Midlock Texel takes top bid of £23,000 at Kelso

A STRONG trade for Texels was set early on in the day when the second lot in Ring 9 produced the day’s overall top price of £23,000, which coupled with several other impressive four-figure prices ensured overall averages again improved on the year. 
As with other sections, it was the flashier sheep that attracted the buyers and were keenly bid for, with anything of a lesser quality not quite up to the mark for the increasing numbers of pedigree buyers looking to secure stock rams, struggling to make more than £1000. 
That said, 24 rams sold at or above the £3000 mark and a number of breeders achieved their best trade at Kelso, with many of these even doubling or tripling their previous best. 
Hitting the high note within the first 15 minutes of the sale was the first through from the Midlock pen, and while the boys, Allan snr, Allan jnr and son Ben, get the credit in Bluefaced Leicester and Blackface circles, it’s Karen that takes the kudos within the Texel breed. 
Their sale leader is by a home-bred ram that sold for £1800 here last year, which was in turn by the 18,000gns Sportsmans Unbeatable that has bred lambs to 7000gns and shearlings to 6000gns. Bred out of a home-bred daughter of the 10,000gns Douganhill Monarch that has done well for Scrogtonhead, this strapping lad was third at the Highland Show as well as second at both Biggar and Lesmahagow shows. 
“He’s a real Texel type, showing plenty of size and power with the conformation to match,” said Mike Alford, who bought him in partnership with wife, Melanie, for their Foxhill Farm flock, in Devon, as well as John Elliot, for his Kelso-based Roxburgh flock, and Jonathan Watson, for his Brijon flock at Bowsden Moor, Berwick. 
The Wights, together with shepherds, Iain Clark and Brian Gilchrist, received a further £5000 for their next lot through the ring, a son of the 19,000gns Deveronvale Warrior, and sold 17 shearlings to average £2423.53. 
The £5000 shearling is an ET brother to the 24,000gns Midlock Yorkie lamb sold at Lanark last year, being out of a Teiglum Thunder daughter that also produced a 22,000gns lamb this year. 
Forking out the cash was one of the under bidders on the previous lot, Brian McAllister, buying for the Artnagullion flocks of Texel, Beltex, Charollais and crosses he runs with son William, and daughter Elizabeth, near Ballymena, Northern Ireland. 
Up next were two at £9000, with the first of these from John and Ed Campbell’s Rosebrough flock, from Chathill, Alnwick, selling to Jeff and Jennifer Aiken, buying for Procters Farm, Slaidburn, Lancashire. Despite selling at Kelso for 39 years, this was the first year John, wife Mairi and children Ed and Camilla, have sold from their own flock following the division of John and brother Ian’s Thrunton flock earlier this year.
As a result, the shearling was registered under the Thrunton prefix and later named Thrunton Younique by the Aikens. Second in the pre-sale show, he is by the 3400gns Forkins Viagra bought at Carlisle and out of a ewe by the £10,000 Scrogtonhead Powerhouse that topped the trade here back in 2010. 
Steven Renwick’s Craig Douglas flock was the other to receive £9000, for one of the first crop of rams by the 4000gns Haddo Whisky Galore bought at Lanark. 
This lad, which more than doubled Steven’s previous best of £4200, is out of a Sportsmans Unbeatable daughter from the 30-ewe flock now based at Glenrath, Peebles. He saw the hammer fall to AE Williams and Sons, Follybank, Craven Arms. 
The same sire was behind a further two sales at £4800 and £4200, which helped Steven achieve the best average of the day for all breeds of £2927.53 for eight shearlings. 
The dearest of these was out of a Teiglum Nevada daughter and sold to Watson Pringle on behalf of Alistair Warden, Skelfhill and Cavers Lea, Hawick, while selling for £4200 to John Connel, Wanton Walls, Lauder, was one out of an Ettrick Tam o’Shanter daughter. 
Smashing a previous top price of £1800 for Iain Minto, Townhead, West Linton, when selling at £8000 was the first through the sale ring by the £5500 Scrogtonhead Vulcan, a tup bought here in partnership with James Orr, Wester Walston, in 2015. 
Selling in a two-way split to Professor Penny’s Harehead flock managed by Neil Anderson, and Neil Harvey’s Blackadder flock, both near Duns, he is out of a home-bred ewe by a Bridgehouse tup from the 40-strong flock of Texels run alongside Bluefaceds and Blackfaces at Townhead. 
Having paid for a share of the £23,000 Midlock tup, Jonathan Watson balanced his books by selling 34 shearlings to level at £1338.24, with a top of £7000 paid by John Scott for a shearling that will ‘add a bit of sparkle’ to his breeding programme that produces grass-fed rams for an on-farm sale at Fearn Farm, Tain. 
