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Top dogs head to Europe

WELSH breeder and triallist, Brecon-based Kevin Evans, came up trumps again at the recent online sale of sheepdogs hosted by CCM.

His leader at £11,700 was the 20-month-old fully broken bitch, Glebe Fort Fan, a daughter of Welsh Nursery champion, Hendre Sam. Bred from Tom O'Sullivan's Clare, Fan sold served by Kevin's own Tedd to a new home near Vailhauques, France, with Martine Campagnett.

Mr Evans welcomed a further £4,600 from E.W. and S.L. Thomas, Carmarthenshire, for 18-month-old Wheatwood Jock, a son of Thornbury Max – the reserve All-Wales Nursery champion – bred from Ian Fowler's Wheatwood Zeeva.

Adding to his haul, Mr Evans received the highest pup price of £4,100 for Ruby, a red and white 10-week-old Midderry Frank daughter. Out of Zac Capern's Rosewood Fran, Ruby also heads abroad, this time to Switzerland with Iris Schnetz, Solothurn.

Second top price of £5,600 was paid for Nel, a two-year-old bitch from Jim Alton, Sheffield. Selling to an undisclosed buyer, Nel is by Ed Hawking's Bob, a full brother to Ricky Hutchinson's Jonah.

Prices in the part-broken section peaked at £5,300 for Rip, a February-born pup from David Wood, Derbyshire. Sired by David Howell's Cai, Rip sold to Jo De Meyst, Belgium.

READ MORE Jennifer makes history at AgriScot

Two fully broken 20-month-old litter sisters made £5,000 and £3,300 for James Gilman, Macclesfield. Sired by Mr Gilman's own Harry and out of his wife Jane's Valmis Rita, Pye Ash Peggy sold to James Heggie, Kinross, while Pye Ash Floss sold to Luke Ayrton, Lancaster.

Germany's Bernd Nöthen, Bergheim, paid £4,600 for Bob from Johnny Farmer, Ballymena, while Co Donegal's Francis Mongan sold his Myfruan Glen to Charles Gallagher, Letterkenny, for £4,500.

Unbroken entries also reached £1,950 for Claire Slater, Brecon, with Nant-y-Moel Ruby, a September-born bitch by Whiteley Ted, a Red Spot son which sold to Joshua Jack, Milton Keynes.

Auctioneers:ÌýCraven Cattle Marts.

New market record set at Bakewell for cattle champion

Bakewell's ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Guardian supported Christmas primestock show was held Sunday along with the traditional carol service and hog roast followed by the sale on Monday.
Judge, Andrew Hobson, Hartshead Meats, Ashton under Lyme, judged the prime cattle and awarded the championship to a home-bred black Limousin heifer from Jack and Tom Gratton, Riber. It went on to sell to Brian Woolley for Woolley Brothers Wholesale Meats, Sheffield, for the top price of £11.60/kg, grossing £7,424 and setting a new market record.

Reserve champion was a black British Blue cross heifer from Michael Wynne, Matlock, which sold for 590p/kg (£3,658) also to Woolley Brothers.
Best opposite sex to the champion winner was a Limousin steer from Richard Naylor, Kirk Langley, which made 505p/kg (£3,403) to the same buyers.
Andrew Dickinson and Lisa Powdrill, Boothgate, won the HPLS member and any other breed class with a 694kg British Blue-cross steer which made £4.95p/kg.
The winning young handler was Hunter Lea, Barnsley, and the winning young bull, judged on Monday, was Ben Langton, Horsley Woodhouse, with a 706kg British Blue-cross which sold for the top price of 460p/kg (£3,247).
The 43 steers and heifers averaged 497p/kg.

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James Bunting from Stanedge Grange Butchery and Farm Shop, judged the prime lambs awarding the championship to the heavyweight winners, a pen of five 48.4kg Texel/Beltex lambs from A.K. Belfield, Sheen, which he went on to buy for 630p/kg (£305/head).
The continental show lambs averaged 375p/kg.

Auctioneers: Bagshaws.

Winning lambs make £815 per head

BELTEX cross lambs from Jojo Andrews, York, claimed the champion at reserve tickets at the Christmas show and sale at Thirsk before her leading pair went on to sell for a centre record of £815 per head.

Picked out by Nick Dalby, Skipton, the winning pair weighed in at 47.5kg and also realised £17.16 per kg.

