DESPITE matching the £9000 centre record set last year, North Country Cheviot hill-types met a lesser trade at Lockerbie as the average for most sections fell on the year but with 103 more rams sold compared to 2017, the average of £861.95 was still nearly £80 above the 2016 level.
As has been seen at other breeding sheep sales this season, buyers were cautious to splash the cash and only paid top dollar for the best of the breeders' sheep and it was two-shears that led the trade.
It was, however, a good day for Alan Hutcheon who manages 520 pure hill ewes for the Linhope Farming Partnership, Powburn, Alnwick, when he secured the top two prices and matched last year's Lockerbie record price, not bad considering his Hartside Hill entry was the second pen to enter the sale ring. Passing the flock's previous best of £7800 paid at Lairg was Hartside Hill Vettel, a two-shear that is among the first crop by the Lairg-bought Whitehope Phantom, a £5000 purchase whose females have been retained. Vettel caught the eye of Michael Elliot and heads to work on the Woodside flock near Kelso.
Hartside Hill Vardy, £4500
Selling for £4500 to Robert Rennie for the Attonburn flock owned by Bowmont Farming, also near Kelso, was Hartside Hill Vardy, another two-shear but this time by another Lairg purchase, the £1800 Langdale Pedro.
Also in the money for the flock at £3200 was Hartside Hill Vinnie, which is by the Glendale Snowman loaned from Ted Fox and sold to WH Porter, West Scryne, Carnoustie, Angus. These three sales helped push the Hartside Hill average to £2420 for 10, the best flock average of the sale.
Kelso Viceroy, £4200
The third top price of £4200 came late on in the sale when the Kelso flock from society chairman, Willie Thomson, and his father, Jimmy, sold Kelso Viceroy to the Flintofts who take him to work on the Sourhope flock near Yetholm, Kelso. Used at home on the 1000-strong flock near Yetholm, Kelso, Viceroy is among the first crop by the £2900 Lockerbie purchase, Bedshiel Rockall.
Another used at home and hitting the high notes for the Kelso flock was Kelso Version, this time by the Lairg-bought Armadale Killer, which was knocked down to the Elsdonburn flock near Kirknewton, Wooler, belonging to Cheviot Farming Ltd, for £3200.
Earlier on in the day, the Thomsons' 400-ewe Hownam Grange hill flock near Kelso, peaked at £2600 for Hownam Grange Valen. Sired by the home-bred Hownam Grange Sailsaver which went on to sell for £3600 to North House, Valen heads a new home in the Sorbietrees flock run by Drew Oliver, nead Hillend, Newcastleton.
Newbank Vantage, £4500
Father and son team, Hugh and Sandy Wilson, received a top call of £4000 from Attonburn for their first in, Newbank Vintage. Among the first sons to sell by Rawburn Rock, which was bought for £750 at Lockerbie, he has already proven his worth when loaned to Ted Fox, Glendale, last year.
Hethpool Vandal, £4000
On the other side of the coin, the Wilsons paid the same money for the dearest from Bill and Fanny Elliot, who sold 13 from their 900-strong Hethpool hill flock near Wooler to average £1434.62. Their pen leader, Hethpool Vandal, which was used as a shearling and bred 'beyond expectations, is sired by Hartside Hill Rhino, a £2500 ram bought at Lairg.
Hethpool then sold another by the same sire, Hethpool Veteran, which was used at home as a chaser, to Raehills Farms, St Anns, Lockerbie, for £2500.
The breeder of last year's top lot, Jim Wood, and shepherd Stuart Howden, of the Bridgewater and Wood partnership at Potholm, Langholm, saw their best, Est Vagabond, sell to Gareth Hughes, Llanhowell, Hundred House, Llandrindod Wells, for £2800. He shares the same breeding as their £9000 Esk Tremor sold last year as his sire, the loaned Whitchesters Saltire, also goes back to Esk Pluto.
The Allens – Billy and Kate together with daughter Ruth, and son Dallas – brought in £2800 and £2400 for their top two and cashed in six rams to level at £1491.67. Dearest when knocked down to Gillesbie Farms, Boreland, Lockerbie, was among the first sons of Whitestone Shade to sell, while at £2400 when sold to R and A Taylforth, Side Farm, Patterdale, Penrith, was the dearest yet by the £900 Woodside Nitpicker bought at Lairg, which is still going strong as a seven-shear ram.
Having paid for some of the top priced lots, Robert Rennie, Attonburn, balanced that by receiving £2800 from PW and B Iredale, Greenbank Farm, Patterdale. For their money, the Iredales take home Attonburn Vast, a son of Sorbietrees Rambo.
Hitting the £2400 mark was a Whitehope two-shear from Norman and David Douglas, from Catslackburn, Yarrow. Sired by Glendale Rebel and used at home as a shearling, this two-shear was snapped up by North House.
While more than 100 extra rams changed hands compared to 2017, there were 222 fewer females sold but a highlight as a gimmer offered by the Allen family, Stouphill, to raise funds for the My Name's Doddie Foundation. The hammer fell at £1300 when she was snapped up by Brian Cocker, Knowehead of Auld Allan, Kirriemuir, with the Allens donating a further £200 to take the total raised to £1500. Stouphill also headed up the draft ewe trade when an 84-strong pen of five-year-olds peaked at £138 when sold to AR Mundell and Son, Lawesknowe, Beattock, Moffat.
Gimmers led the female entry at £155 when a pen from the Thomsons's Kelso flock was chapped down to Neil Anderson, buying for Professor Penny, Harehead, Duns. Ewe lambs reached £152 when Raehills Farms, of the Mollin flock, sold a pen of 16 to Sanderson and Bell, Valance Lodge, Forrest in Teesdale, Barnard Castle.
Averages: 2301 ewes, £88.99 (-£7.45 for 196 more sold); 1734 gimmers, £103.00 (-£20.10 for 426 fewer); 659 ewe lambs, £86.27 (+£2.05 for eight more); 257 rams, £861.95 (-£175.85 for 103 more).
OTHERLEADING prices:
£2200 – Hownam Grange Valiente, by Hownam Grange Sailsaver, to G and C Price, Talsarn, Llanddeusant, Llangadog, Carmarthen; Hownam Grange Vanish, by Hethpool Napalm, to Raehills Farms; Hownam Grange Voldermort, by Hethpool Napalm, to Raehills Farms; Attonburn Vast, by Sorbietrees Rambo, to PW and B Iredale.
£2000 – Sorbietrees V08876, by Northhouse Reliant, to Attonburn; Hartside Hill Vine, by Suisgill Polevaulter, to Eskdalemuir Forestry, Kelso; North House Vagabond, by Brackside Reiver, to Archbank Farming Co, Newlands, Eaglesfield, Lockerbie; Kelso Victim, by Hownam Grange Nemesis, to WW Dunlop and Son, Commonside, Hawick; Attonburn Viagra, by Heatherhope Randy, to T and E Dun, Jeanfield Farm, Carnwath, Lanark.
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