A BUOYANT demand for quality park-type North Country Cheviots at the breed show and sale at Lockerbie, ensured all averages increased on the year and for more sold.

Shearling rams were particularly well sought after, hitting a top of £5000 with eight selling on or above the £3000 bracket, to produce a new record average just shy of £1000 – up £109 on the year and for 11 more sold.
The record entry of park females also sold well with all section averages showing improvements.
Top price in this section was £460 per head paid for a pen of five gimmers from David Matthewson’s Soutra flock at Blackshiels, Pathhead, purchased by Messrs Beech, Ormerley, Findern Lane, Burnaston, Derby.
“Shearling rams made a tremendous trade today and the average is as high as it has ever been,” said Harrison and Hetherington auctioneer, Michael Stewart.
“There has been a huge rush towards white faced sheep and that was evident here with buyers from as far north as Shetland and as far south as Devon.”
It was Scott Davies’ flock from North Synton, Ashkirk, Selkirk, which secured the top two lead prices, and the best flock average of £2008 for 12, with all bar five attracting four-figure prices. Achieving his best average to date, Scott also produced the pre-sale winning group of three, which in turn lifted the top three prices in his Synton consignment.
Sale leader was the No 3 shearling, a son of Hownam Grange Send Off, a tup bought two years ago, out of a home-bred ewe. He sold to Philiphaugh Estate, Selkirk, for the 500-ewe Cheviot flock managed by Alan Cowens.
Just behind at £4500 was Synton’s second through the ring, purchased by Roderick ‘Rocket’ Runciman who runs 700 pure Northies at Allanshaws, Galashiels.

The Scottish Farmer:
His new kid on the block is backed by Synton genetics, being bred from a home-bred ewe and sired by Synton Toronto, which was used as a lamb at home before selling to Richie Strawhorn’s Broomhillbank flock at Lockerbie, last year for £4500, after standing reserve champion.
The fourth shearling from Mr Davies which formed the winning group of three was knocked down for £3000 to Andrew Pate, Nettingflat, Heriot, Midlothian. He is by Allanshaws Obama, and out of a home-bred ewe.
Synton sold a further two tups at £2800 to include Synton Vagabond, the third prize single by Allanshaws Special Blend – purchased in 2015 for £6000 – to AG McNeil of the Kilvaddy flock at Taylorstown, Ballymena, Co Antrim.
Matching that price was a son of Gilston The Golfer, purchased by breed president and pre-sale judge, Willie Thomson, who farms at Hownam Grange, Kelso.
Securing a personal best for their flock, Billy and Kate Allen, son Dallas and daughter Ruth, who run 550 park and 950 hill-type ewes, alongside 60 pedigree Aberdeen-Angus cows at Stouphill and Humbleugh, Alnwick, received £4000 for the pre-sale champion.

The Scottish Farmer:
Their tup, a son of Allanshaws Nutmeg, which has bred prize winning females and some impressive sons, is out of ewe by Nun Cote Mowhawk. Forking out the cash were Northumberland breeders, Chris and Janet Watmore, Low Farnham, Sharperton, Morpeth.
The Allens also received £3000 and £2500. Dearest was a son of Philiphaugh Renaissance which headed across the water to Ireland with Messrs Armstrong, Leam House, Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
Just behind at £2500 was an entry by Synton Ringmaster – the inter-breed champion at the Highland Show in 2016 – which sold to Messrs Henshaw, Park End Farm, Cheshire.
Peter Hedley, Swinside, Townfoot, Oxnam, who runs 400 pure Northies and a further 600 for crossing to the Bluefaced Leicester, also enjoyed a good day when he sold his best at £4000.

