OXFORDS SELL TO £500 AT KELSO
Oxford shearling rams from Andrew Rutherford's annual Langrigg consignment from Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire sold to a top of £500 at Kelso Ram Sales.
The top ram, a Billesdons Braveheart son, was bought by Highfield Farming, The Knock, Duns, Berwickshire. A further three Langrigg shearlings went to the same buyer at £400 each, joining two rams purchased from Langrigg at last year's sale. They will be used on the farm's large Cheviot x Shetland commercial ewe flock.
One Langrigg shearling went for pedigree work at £350 to Brendan & Amy Hall who run the Caston flock at Attleborough in Norfolk. This ram was sired by Greenlands Garrosh.
The Langrigg pen averaged £410 for five.
Auctioneers: C & D Auction Marts
Langrigg leads the Inaugural Northern sale of Oxford Downs at Carlisle
The inaugural Northern sale of Oxford Downs at Carlisle
took place on Saturday 30th August. A top price of 450gns
was achieved for a shearling ram from Andrew Rutherford,
Guards Farm, Gretna. The shearling ram was a son of
Billesdon's Braveheart and out of a Langrigg ewe and
had won champion in the pre sale show earlier that day.
He sold to Messrs Etherington, Pocklington.
Full report of the sale can be seen in the 'Sale Reports' page.
Entry of 25 Oxford Downs for Carlisle Show & Sale
The Show & Sale of Oxford Downs to be held on Saturday, 30th August at Harrison & Hetherington's Borderway mart, Carlisle has attracted an entry of 25 head comprising 7 rams and 18 ewes. The catalogue is in preparation.
Entries are as follows:
Greystoke (L Chance, Flock No. 1388):
2 shearling rams, 1 one-crop ewe, 3 gimmers
Langrigg (A W Rutherford, Flock No. 977):
1 two-shear ram, 2 shearling rams, 1 ram lamb, 2 two-crop ewes, 4 gimmers, 2 ewe lambs
Rose-Dene (J J Richardson, Flock No. 1297):
1 shearling ram, 2 ewe lambs
Weeton (Mrs R J Steele, Flock No. 1225):
4 ewes lambs
The entries from Rose-Dene and Weeton are MV accredited and Signet performance recorded.
This is an excellent opportunity for breeders to obtain pedigree Oxford ewes and rams for new or existing flocks, and for commercial buyers to purchase Oxford rams for crossing work.
The Premier Show & Sale of Oxford Downs to be held at McCartneys Worcester market on Saturday, 2nd August..
There is an entry of 66 head from 12 flocks, comprising 44 females and 22 rams and including MV accredited and Signet performance recorded stock.
The flocks consigning to the sale are:
Applewick
Billesdons
Caston
Greyland
Horsley
Langrigg
Longfriday
Meadow Farm
Montrose
Pauntley
Rose-Dene
Weeton
The sale gives buyers the opportunity to obtain quality Oxford Down breeding stock, whether a new stock ram, foundation stock for a new flock, females to replenish an existing flock, or a ram for crossing work as a terminal sire. Bidding is available online through MartEye.
Link to catalogue here
Congratulations to Andrew Amor and Holly Plante of the Pauntley Flock who won the breed championship at Devon County Show, the first breed classes of the season.
Judge Mr R Vincent chose to put the homebred ram lamb as his champion.
Reserve Champion and Champion opposite sex went to Ms Rebecca Simpson and her ewe lamb.
Full results can be found at the link below.
(photo courtesy of Country Girl Media)
A new association sale has been added to the list and will take place on Saturday 30th August at Borderway Mart, Carlisle. The sale will be open to all ages of Rams and Females for both MV and Non MV sheep. More details will follow soon.
What an amazing turnout of Oxfords at this year's show
Congratulations go to Lesley Parry for winning Breed Champion with her Ewe lamb and to The Brown Family for their fantastic win of Interbreed Ram lamb!
President Martin Johnson was judge at this years show and here's what he had to say "A terrific show of Oxfords at Builth and an honour to judge! Congratulations to James with his ram lamb, and Lesley's reaction to her overall win will always remain with me"
The Oxford Down Sheep Breeders Association had a stand at the NSA Sheep event in Malvern.
2 Pens of Oxford Sired lambs were kindly provided by Mr and Mrs Sturgess, Leicestershire to show any potential tup customers what an Oxford can produce commercially.
We welcomed 20 keen breeders who are interested in helping progress the Oxford Breed. We had a very interesting talk from AHDB Beef and Lamb about the use of EBV's and also heard from breeders of performance recorded polled Dorsets and Shropshire who wish they started years ago! My lambs were weighed and ultrasound scanned for fat depth and muscle depth and the results are very interesting the information will now be analysed by Signet who will send my full results.
Starting to performance record has been very easy and interesting. Weighing the lambs at birth then 8 weeks has allowed me to calculate a daily live weightgain (DLWG) this is both useful for selecting replacement ewe lambs and ram lamb selection and also enabled me to spot any problems early.
I have only kept one ram lamb this year, I did not choose him on his figures alone but it just so happens he had the best growth rate. I chose to retain him as he was true to the breed type and over all correct (Teeth, mouth, testicles, straight back, no scurrs, good colour wool etc) his mother lambed him easily and he was up and about in no time!
I'm very much looking forward to next years lambing and seeing if I can improve growth rates and muscle depth. This is a long term commitment but more people are seeking figures as proof of a rams performance and I think we shouldnt be left behind!
If you have any questions drop me an email lindsayrumming@outlook.com or see the Signet website for more info
