flock. This one headed for a long ride down into Devon as he was bought by B Nicholls, Parracombe. The other to hit £3500 came from the Low Arkland flock very late in the sale, as buyers started to dig deep for the last few lambs available. This once again had Lowes Fell bloodlines running through, sired by L10 Lowes Fell, purchased out of Kelso, and out of a Myfyrian bred ewe by G2 Street. He was purchased by Logie Durno, whilst its twin brother went on to sell for £500, not a bad output for the ewe.

The second prize ram lamb from the Mendick flock from John Dykes who has been breeding Leicesters for 40 years and is still as keen as ever, running to 35 ewes. Its his first-time selling lambs and it was justified as his lamb raced to £3200. This one was by Burndale N2 bought last year for £2400 out of a ewe by K5 Burndale. This one was purchased by Messrs Clark & Son, Avisyard, Cumnock.

The top priced shearling was shown and bred by Stuart Nelson, with his first prize tup shearling which sold for £3000. This smart lad was by the £6000 M1 Kirkstead, going back to the G1 Burndale and out of a Burndale bred ewe by the old C1 Bonvilston which Stuart bought for 320gns at the in-lamb sale in 2020 at Carlisle He sold to Messrs Wauchob, Newton Stewart. Stuart enjoyed a great day’s trade, selling his 4^th prize shearling for £2000 and reinvested some of this money by buying the 1^st prize ewe, which went on to take the days reserve championship, from Dewi Williams from the Blackett House flock, shelling out £1000 for the four-year-old ewe.

Traditional Type

1 Aged Rams                                                     £1700.00

37 Shearling Rams                                          £942.97

227 Ram Lambs                                               £734.49

13 Aged Ewes                                                   £559.23

25 Shearling Gimmers                                  £455.20

3 Ewe Lambs                                                     £493.33