The Scottish Farmer:
His sale leader, Overacres Van Nistelrooy, which is by the £1100 Hownam Grange Peter Pan and out of a home-bred ewe, went home with Scott Davies, North Synton.
On the other side of the coin, Mr Hedley purchased Nun Cote Nook Velcro for £2500 from Keith Stones’ 250-ewe flock at Marrick, Richmond. This tup is by Kinaldy Krugerrand, a sire which has bred several show winning ewe lambs.
The Nun Cote flock also produced a £2200 shearling, when a son of Hownam Grange Lancelot – a tup that bred the £3200 record priced ewe lamb at Lockerbie, in February – sold to Willie Thomson and his father Jimmy, Hownam Grange.
Having bought the second top priced lot, Roderick Runciman’s Allanshaws flock was back in the black with four at big money – £3500, £2800, £2200 and £2100.
Top price here was Allanshaws Vivaldi, a red ticket winner at Dalkeith Show this year. He is by Stobshiel Star – a tup that stood first in his class as an aged tup at the Highland and the National Show at Kelso as a three-shear – and out of a ewe by the £3500 Synton Nevada.

The Scottish Farmer:

The buyers were Messrs Jones, Blaen Bach, Fron, Wales.
Selling for £2800 to Peter Hedley for his Overacres flock at Swinside, Oxnam, was Allanshaws Vital Spark, a son of Shoestanes Silver Star, out of a dam by Smiddyquoy Nugget, a sire which has bred sons to £5000. Vital Spark stood second at this year’s National show.
Gordon Dun, Gilston, Heriot, then paid £2200 for another son of Stobsheil Star, Allanshaws Van Damme, which stood first prize shearling at Peebles this year. He is out of an £1800 Brockhouse Bronco-sired mother.
Financing that transaction, Mr Dun received £2220 for his No 2 shearling, a son of Wandylaw President, also purchased by Scott Davies, North Synton.
The last of Rocket’s shearlings to sell above the £2000 bracket was Allanshaws Va Va Voom, a son of Carruthers Rio, which sold for £2100 to Messrs Jordan, Moortown, Chagford, Newton Abbot.
Top price for Innes Graham’s Carruthers flock from Waterbeck, Lockerbie, was £3000 paid for a shearling by Linburn Preacher, purchased by Jane Jackson, Ericstane, Moffat.
Mr Graham, with help from his nephew Jack, also received £2500 for a Humbleheugh son from Messrs Beech, Ormeley.
On the debit side, Carruthers bought the dearest lot from the Philiphaugh flock at £2200. That was a son of Allanshaws So Solid.
David Matthewson, Soutra, Pathhead, was back in the money amongst the shearlings when the best from his pen, a second prize single, sold for £2800.
By Synton Rory Mc, the sire which bred last year’s sale leader at £6500, and out of a home-bred ewe, he was knocked down to Messrs Westwalls, Boulsworth End Farm, Lancashire.
Making £2600 when selling to the Allens, Humbleugh, was George Milne’s Kinaldy VIP from Kinaldy, St Andrews. His pen leader by Linton 250, bought in 2015, stood first at the Highland and male champion at the National Show this year.

averages:

174 shearling rams, £987.53 (+£109.31 for 11 more); 314 ewe lambs, £138.46 (+£22 for 132 more); 567 gimmers, £206 (+£16 for 80 more); 304 ewes, £137.70 (+£31.11 for 97 more).

OTHER leading prices:

Shearling rams – £2000 – D Walton’s Wandylaw Vampire, by Overacres Ryan, to Tegsnose Livestock, Cheshire; W and J Thomson’s Hownman Grange Va Va Voom, by a Gilston sire, to King and Sons, Gospel Hall, Jedburgh; D Matthewson, by Synton Rory Mc, to Messrs Shorrock, Hole House, Burnley, Lancashire; J Burton’s IIlamtops 1788, by Carruthers Syd, to W and J Thomson, Hownam Grange.
£1900 – R Runciman’s Allanshaws Vanilla Ice, by Shoestanes Silver Star, to Messrs Bell and Son, Hilltop, Keswick, Cumbria.