The Donegal Pedigree Cheviot Breeders annual show and sale of rams and ewe lambs and ewe hoggets was met with keen demand, with the average sale value of rams up €184 on 2024 levels. An entry of 54 hogget rams recorded a clearance rate of 80% with the 43 rams averaging €949 per head.

The top price on the day of €3,100 was achieved by the Figart flock run by Shane McHugh for the first-prizewinning hogget ram.

The second-prize-winning hogget ram and part of the best pen of three hogget rams was bred by Sean McHugh's Speenogue flock and sold for €2,050.

The March 2024-born ram was selected by judges Andy Corrigan, who is also chair of the Wicklow Pedigree Cheviot Group and well-known Wicklow Cheviot breeder Joe Burke. He is sired by Speenogue PG22019 and had impressive days to slaughter and daughter milk figures.

This data is a unique feature of the sale with the Donegal Pedigree Cheviot Breeders one of only two hill groups recording performance with Sheep Ireland under LambPlus and possessing €uro-Star evaluations.

The top prize-winning pen of three hogget ewes bred by the Figart Flock sold for €740 each.

The Figart flock had a successful day with their pen of eight rams averaging €1,277. It was the Speenogue flock of Sean McHugh that recorded the highest average pen price with seven rams averaging €1,567 in a solid trade. The flock claimed the first prize for the group of three hogget rams and the second prize in the individual class. The latter ram sold for €2,050.

The first prizewinning hogget ram bred by the Figart Flock of Shane McHugh. Picture alongside Shane are Cathal McHugh and judges Andy Corrigan and Joe Burke. \ Glenalla Photography.

The pen of eight rams offered by the Figart flock operated by Manus McHugh also attracted keen demand and sold on average for €1,232. This included the second highest price of €2,850 paid for a hogget ram.

Demand for rams was helped by the sale being approved as an export sale with keen interest from breeders based in Northern Ireland.

The pen of three ewe lambs also included the first and second prize in the individual class and sold for €480 to the Speenogue flock.

Rams at the lower end of the price range sold from €400 to €700 with rams unsold falling within a price range of €400 to €900.

Female offering

There was a good entry of 48 hogget ewes and ewe lambs. Hogget ewes averaged €610/head, well above the average of €392/head recorded in the sale in 2024. The top price on the day was €740 paid for a top-quality batch of three ewe hoggets bred by the Figart flock.

The average price for ewe lambs was also well up on 2024 with ewe lambs up €100/head and averaging €385.

This quality ram bred by the Speenogue Flock of Sean McHugh was part of the best pen of three hogget rams and sold for €2,450.

Top price of €550 was paid for the first-prize-winning batch of three bred by the Speenogue flock.