Ms Andrews' reserve pair from the lightweight class realised £300 or 723p per kg, with both pairs selling to Mr Alan of Lancashire Direct Halal Meat.

A strong show of young handlers was led by Katie Grainger whose 51kg Beltex cross Texel lamb went on to sell for £245 to Andrew Atkinson, Bowland Foods.

Three-quarter Texel ewes from Andy Hall, Easingwold, won the cast ewe pairs and sold to Paul Harrison, Shan's Group, for £280.

Records were also set in the prime cattle section as the champion, a Limousin cross heifer weighing 702kg from the Bentley Family, went on to sell for £5,616 or £8 per kg to Nick Dalby on behald of Franks Family Butchers, Thirsk.

In reserve was a 750kg Limousin cross heifer from Steven Wakefield, Thirkelby, that sold to the judge, Charles Ashbridge, Taste Tradition Limited, for £5,084 or 545p.

READ MORE: Four-time win at Thainstone Christmas Classic for Wilson Peters

Records continued to be set in the prime bull section as the winner, an 849kg Limousin from Beth Wilkinson, Leyburn, went on to make £4,415 or 520p to Ralph Pearson and Son, Bradford.

The first prize continental cross cow, British Blue weighing 861kg from Ian Woodhead, Felixkirk, sold for the top price of £3,401 or 395p to Robert Pearson, Bradford.

Auctioneers:ÌýThirsk ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Auction Mart.

Champion makes £7,600 at Winslow

A LIMOUSIN cross heifer from K.W. Ludgate, Leighton Buzzard, claimed the championship at the Winslow Christmas show and sale before selling for £7,600 (£11.17/kg) to The Bell Hotel, Winslow.

The judge, Matthew Morris of Joseph Morris Butchers, South Kilworth, awarded the reserve ticket to a home-bred heifer from Frank Page, Elkington, which realised £3,800 (6.66/kg)

In the lamb section, the champion ticket went to a pen of four Beltex-cross lambs from G.R. Fountaine, Milton Keynes, which sold for £380/head (£8.17/kg) to the judge, Matt Slack of E.V. Slack and Sons, Doncaster.

In reserve were pure Charollais weighing 63kg from G.E. Haynes and Sons, Winslow, which sold for £270/head, while the winning Young ²ÝÁñÉçÇø lambs were Beltex crosses from Flo Claridge, Middle Claydon, which made £280/head.

Auctioneers:ÌýMelton Mowbray Market.

Willsbro herd reached 8,000gns twice

CATTLE met a lively trade at the dispersal of the Willsbro herd on behalf of Wills Brothers, Wadebridge, where the offering of 223, which included 100 calves under two months of age, sold to average more than £2,100 with a top of 8,000gns paid twice.

First to make 8,000gns was Willsbro Hardy Dolly 5670 VG86, which changed hands six weeks calved and giving more than 40kg.

It sold to David Hodgson, Wormanby Farms, Cumbria, along with the other 8,000gns sale, Willsbro Mooi Twizzle 4171 VG87 which sold yielding 57kg in its second lactation.

READ MORE: Sales round up: Suffolks sell to 6,200gns, Simmental bull record in Wales, bumper dairy trade at Skipton

Messrs Reeve, Aberystwyth, paid 6,800gns twice for two descendants of Cookiecutter Mom Halo Ex94. The first was a Lambda heifer in-milk whose ET Dropbox calves made 3,500gns and 2,900gns.

The second was a VG-rated two-year-old by Cherry-Lily Zip Luster, bred in Co Louth by the Kelly family.Ìý

John Bird of the Bartonwood herd, Honiton, bought two young cows – a VG88 Roxy by Mooi for 6,500gns and a McDonald Twizzle for 4,700gns.

Stephen Garth, Bowlandview herd, Lancashire, purchased the EX third calver, Overside Top Crimson 2, bred in Scotland by Hugh Neilson, for 6,100gns.

Biggest volume buyers were I. Marshall and Sons who bought 33 milkers for their local herd near Rock.

Averages:Ìý115 cows and calved heifers, £3,088.83; 108 heifer calves, £1,050; 26 embryos, £650.19.

Auctioneers:ÌýNorton and Brooksbank and Kivells.

