The final sale of the Swaledale season rounded off a bumper year for the sheep industry and certainly a landmark season in the Swaledale Sheep Association’s 100th year – with 26 tups hitting the five-figure mark at Hawes.
Sale leader, at £38,000, was Fawcett’s Cowboy, from Graham Scarr. He runs around 260 pure Swaledales at Fawcetts, Garsdale, and his star this year is a son of a £14,000 Aygill Imperial, a sire bought back in 2015 and out of a ewe, by a Helbeck sire that was champion in Kirkby Stephen when they bought him in 2013. Taking Cowboy home was a trio of breeders, Trevor Blades, Bobby Blades and John Bradley.
The under bidders, Jack and Tom Buckles, from Buckles Farm, bought the one into the ring, Fawcetts Cavalier, by a different Aygill sire out of a ewe by the £34,000 Bull and Cave. They paid £16,000 to get the use of this one.
West Briscoe Rocker, from David and Michael Allinson, made £34,000
The West Briscoe pen leader, West Briscoe Rocker, from father and son team, David and Michael Allinson, made £34,000. At the hammer fall he was knocked down to Craig Ridley, Haltcliffe; Richard Harker; and Richard Hargreaves. This tup was sired by a £1500 Mark Ewbank and out of a gimmer by a £14,000 Summers Lodge.
On the first day of the two-day sale, Robert Wear’s Howe Green flock, from Patterdale, sold to £30,000, with Richard Harker and Richard Hargreaves again sharing the cost. He is by the £86,000 Stonesdale tup, which has bred well in the flock and out of a ewe by a home-bred ram.
Robert Wear sold his best for £30,000
The best on offer from Alan Coates and son, Steven, was Aygill Noble, a son of a Stonesdale tup and out of a ewe by a Skidmore sire. Landing this boy for £30,000 were the Shepherds Lodge and Gillfield flocks, from Roger and Richard Hird, with Aygill keeping a share in him, too.
This tup made £30,000 for Alan and Steven Coates
Richard Harker, of the Grayrigg Hall flock, had a great trade at Kirkby Stephen the previous week and that continued into the Hawes sales, with a pair of tups by a home-bred tup they retained by the £40,000 Cockbain.
The first hit £28,000 and was out of a gimmer by a £18,000 Hallam. He caught the eye of Mark and Paul Ewbank, from Intake and Draymans flock, near Pateley Bridge, and Robert Tennant, Hemplands.
The next one in left the ring with a £26,000 price tag when selling to the Stanhope Gate flock. This ram was out of a ewe by the Hargreaves tup which they bought privately back in 2011.
Paul and Sue Hallam, High Birkwith, are generally there or thereabouts when it comes to producing the goods and this year’s selection proved no different. Their pen leader, sold for £28,000 to Mark Nelson, Bull and Cave; Robin Booth, Smearsett; and Patrick Sowerby, Oakbank. He is by the £55,000 Patrick Sowerby, out of a ewe by a home-bred tup by Mossdale Gaffer.
Taking a personal best was Johnny Cowperthwaite; Howith, Settle, when he sold Howith Barney for £21,000 to David Harker, Overthwaite, and Weardale Estates. This tup is a son of a Barney Richardson tup.
Another making flock history was Mossdale, which is run by John Thorpe, when the pen topped at a best of £20,000. His first tup in, Mossdale Fandango, by a Haltcliffe sire by the £50,000 Grayrigg Hall and was out of a ewe by a home-bred son of a Kenny Whitehead. Taking this boy home was Graham Pears, Flash Farms, Sheffield.
A brace of tups hit £18,000. The first came on the first day when John Tennant sold Bucker House Briscoe 12, to David Allinson, West Briscoe, and Geoff Marwood, Hill Top.
On the same money and setting a personal best for their small flock came from mother and son team, Sheena and James Pratt. Their eye catcher, Dale View Bullet Proof, is by an old Mossdale tup that cost £17,000 as a shearling and they bought him as an old tup. He sold to Mark Nelson and Paul Hallam.
