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.
A pen of pure Oxford prime lambs topped the sale of new season lambs held at Rugby Farmers Mart, Stoneleigh on 9th April, making £161 per head. Consigned from Martin Johnson's Longfriday flock at Wollaston, Northamptonshire they weighed in at 49.5kg. This excellent sale result demonstrates the outstanding weight for age performance that the Oxford is capable of and shows that the breed can compete with, and indeed, outperform the Texel, Charollais and other terminal sire breeds.
Top price for Oxford Downs at the Melton Mowbray native breeds sale was a 520gns bid for a Billesdons shearling ram by Horsley Uncle Bob from Vickie Jones, Husbands Bosworth, Lutterworth, Leicestershire. It sold for commercial use to regular Oxford ram buyer Reg Phillips, Bridge House Farm, Ladmanlow, Buxton, Derbyshire.
The same buyer also went to 370gns for a shearling ram by Barley Park Pegasus from Roger & Sue Banks’ Thistledown flock from Holly Croft Farm, Great Ellingham, Norfolk. Next best from the Thistledown pen was a 240gns sale to B Hall, Church Farm, Caston, Attleborough, Norfolk for another shearling ram bred the same way.
In the females, Roger & Sue Banks had a string of good prices, selling a shearling ewe by Barley Park Pegasus at 240gns to J Burford, Woodborough, Nottingham followed by sales of 210gns and 200gns for ewe lambs by Horsley Brexit Bob, which both went to Lancashire breeder Chloe Bowker, Balderstone Hall Farm, Balderstone, Blackburn.
Buckinghamshire vet Philip Ivens from Ash Tree House, Wicken, Milton Keynes, sold four shearling ewes by Netherby Ambition to a top of 185gns, with all four selling to the same buyer, B Hall, Church Farm, Caston to establish a new flock in Norfolk.
Averages
5 shearling ewes sold to 240gns and averaged £194.25
2 ewe lambs sold to 210gns and averaged £215.25
3 shearling rams sold to 520gns and averaged £395.50
3 ram lambs sold to 160gns and averaged £126.00
Overall 13 head sold to 520gns and averaged £228.17.
Auctioneers: Melton Market Auctioneers
The annual sale of Oxford Downs at Worcester market peaked at 750gns for a shearling ram. An improved quality entry met a good trade with 42 head selling to average £232.12, up £38 on the year.
Ewe lambs and shearling rams were in demand with the best of the shearling ewes also selling well.
At the pre-sale show, judge Michael Hackling awarded the championship to a shearling ram from J W & M F S Brown’s Monkstone flock at Redberth, Tenby, Pembrokeshire. Sired by Barley Park Promethious out of a home-bred ewe, the ram went on to take the top price of the day, going to David Holt, Rectory Farm, Levisham, Pickering, North Yorkshire for use on his 50-strong Ravenswick flock.
Two shearling rams from M, G & R Vincent’s New House flock based at Ducklington, Witney, Oxfordshire claimed the next best prices of the day at 390gns and 370gns. Both sons of Barley Park Taranto, they went the same way home to the Peak District to regular Oxford ram buyers R & M Phillips & Sons, Bridge House Farm, Ladmanlow, Buxton, Derbyshire for commercial use. Bec Bradley from Clanfield, Bampton, Oxfordshire sold a shearling by Monkstone Keifer from her Upper Thames flock at 320gns to Miss Lottie Tobin for her new Oxford flock at Little Box Farm, Awre, Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire.
Topping the female section was a ewe lamb from Mrs R J Steele’s Weeton flock at Redhouse Farm, Weeton, Hull which made 360gns to J Griffiths, Park House, Rhiwderin, Newport, Gwent, who was buying on behalf of his neice Miss Hannah Graham for her Montrose flock. This lamb is by the home-bred sire Weeton Galaxy out of a Barley Park ewe. Next best in the ewe lambs was a 280gns sale from J W & M F S Brown for one by Barley Park Promethious selling to J Rawlings, Finham, Coventry. The Vincent family sold a New House ewe lamb sired by Barley Park Taranto at 250gns to Messrs Phillips, Bridge House Farm.
Shearling ewes sold to a top of 310gns from the much-admired Langrigg pen from A W Rutherford, Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire. A Langrigg Ranger daughter, the top Langrigg sheep went to Mrs Vickie Jones who runs 12 Oxford ewes at Glebe Farm, Billesdon, Leicester and uses Oxford rams on her family’s commercial flock of Texel x Mule ewes. Mrs Jones took another from the pen at 280gns for one by Beswickhall Cherrytom. A further Langrigg shearling by Ranger also made 280gns, selling to Owain Tudor who is building up his Lynon flock at Glasfryn, Llanfhyddlad, Holyhead, Anglesey. The Langrigg consignment averaged £283.50 for 4 sold.
Bec Bradley also achieved a 280gns sale for an Upper Thames shearling ewe by Monkstone Keifer sold to J W & M F S Brown, buying back some of their own bloodline for the Monkstone flock.
Ram lambs made a top price of 220gns for a Weeton Sean son from Mrs R J Steele, which went to C Clark, Fox Cottage, Tilford, Farnham, Surrey who established a new flock at the sale. Amongst the flock ewes, the best price was a 190gns sale for a 2-crop Vellow ewe by Applewick Twinaxel consigned by D Holt, Ravenswick. It sold to Messrs Phillips, Bridge House Farm.
Averages
Type No sold Top (gns) Avg (£)
Shearling ewes 18 310 210.29
Ewe lambs 10 360 225.75
Flock ewes 4 190 157.50
Shearling rams 6 750 404.25
Ram lambs 4 220 162.75
Overall 42 750 232.12
Auctioneers: McCartneys
Overall: 42 head sold to 750gns and averaged £232.12 (£193.65 for 44 in 2016).
