TRADE for sales across all rings continues to be positive and the demand for numbers is constantly increasing. We’ve seen a mix of live ring sales and online timed auctions over the past month and the prices have exceeded all expectations.
We were traveling this month. The last one was in Derbyshire for the highly acclaimed Sterndale Dairy Herd On-Farm sale. This famous herd attracted a great deal of interest from all corners of the UK and both sides of Ireland. The trade reached 21,000 gns for an outstanding cow. The overall average for 197 Holsteins was £ 3,437, with 23 animals selling for £ 5,000 or more.
The dairy team recently hosted the Knowe Ayrshire herd sale and again red and white geneticists were drawn to the cattle catalog on offer. It was the front cover girl, Knowe Favorite Beauty, who achieved the highest price of the day with 8000 gns.
The sale of dairy cattle continues to generate demand which we believe will continue for the next few months. Our two monthly sales consistently see close to 300 items per sale, which are selling quite well, and more sales have been added to the calendar for the fall in the past few weeks.
The last timed online auctions were mainly sales of pure-bred sheep breeds. The Black Magic Suffolk Breeders Sale secured a top price of £ 4,100 for a Ballynacannon-based sheep lamb based in Northern Ireland. At the top of the Summer Sensations Texel growers’ sale was a gimmer, which was sold by Scottish exhibitor Clark of the pastry gum herd for £ 6250.
In the next few weeks we will be holding timed online auctions for the Dutch Spotted Dazzlers together with the sheep of the stars of the future.
Other timed online sales recently included genetic sperm and embryo sales along with tool and equipment sales and machinery sales on a monthly basis.
In the Live Ring Pedigree Sales, we recently carried out the litter sale of the Withy Trees Beltex herd along with the Belvoir View Beltex sale. It was the standard ram Diamond Flame from the Belvoir View herd that achieved the leading price with 6500 gns. Two submissions from the herd secured the top prize of 6000gns for the distribution of Withy Trees. The first was an early entry into the ring, a four-headed ewe, Calamity Jane, and later on sale a gimmer, Fie Fih Fo Fum, which were also sold for the same price.
We will soon start the first breeding sheep sale, which will come in early August. The sheep company’s leading sales kick off the Suffolk and Zwartbles breeds, followed by sales of Beltex, Rouge and Bleu du Maine. The first figures show that around 1,800 sheep will come under the hammer in these first two weeks of August.
In the Pedigree Beef Sale we present an outstanding selection of Limousin cattle from the renowned Ronick herd, shown by Mr. Dick. I am sure that we will see some show stoppers that will be ideal for the 2022 show circuit.