LEADING prices
Wednesday Rams – £30,000, £2000 EJ Wear; £28,000, £26,000, £11,000, £7000, £2200 RS Harker and Son; £28,000, £4000, £3000 P Hallam; £21,000, £2000 JE Cowperthwaite; £18,000, £4500 JM and S Tennant; £14,000, £4500, £2500, £1200 R Hutchinson and Son; £13,000 Messrs Buckle; £13,000 WM Hutchinson and Son; £12,000, £6500 RS and BA Harker; £12,000 Messrs Brogden; £12,000, £2500, £1800 Haltcliffe; £12,000, £10,000 D and EM and ID Brown; £11,000 I Bell; £8000 D and CE Marston; £7000, £6500 W Richardson and Son; £7000 T Robinson and Sons; £6000, £4500, £1400, £1000 G Calvert and Sons; £6000 RW Clarkson and Son; £5500, £4000 MR Ewbank; £5000 Messers Folder; £4500 I Collinson; £4500, £3500 Messrs Lightfoot; £4500, £4000, £2000 BR Fawcett; £4000 S Reynoldson and Son; £4000, £3500, £2200 P Ewbank; £3500 RS and BA Harker; £3500 A Calvert; £3200 A and JA Iveson; £3200, £2600, £1050 R and H Hird; £3000, £2800 T Metcalfe and Son; £2800 MM and CL Whitehead; £2500 JR Rukin; £2500, £2000 J Allison and Sons; £2500, £2000, £1000 (x2) C Nelson and Son; £2400 DW and K Hutchinson; £2200. £2000 Flash House Farms; £2000 CM Sowerby; £1800, £1100 JG Brunton; £1500 N Iveson; £1500 R Metcalfe; £1400 JA Alderson; £1400 G Huck and Son; £1400 J Dixon and Sons; £1300, £1100, £1000 B Thornborrow; £1300 WP Walker and Son; £1200 J Hutchinson; £1200 DC and KL Hutchinson; £1100 P and PI Walker and Son; £1100 ASE Crisp and Sons; £1000 SA Raine; £1000 W and NL Baines; £1000 S Bentley; £1000 N Richardson.
Thursday rams – £38,000, £16,000, £8000, £2200, £1200; GJ and JM Scarr; £34,000, £7000, £4200, £3800 F and MP Allinson and Son; £30,000 AD Coates and Son; £20,000, £10,000, £4000 JE Thorpe; £18,000 JR and SL Pratt; £14,000, £9000 M and EM Wilson; £11,000, £6000, £1200, £1000 JC White; £11,000, £4500, £3200, £1000 MR and LE Rukin; £10,000, £2000 Hunter and Whitehead; £9000, £1600 JW Porter and Sons; £6500 ME Allison; £6500 BL Acton; £6200 CR and MJ Birbeck; £5500 A and J Harrison; £5000 (x2), £3200 GL and ME Hutton; £5000, £4200, £2300 J and JE Bradley; £4000 A and TA Blades; £4000 A and M Brennand and Sons; £3500, £1200 SW Porter; £3200, £3000 (x2) £1800, £1000 (x2) JW Dent and Sons; £3000, £2400 RW Clarkson; £3000, £1200, £1100 R and E Cowperthwaite; £2800 MR Wallace; £2600 WJ Porter; £2400 JS and D Cloughton and Son; £2200, £1200 S and D Robinson; £2000 H Harrison; £2000, £1400 G Harker and Son; £2000 WA Dinsdale and Son; £2000 B and GV Mudd; £1800 S Emmott; £1600 GJ and ME Walker and Sons; £1600 EW Atkinson; £1600 J Sunter and Son; £1400 JR Blades; £1400 TW Cowpertwaite; £1300 MJ and JD Handley; £1200 JH Pedley; £1200 MA Bainbridge; £1100 Walburn Hall;£1100 W and HI Watson; £1000 JT Dixon and Son; £1000 Owlands.
Auctioneers: Hawes Farmers Auction Mart.
average: £2322 (up £287 on 2019)
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