SUPERIOR carcass sires were to the fore at the Hereford Cattle Society’s spring sale at Hereford, when several secured the top prices at a sale which met a 75% clearance rate for bulls and 87% clearance for heifers. 

Heading up the trade at 6600gns was Barwise 1 Mach One from Mrs Caroline Fletcher, Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria. The 25-month-old is an AI son of the Canadian-bred bull, Square-D Tortuga 953T, while his dam, Barwise 1 Anni-Fern is by the home-bred bull Bawrise 1 Wellington. Mach One sits in the top 1% of the breed for calving ease and retail beef yield, and was used on heifers prior to the sale. He caught the eye of Speir Farms, and heads to work in the Pepperstock herd at Luton, Bedfordshire. 

Following on at 6200gns was T and D Harrison’s junior champion and reserve male, Moralee 1 Novak, from the herd at Stocksfield, Northumberland. Shown successfully as a calf and knocked down to DJ Deaville, of the Alderville herd, Belper, Derbyshire, this 12-month-old is by Cornriggs 1 Knight Rider and out of the Greenyards 1 Dougie-sired Richmount 1 Katie-Perry. 

Another superior carcass sire, Fisher 1 Monarch from WJ Hutchings and Sons, Chichester, Sussex, realised 6000gns when sold to M Shaw for the Thornysure herd at Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. This reserve junior inter-breed champion at the South of England Show is backed by home genetics, sired by Fisher 1 Jaguar and out of a home-bred Susan by Yalgoo Boulder Z250. 

A Danish-bred bull was next in the trade stakes when SMH Liga 107L from LR and AM Ayre, South Molton, Devon, sold for 5000gns to local breeder, G Blandford, of the Bosa herd at Bosbury, Herefordshire. The breeding here includes Barbern 1 Gargantuan on to SMH Grace Sally, a Solpoll 1 Dynamite daughter. 

Judge David Smyth, of the County Down-based Magheraknock herd, backed his decision to secure the male champion for 4600gns. That was RA Bradstock and Partners’ Free Town Mentor, a Mara Humorous son bred out of a Border Benefactor D62 daughter. 

It was the female champion that led the heifer section when Pepperstock 1 Butterfly N293 from Speirs Farms sold to breed newcomer, W Shaw, Kirkby-Moorside, North Yorkshire, for 4100gns. This 15-month-old is the first heifer to sell by Pepperstock 1 Kinglsey – breed champion at Hertfordshire show in 2015 – and is out of Hilltow 1 Butterfly J5, herself by Badlingham Beefeater. 

Selling to Mrs R Williamson for her Wardle herd at Nantwich, Cheshire, for 3500gns was the reserve female, Dendor 1 Anna Mary 32 from the Jones family at Caersws, Powys. Born in September, 2015, out of a home-bred Hawkesbury 1 Prosper daughter, she is by SMH Euro 30E. 

Averages: 32 bulls, £3291.06 (-£123.77 for 13 fewer sold); 12 show heifers, £2515.63 (-£739.77 for seven fewer); nine unshown heifers, £1417 (-£210.50 for 16 fewer).