THE Kelso ram sales on Friday saw 4457 rams sold through 14 auction rings, working simultaneously, for £2895,770, or a new record average of £649.71 per head (+£27 on the year).
Although there was the usual flurry of high-flying prices, most buyers were being selective, with the end result that more than 10% of rams returned home unwanted.
Comparing that figure with last year’s number of unsold rams at just under 8%, which itself was double the percentage of 2009 proves that buyers are becoming more discerning in what they are prepared to bid for. Auctioneer Jack Clark, managing director of John Swan, said: “It was the top half who had the bigger lift.”
Rams with performance figures to back up their good looks were definitely the flavour of the day at Europe’s largest one-day ram sale, with good performance sheep fetching £200 to £300 per head above the average.
Top price on the day was £15,000 for a Texel shearling from Maurice and Catherine Hardy-Bishop, Grey Peel, Jedburgh, that was bought in a three-way split by Bruce Goldie, Townfoot, Mouswald; Edward Fox, Elsdonburn, Wooler; and Jonathon Watson, Bowsden Moor, Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Results by breed – top prices and averages: Beltex; 101 shearlings to £1600 and averaged £462.08; nine lambs £520 and £346.67; Registered Berrichon Du Cher; nine shear- lings £1000 and £572.22; 14 lambs £580 and £405.71; Registered Blue Texel; three shearlings £1000 and £850; Registered Bluefaced Leicester; 482 shearlings £6500 and £879.25; 25 lambs £2700 and £1012.80; Registered Border Leicester; 64 shearlings £1800 and £545.16; Registered Charollais: 256 shearlings £2000 and £553.75; 58 lambs £720 and £367.59; Registered Easycare; four shearlings £950 and £562.50; Registered Hampshire Downs; 11 shearlings £700 and £460; Registered Lleyn; 108 shearlings £900 and £375.74; Registered Millenium Bleu; two shearlings – both at £300; Registered North Country Cheviot; 74 Shearlings £800 and £383.38; Registered Oxford Downs; 10 shearlings £300 and £219; Registered Poll Dorset; two shearlings £550 and £415; three lambs £400 and £233.33; Registered Suffolk; 455 shearlings £2000 and £712,99; 280 lambs £5000 and £587.57; Registered Texel; 1144 shear-lings £15000 and £717.11; 89 lambs £2700 and £415.84; Registered Vendeen; eight shearlings £700 and £487.50; Unregistered Beltex; 10 shear-lings £600 and £219; Unregi-stered Crosses; 485 shearlings £2600 and £509.68; 16 lambs £600 and £436.25; Unregistered Suffolk; 486 shearlings £3000 and £718.19; Unregistered Texel; 269 shearlings to £2500 and averaged £592.97.
Craig Wilson sold 118 store bullocks in Newton Stewart on Friday to a top of 218.3p per kg and £1040 per head to average 182.1p or £776.69, while 96 store heifers peaked at 185.3p and £1000 to level at 176.4p or £709.38.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article