Exceptional Texel premier tops €10,000 twice

The Irish Texel Sheep Society hosted its Growvite premier show and sale in Blessington over the weekend, recording its best sale to date.

The increased number of rams on offer was met with a very strong commercial trade throughout, with the last of the 270 rams on offer still hitting four-figure prices.

While a strong commercial trade kept the sale going, pedigree Irish breeders investing in the best added a further dimension to the sale.

This resulted in a massive 16 rams selling for €3,000 or more on the day. Such was the demand for quality young rams, the average rose by over 50% on the year. Overall 80% of the over 200 ram lambs on offer sold for an average of €1,527, up from €973 in 2020.

Helping to boost this average were two rams which hit the market at €10,000 each.

First at the money was a ram lamb from the Annakisha flock of Arthur and Patrick O’Keeffe, Mallow, Co Cork. The February-born ram is a son of Hexel Born To Be Wild and out of a Hope Valley-bred ewe. A second prize-winner to the overall champion, the five-star ram was knocked down to the Blue Gate flock in Northern Ireland. This topped an exceptional day’s trading for the O’Keeffe pair, who sold five rams for an average of over €5,000.

Fellow Munster breeder Robert Walker from Co Limerick was the second to hit the sale-topping price. His young ram Kilcurley Ed is sired by Stainton Coca Cola and out of a homebred Carbo Wagon Wheel-bred dam. Carrying four stars on the replacement index and five stars on the terminal, he was secured by the McHughs and Coens for their Greenhill and Lehinch flocks.

This again topped an incredible weekend for Walker, who the previous day took the male and supreme championship with Kilcurley Evann.

This end-of-January-born ram is a son of Harestone Commander and out of a Foreman Hill ewe by Foreman Hill Action Man.

Hitting the market at €4,600, he was the pick of Kilkenny breeder Paddy Morrissey. The young Kilcurley ram was tapped out by judge Michael McHugh, who coincidently secured Walker’s joint sale topper. It must be noted, however, that due to COVID-19 procedures in place, each exhibitor was only allowed present one entry per class so the sale topper secured by McHugh was never presented on show day.

McHugh awarded the reserve male championship to Annaghdown Edoardo from Brian Divilly, Co Galway.

This January 2021-born ram secured first place in the novice class before placing as reserve male. Sired by the 40,000gns Garngour Alabama, he is out of a Recess-bred ewe that stood champion in Roscommon in 2019. He was secured for €7,000 by James Garrivan and Ronan Gallagher for their Clew Bay and Enniscrone flocks.

Acquiring a bid of €8,500 was Hill View Eloi from Ryan Doherty, Clonmany, Co Donegal.

This February ET-born ram is a son of Nochnary Del Boy and from a Cherryvale dam by Halbeath Woody. Breeder of the joint sale topper Robert Walker reinvested his money by securing Eloi in partnership with the previously mentioned Ronan Gallagher.

Matching the €8,500 price was Carlow breeder John Redmond with his ram Knockhill Engel.

This Midlock Dapper son is out of a Ballynahone-bred dam by Duncryne Uber Cool. Carrying five stars on the terminal index and four on the replacement, the February-born ram was secured by a syndicate of Dwayne Shiels, John Stewart, CIaran Heraghty and TJ Duffy.

Next in line were the aforementioned Arthur and Patrick O’Keeffe, who sold the second of their Annakisha ram lambs at €8,000.

This son of the 65,000gns Garngour Craftsman is out of a ewe purchased from the Sportsman flock at 9,000gns. This February-born twin lamb was secured by Edward and Sheena McCarthy for their Awbeg flock in Co Cork.

Reaching the €5,000 mark was Silver Hill Ecstatic from Neville Myles, Ballyshannon, Co Donegal.

This was one of the first sons offered for sale from last year’s premier sale topper Greenhill Dance Monkey. Dam of Ecstatic is a Strathbogie ewe by Mullan Armani that was purchased for 5,000gns. Ranking five stars on both indices, he was secured by John Neville, Liam Dillon, John Kidd, John Redmond and Henry Gamble.

John Neville recouped some of this investment as his top lamb, Thornville Ewe Pleaser, sold for €4,600.

This February born sub ram was sired by Procters Chumba Wumba and out of a Hexel Born To Be Wild ewe. Carrying four stars on the terminal index, this ET-bred ram was secured by John Kidd for his Treemore flock.

John, Colm and Michael McHugh, who purchased one of the joint top-selling rams earlier in the day, had a super run, selling six ram lambs to average just shy of €3,000. These were all sired by the stock ram Procters Class Act, which was purchased at Lanark for 8,500gns. Top of the prices for McHughs was Greenhill Ecstasy, which hit the market at €4,500.

Carrying Five stars on both the terminal and replacement indices, he is out of a Mainview Will-I-Am bred ewe and was the choice of Shane McHugh of the Figart flock.

Next best was a call of €4,000 for Greenhill Elusive Diamond. This February-born ram comes from a similar line to the previous lot, being out of Class Act and a Will-I-Am bred ewe.

Again carrying five stars on both traits, this one was the pick of Niall Brennan of the Grangehill Flock in Co Sligo. The rest of the Greenhill rams sold for €2,800, €2,400, €2,200 and €2,000.

