Hawes – 2nd October 2025

Hawes – Thursday 2nd October 2025

Kindly Sponsored by I’Anson Bros Ltd & Castle Farm Vets

Never mind Storm Amy, it was a case of Storming Blues as the strong trade in the mule gimmers and sheep section came to the boil at Hawes. An astonishing 22 lots, 10 more than last year, hit five figures. Despite there being around 70 extra lambs forward the average was up just shy of £20 to level at £2588 for the 512 lambs forward.

Topping the trade was the 4^th prize tup lamb V1 Mcffi, from Carwyn & Maria Richards, along with son Iestyn, making just their third trip to Hawes as sellers. Their 6 hour trip from the depth of Wales proved worthwhile as buyers flocked to the pen all day. This powerful lamb is no stranger to the show ring, taking first prize at the Royal Welsh Show earlier this summer. His full sister took 1st prize at the Highland Show last year as a gimmer lamb too. He was sired by the £8000 S1 Temain, bought out of Hawes a couple of years back, a son of the Beeches Wingman, and his mother is out of a ewe bought from Michael James’s Duhonw flock and by a Riddings sire, so he is full of great bloodlines on both sides. Selling the tup was the legendry figure of Raymond Lund, who didn’t miss a bid all day, especially on this one, and his hammer fell, after a bit of coaxing for that final bid or two, at £40,000, selling in a four-way split over the border into Scotland with Blarnavaid, Drumbeg Farms, Hamildean and Happrew all joining forces to land him. The fun wasn’t over just yet for the Mcffi flock as his full brother went through the ring at £7000, taking the flock average to £23,500, giving the family a dream of a day.

Amy Campbell, Glenrath, enjoyed a fine day too, making a personal best for her 30 strong flock, established 11 years ago with 2 ewes, in the hills of the Scottish Borders. This natural, April born lamb was by the T2 Steel, the top price at Hawes last year, which she bought, along with the Happrew flock, for £45,000 and out of a gimmer by the Monygran R21. Amys previous best was 5 years ago, when she sold a lamb for £6000, but this lamb went a lot further, with a trio of breeders, G Loughery, I Montgomery and T Butler shelling out £35,000 for his services. The Glenrath pen levelled at £12,400 for her trio of lambs.

A brace of lambs hit £28,000, with the first of these from the Cottage flock, with Jimmy and Rachel enjoying a great trade throughout their pen, after a successful showing season, taking numerous championships. Their pen leader, which stood third in the pre-sale show, is full of style and presence. He is by the Tarnthorne S5 tup, full of great mule bloodlines including H5 Gragareth, G35 Midlock, way back to W1 Keer, which they bought a half share in privately from the Aryton family, Abbeystead, and has done well for them, producing some cracking mule lambs. His mother, is by the P24 Riddings, which has been the most consistent mule breeder for the Cottage flock over the past few years, and is the full sister to S1 Cottage which was sold to West Biggins and Hundith a couple of years back. With all these bloodlines running through a great looking tup there were always going to be buyers queuing up for the breeding, and it was Midlock who had the deepest pockets to seal the deal. Their third lamb in the ring was very similarly bred and sold for £10,000 to David Lawson, Gragareth. Cottage also saw a bid of £7000 for the fifth prize lamb, this one by the £16,000 Drummuck, bought out of Ballymena last year, and proving to be a good breeder. This all helped Jimmy and Rachel to level out at £10,150 for their five lambs.

The next to make £28,000 came late in the day, long after the sun had set, and was from the noted Hewgill flock, which had a great run of mules again this year, winning at Hawes. This tall, powerful tup was by a homebred lamb, T23 Hewgill, that they retained last year, by the Sealhouses, which has been doing so well for them. T23 Hewgill had 3 lambs in the Champion pen at Hawes this year. He was knocked down to Paul Brown, Oak House. Hewgill also sold a son of the Sealhouses, out of the full sister to the £40,000 Hewgill tup, for £12,000, selling to Alec & Anders Brown, Macqueston and John Park, Forebrae.

Earlier in the day the Shitlington pen enjoyed a bumper trade, following on from their cracking show of mule gimmers at Hexham, where they set a centre record for a pen of 25, selling for £350. Their pen leader, Shitlington V1 was by the 32,000gns Skelgate bought out of Carlisle last year after winning the Champion there. He is out of a homebred ewe by the homebred Shitlington Redneck, which goes back to Kirkby Redgate breeding. He was taken home by Shaun Procter and Gavin White, who forked out £22,000 for him. The Shitlington pen also saw another five figure sale, when their second lamb, by S2 Riddings out of a Cottage sired ewe was knocked down for £10,000. The Shitlington pen sold well through the run, levelling at £5145 for 12 tup lambs sold.