Youngsters lead at Darlington

YOUNG producers secured the top two prizes and prices in the prime lamb section at the Christmas show and sale at Darlington.

Leading the way was the champion duo, a 51.5kg pair of Beltex, from Harry Askwith, Crook, that went on to sell for the top price of £300/head or 588p/kg to Roots Farm Shop.

The reserve pair from Luke Bell-Percy, Masham, weighed 47kg and realised £250 or 531p/kg when sold to J.A. Jewitt Meat.

Similarly, the cattle section sold to 610p/kg and £4,416 for the champion, a Limousin heifer weighing 724kg, from Alan Barnett, Shap, which sold to the judge, Steven Wilson, of Wilson Butchers in Corby Hill and Brampton.

The reserve, a 720kg British Blue-cross bullock from Georgina Laws, Leyburn, sold to John Penny and Sons, Rawdon, for 565p/kg and £4,068 to lead the bullock entry.

Best home-bred was a 701kg Aberdeen-Angus-cross heifer from the Fleming family, Kelso, which also sold to Steven Wilson, this time for 530p/kg or £3,715.

The champion bull from A.S. and S.M. Kemp and Son, Bowburn, sold for 500p/kg with the best British Blue bull from the same home at £3,799, both to Bowland Foods, Preston.

The charity auction raised more than £2,000, which will be split between the Wildfire Response Team and the Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue Team.

Auctioneers:ÌýDarlington ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Auction Mart.

Betts' best at the Cally

A LIMOUSIN heifer from Stewart and Lynsey Bett, Stirling, secured the championship ticket and top price at the Caledonian MartsÌýChristmas show and sale at Stirling.

Their 526kg entry sold for 540p/kg to the judge, Jimmy Stark, while the reserve, a 566kg British Blue heifer from Wilson Peters, Crieff, sold to Briggsy's Butchers, Jedburgh, for 520p/kg.

Heifers also hit £3,184 for a Limousin from Ross Brothers, Strichen, and sold to average 434.38p/kg.

Levelling at 422.27p/kg, bullocks sold to 448p/kg for a Limousin from Ross Brothers and £3,147 for a Shorthorn from T. and A. Taylor, Lanark.

Young bulls averaged 361p/kg and sold to 395p/kg and £3,144, from W.I. and A.W. Callion, Stirling, while over-30-month cattle sold to 334p for a Limousin from the same home, as well as £2,560 for a 12-year-old Limousin from W. and M. Wylie, Bathgate.

Auctioneers:ÌýCaledonian Marts.

Winning lambs lead at Wharfedale

THERE were 52 pens of sheep presented for judging at the annual Christmas show of prime lambs at Wharfedale, which was judged by Joe Wilkinson, Rawdon.

Taking the top ticket was a pair of home-bred Beltex-sired lambs from Jordan Swires, Beckwithshaw, that tipped the scales at 47kg and went on to top the sale at £340 per head or 723p/kg, when sold to J.B. Wilkinson and Sons for the chain of Yorkshire-based butchers shops.

Reserve came from the lightweight continental class from Philip Hughes and Family, Angram, which also sold to J.B. Wilkinson and Sons, this time for £250 or 610kg.

A lamb donated by Dudley Carr, Askwith, sold a total of six times to raise £1,380 for Leeds Hospital Charity. Thanks to Joe Wilkinson, Andrew Bradley, Kevin Marshall, Andrew Atkinson, Nigel Launder, David Wilson, Matthew Farrar and Micheal Benson.

The best cull ewe from S.M. Liddle and Sons, Huby, sold to Yorkshire Halal Meat Suppliers for £300.

Auctioneers:ÌýWharfedale ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Auction Mart.

Market record at Lancaster

A NEW centre record price of £315 per head was paid for the champion prime lambs at the Christmas show and sale at Lancaster.

Making top dollar was a trio of Beltex cross lambs from G.R. and A. Foy, Conder Green, which sold to Abbas Shan on behalf of Yorkshire Halal.

Other leading prices included £191 for Beltex crosses from J.E. Parkinson and Sons, Quernmore, and £182 for Texel crosses from J. Twigge, Lindale.

Per kg, Beltex crosses from Maisie Beresford, Kirkby-in-Furness, made 445p with similar from J.E. Parkinson and Son at 406p.

Auctioneers:ÌýNorth West Auctions.