This champion from the pre-sale show in Ring 5, which was named Brijon Yukon and was used as a lamb, is by the Haymount Vava Voom tup bought a couple years ago while the dam is by Brackenridge Strongbow.
Paul Quick, Loosebeare, and Nicola Hartwright, Whiteheart, paid a total of £5800 for another from Jonathan Watson, with this one sired by the aforementioned Brackenridge Strongbow, which topped the sale in 2015 when bought for £14,000. He is out of one of the best ewes in the flock, a Garngour Rambo daughter. 
On the other side of the balance sheet, Paul Quick’s Loosebeare flock from Devon peaked at £6500 for one full of Loosebeare breeding. Snapped up by Messrs Bell, Kirkton, was a son of the Loosebeare Voomer ram that has bred sons to £7000, while the mother is by Loosebeare Romeo. 
It was a good day for the Dunlops – William and sons, Quintin and William – when they surpassed their previous best of £2500 and sold a son of the £8000 Milnbank Wisconsin for £6000 to Peter and Lynn Gray, of the Scrogtonhead flock at Cowgrove, Galston. He is out of a Tullagh Saracen daughter. 
A further two rams matched a previous call of £5800, with the first of these coming from Neil Harvey’s Blackadder flock near Whitsome, Duns. Selling to first time purchasers, James Carlisle for his Fowrass flock near Skelton and Andrew Hamilton for his Kinnelside flock near Ashbourne, was a son of the Kelso-bought Hartside Utopia. Bred out of a Brookhill Pacemaker daughter, he was used at home as a lamb with some promising stock on the ground. 
The very next lot from Robert Laird’s Cambwell flock at Skirling, Biggar, was the other to make £5800 and achieve a best price at Kelso for the flock. Snapped up by Will Case for his Nab Point flock at Plumpton Cottage Farm, Ulverston, was a son of Cambwell Trademark, which has bred sons to 6500gns, while the dam is a Drinkstone Punt Gun-sired ewe bought at the Drinkstone dispersal. 
The Green family, headed up by John, also witnessed a great trade, beating last year’s top of £4000 and averaging £1549.29 for 14 in just their second year at Kelso. 
Their top price of £5000 was paid by Welsh breeder Myfyr Evans, Monfa, Mold, Flintshire, for Greenall Yaya Toure, a son of Roxburgh Shot Gun Willie from the flock at The Craggs, Lilliesleaf, Melrose. This blue ticket holder from the evening show, which also stood first in his class at the Border Union Show, is a gimmer’s lamb out of a Llyfni Usain Bolt daughter. 
The 35-ewe Greenall flock also received £4400 for another by Shot Gun Willie, this time selling to JO Clark, Brink Burn, Newhouse, Longframlington. 
The champion from the pre-sale show in Ring 9 from Gordon and David Gray’s Ettrick flock near Selkirk also hit £4800, with this price paid for the best son to sell so far by Ellen Valley Warlord, a 10,000gns purchase that has bred show females as well as gimmers to 5500gns. The tup himself is out of a Garngour Ultimatum-bred ewe that goes back to Ettrick Rainbow Warrior, and was knocked down to M Barnett, Gilside, Shield Hall, Halton. 
A final bid of £4500 saw Kenny Sutherland secure a Mossvale Winston son from the Clark brothers’ Garngour flock near Lesmahagow, to take north to Sibmister and Stainland Farms, near Thurso. 
Allan Campbell’s Strawfrank flock from Carstairs Junction, Lanark, once again led the lamb trade with his topper at £4400 selling to the buyers of last year’s buyers of Allan’s lamb at £4200, Russell and Gill Watkin, for their Millend flock at Upper Cwm, Craswell, Herefordshire. The lamb is by the 7500gns Ballynahone Yorkie bought last year while the dam is by Tima Valentine. 
In all, Allan sold 17 lambs to average £1497.06, with a further £3800 paid by Procters and GH and GG Wilkinson, Arkleby House, Aspatria. 
Making £4200 was a shearling from Jack Arnott’s Haymount flock near Kelso, which sold to Ian Murray for his Glenway flock at East Horton, Wooler. 
One more broke the £4000 barrier when Robbie Wilson’s lamb from the Milnbank flock at North Dorlaithers, Turriff, was knocked down to Danny Devlin, who runs the Quarry House flock in County Donegal. 
This lamb is by the 60,000gns Strathbogie Yes Sir bought privately last year, which has bred sons to 10,000gns, while the dam is by the 48,000gns Strathbogie Untouchable, which has bred daughters to 23,000gns and sons to 13,000gns.