Late in the day, Midlock went through the ring, which was packed solid to the rafters to watch one of the best pens of lambs of the day through. The pen never fails to produce the goods, which more often than not go on to do the business for the buyers too, so it was no surprise to see them have a smashing trade, with five tups smashing the five figure barrier. The first saw the Richards family from Wales reinvest some of their money from their earlier sale, landing the pen leader, V1 Midlock, a son of the £32,000 T1 Hewgill bought last year.  They paid £18,000 for him. The next two lambs by the Hewgill fetched £10,000 and £14,000. All of them out of ewes by the M1 Riddings. They also saw a bid of £13,000 for a son of the M1 Riddings, which went to Neil & Mary Marston, Highberries and McQuiston, Barnshangan. Midlock also saw a sale of £11,000 for a son of the £16,000 Steel they bought last year, with Tom Willoughby the purchaser.

The Reed family, West Biggins, also set a personal best for the flock after they sold their first lamb for £17,000. This was by the S1 Cottage, similar breeding to the Cottage tup sold later in the day and out of a ewe by the great Midlock G34. The Cottage tup has done exceptionally in the mules, with one in the Champion pair at Alston Show and a couple in the top pen at Hexham too. He was bought in a three way share by Hartside, Dawyck & Coultermuir

There was a good solid trade all day for the lambs, and in the old tups too there has to be a special mention for Carry House Ronaldo, who was sold back in 2021 for £28,000 and has bred exceptionally for Martyn, who retained a share in him as well as the Temain and Mistyburn flocks. He was a big lamb when sold but has swelled out and is still full of power and type. With Martyn retiring, the tup was back on the market and sold for £9000 to Oxnop, Emmets and Firbanks flock.

Ram Lambs

Lot 255 – 4^th Prize Ram Lamb £40000 from C&M Richards, Penyback to D Gray, Drumbeg Farms Ltd, C Campbell, M Pirie and T Dick & Son.

Lot 331 £35000 from A Campbell, Glenrath Farm to G Loughery, T Butler & I Montgomery

Lot 567 £28000 from Messrs Lord, West Dowgill to P Brown

Lot 249 – 3^rd Prize Ram Lamb £28000 from J Bell, Birniehall Farm to Midlock Farms Ltd

Lot 121 £22000 from MW&CM Ridley, Shitlington Hall to S Procter and HW&G White

Lot 528 £18000 from Midlock Farms Ltd to CC&M Richards

Lot 105 £17000 from WM Reed & Sons, Lands Farm to J Warnock & Sons, Hartside Farms and M Thornborrow

Lot 286 £15000 from G Loughery, Limavady to T Dick & Son, JK Hunter, A McArthur and F Robertson

Lot 358 £15000 from CT&JE Willoughby, Wood End to PG Mullan

Lot 530 £14000 from B Wight, Midlock from D Cowie, CR&ES Millican and JK Hunter

Lot 627 £14000 from J Buckle, Buckles Farm from MW&CM Ridley.

Shearling Rams

Lot 20 – 4^th Prize Shearling Ram £5000 from Ellis Bros, Cragg House Farm to WM&C Wallace

Lot 39 £4200 from Breck House Enterprise Ltd to WJ&LA Barker

Lot 38 £4000 from Breck House Enterprise Ltd to J&JA Burrow

Lot 32 – 1^st Prize Shearling Ram £3600 from JC&N Throup, Berwick Intake Farm to R&E Cowperthwaite

Lot 65 £3200 from NC Marston, Millstone Moor Farm to RJ&AY Armstrong

Lot 24 – 3^rd Prize Shearling Ram £3200 from CD&RF Kitching, Grisedale Farm to R Wood & Son

Lot 4 £3000 from Midlock Farms to J&I Whitaker

Lot 67 £2800 from NC Marston, Millstone Moor Farm to CJ&JM Scarr

Lot 55 £2600 from C&JC Stephenson, Pikestone to S&RJ Calvert

Lot 41 £2400 from Breck House Enterprise Ltd to S&D Robinson

Aged Rams

Lot 8 £9000 from RD Archer & Son, Carry House to JW Porter & Sons, AC&K Pye & Son and AB Troughton

Lot 58 £5500 from R&PE Hargreaves & Sons, Meadow Bank to W&M Buckle

Lot 62 £3800 from R&PE Hargreaves & Sons, Meadow Bank to W&M Buckle

Lot 59 £3000 from R&PE Hargreaves & Sons, Meadow Bank to RS Harker & Son

Lot 55 – 1^st Prize Aged Ram £2600 from C&JC Stephenson, Hazel Row to S&RJ Calvert

Lot 61 £2200 from R&PE Hargreaves & Sons, Meadow Bank to RMS Livestock Ltd

Lot 71 £1800 from K Adams, Potter House to WI&AM Atkinson

Lot 64 £1600 from NC Marson, Millstone Moor Farm to F Brown

Gimmer Lambs

Lot 687 – Champion Female & Reserve Overall Champion £1800 from A McKillop, Cushendall to PL Heard

Lot 688 – 2^nd Prize Female £1200 from A McKillop, Cushendall to R Steel

Lot 694 £1100 from RJ Fallows & Sons, Cockrig Farm to T Dick & Son

Averages 

Aged Rams – Av. £2353 for 14 sold

Shearling Rams – Av. £1489 for 49 sold

Ram Lambs – Av. £2588 for 512 sold

Gimmer Lambs – Av. £757.50 for 10 sold