The annual consignment of Oxford gimmers from Andrew Rutherford, Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire sold to £250 at the Carlisle native breeds sale. All seven made the same price and went to the same buyers, E & O Morgan, Penallta, Hengoed, Caerphilly who established their Morhouse flock last year with ewes from the Applewick reduction. The Langrigg gimmers had run with service sire Greenlands Garrosh.
7 shearling ewes sold to £250 and averaged £250.
Auctioneers: Harrison & Hetherington
Oxfords rams enjoyed their best trade in decades at the 2024 Kelso Ram Sales.
A shearling by Billesdons Braveheart from Andrew Rutherford's Langrigg flock at Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire made the top price of £900, setting a new Oxford centre record for Kelso.
The buyer was Rob Boswell of Balnasium Farm at Loch Tay in Perthshire. He uses Oxford rams on the older ewes in his Lairg-type Hill Cheviot flock, selling the Oxford x lambs as stores through Caledonian Marts, Stirling. These achieve a worthwhile premium over the pure Cheviot lambs.
The tup will also be used on a small flock of pure Oxford ewes that Mr Boswell purchased last year.
The Langrigg pen averaged £680 for five, all selling to commercial buyers.
Auctioneers: C&D Auction Marts Ltd
OXFORD DOWNS peaked at 1550gns at the annual Worcester Show & Sale, which saw no less than three new record prices within the breed.
Topping the trade was a Langrigg shearling ram from Andrew Rutherford, Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire. Sired by the former breed record holder Billesdons Braveheart out of a home-bred Langrigg ewe, the sale topper sold to Martin Johnson, buying for his Longfriday flock at Wollaston, Northamptonshire.
It proved a memorable day for Langrigg which also had top price in the female section with a 1200gns bid for a shearling ewe sold to the Greenlands flock run by Roland Williams at Capel Seion, Aberystwyth. This Billesdons Braveheart daughter created a new female breed and shearling ewe record.
And records also fell in the lamb sections of the sale. Margery Brown from Tenby, Pembrokeshire set a new breed ram lamb record of 1000gns when she sold one from the Monkstone flock in a joint deal to Yorkshire breeders Jack Richardson and Richard Hampshire for their Rose-dene and prospect flocks respectively. The record-breaking lamb is by Greenlands Ystwyth Lad out of a home-bred ewe by the Ai sire Pirnie Tim.
Keeping it in the family, Margery’s son and Association President James Brown broke the 37-year old ewe lamb record for the breed with a Greenlands Ystwyth Lad daughter from his Tenby-based Redhouse flock. This one sold at 600gns to Roger & Sue Banks, Great Ellingham, Norfolk for their Thistledown flock.
Averages
Shearling ewes 27 sold to 1200gns and averaged £359.33
Ewe lambs 10 sold to 600gns and averaged £351.75
Flock ewes 1 sold to 300gns
Shearling rams 12 sold to 1550gns and averaged £462.00
Ram lambs 5 sold to 1000 gns and averaged £415.80
2/3 shear rams 1 sold to 300gns
Overall, 56 head sold to 1550gns and averaged £383.43
Auctioneers: McCartneys