Although one of the last ballots through the sales ring, the Enniscrone flock of Ronan Gallagher peaked at €3,600. This was paid for a February-born ram sired by Enniscrone Donavon, which placed second in his class at last year’s premier. Dam of this lot was a Strathbogie ewe secured by Gallagher at the 2019 Northern Lights sale. Joseph McKenny was the successful bidder here.

The O’Keeffe duo from outside Mallow were again back in the money when they sold their third Annakisha ram at €3,200. This end-of-March-born ram lamb is a son of the previously mentioned Midlock Dapper, with the dam the same ewe as the €10,000 joint sale topper. This one was the choice of Martin Warde.

Matching the price was John Neville’s second exhibit Thornville Extra Special. Sired by Garngour Dictator, he is out of the flock’s best breeding ewe which was imported from the Auldhouseburn flock. This one was knocked down to Neville Myles for his Silver Hill flock.

Securing a bid of €3,000 was Clew Bay Efficient. Bred by James Garrivan, this January-born ram is a son of Tullyhill Desery Eagle and out of a Tamnamoney-bred ewe. He was secured by the Recess flock in Co Galway.

Shearling rams also proved in hot demand, with 44 of the 49 present selling for an average price of €1,045. This average is up €80 on the year. Leading prices in this section was the first prize shearling ram Springbridge Deadly. Bred by Wexford man Thomas Whelan, this February 2020-born ram is sired by Thornville Austin and out of a homebred ewe. Deadly was the choice of John Wehrly for his Ravensdale flock in Co Louth.

As can be seen, all these highlight prices were for rams secured by pedigree breeders. That said, as previously mentioned this was underpinned be very strong commercial buyer demand. If we look at the remaining lots, we see that 66% of all rams sold made between €400 and €1,200. Buyers of these lots proved eager, however, with many willing to spend that bit extra to secure their ram of choice.

Females

For the first time ever, the society made the decision to run the female sale on the Friday evening following the show. This decision proved worthy as not only did we see a few standout prices but it significantly took off pressure on the Saturday morning.

The overall shearling ewe trade averaged similar to a very impressive 2020 sale at just shy of €1,300. Clearance for shearling ewes also proved exceptional at 96%.

Leading the way in the female trade were Donegal breeders John Greene and Family with their Larahil flock. Their top entry was a January 2020-born ewe by the 16,000gns Procters Cocktail that hit the market at €6,000. Out of a Knock ewe by Allanfauld Am The Man, she boasted four stars on the replacement index. She was secured by the Hill View flock of Ryan Doherty.

The Greene family also secured the reserve female championship with another Procters Cocktail daughter. This February 2020-born ewe is out of a homebred Kelso Pavarotti-sired dam and was knocked down at €5,500 to William Carey.

The same buyer also paid €2,000 for a ewe from the Boal’s flock of Mervyn and Anna Boal, Letterkenny, Co Donegal. This Enniscrone Bronson-sired ewe is out of a homebred Fordafourie Windfall daughter and placed third in the shearling class.

Topping ewe lamb trade was Pat and Barry Farrell with a ewe from their Oberstown flock. This Hexel Born To Be Wild daughter is from a Garngour-bred ewe from the same family as Midlock Capaldi, which sold for 200,000gns. Catching the eye of Andrew Hayden, she met her reserve at €2,600.

Securing the female and reserve supreme championship in the pre-sale show was the Annakisha flock.

This first prize-winning ewe lamb was sired by Midlock Dapper with her dam a Kncok Travis daughter purchased from the Forkins flock. Selling at €2,100, this topped a super few days’ trading for Arthur and Patrick O’Keeffe.

William Doherty secured a bid of €2,100 for a ewe lamb from his Hillcrest flock. Sired by the 17,000gns Sportsman Cannonball, she is out of a Blackstown ewe by Auldhouseburn Black Magic.

The ewe lamb trade saw a big improvement on the year, with average price rising by €175 to rest at €926. This again was matched with a clearance rate of over 90%. Overall, 33 of the 84 females which sold on the night made four figure prices.

Over the past number of years numbers at this sale for both males and females have increased steadily, making the Irish Texel premier the biggest society sale in the country.

Increased numbers, however, rarely mean success unless a lot of work goes on behind the scenes.

To maintain clearance rates and increase averages across the sections is a testament to this ongoing work in the society. Great credit must go to all involved in making this year’s sale such a success. To ensure this, no stone was left unturned with regards to pre-sale promotion, setting up an outdoor covered sales ring and even supplying food and drink to all exhibitors on the Friday evening.

In the lead-up to this year’s premier, the Irish Texel Sheep Society also ran an editorial competition with the Irish Farmers Journal. While this no doubt helped to highlight the sale, it more importantly gave young people a gateway to get into the breed with the winning prize vouchers to be spent at last weekend’s sale. The competition saw four category winners receive €250 each, with the overall winner receiving a further €250.

We are pleased to announce this year’s overall winner as 17-year-old Liam Gilligan who can be seen pictured with his new purchase. Well done to all who entered and well done to both organisers, sellers and buyers at the weekend.