The Irish Texel Sheep Society held its premier sale in Blessington Mart over the weekend, which witnessed a particularly strong first half.
Record crowds attended the Wicklow mart on Saturday morning to select their choice of the nearly 300 sheep on offer.
The strong start to the sale helped to boost trade, with only the very late lots finding it hard to get the very high prices.
That said, a very strong interest from commercial breeders helped to get the majority of rams into the €450 to €950 bracket. However, pedigree breeders were also investing well, with a number of high sellers helping to boost the average ram sale price to €1,000 for 158 sold.
While Kerry fans may have been celebrating getting to another all-Ireland on Sunday night, Fergal O’Se, eldest brother of Darragh, Tomas and Marc, was celebrating an overall champion result on Friday evening.
The avid Texel breeder took a number of top places on the Friday evening before eventually being tapped out as male and overall champion with one of three ET brothers.
The Garngour Alabama-sired rams are out of a Tullagh Saracen-bred ewe, with the champion coming out of the open ram lamb class.
Male and supreme champion from Fergal O’Se, which sold for €2,600. \ MacGregor Photography
On sale day (Saturday), this stylish ram went on to sell for €2,600 to the McHugh flocks.
The second of the lots, placed second in the lamb plus class and matched the price of his champion pen mate, sold to the Deegan family.
The last ram of the pen joined with the two prizewinners to secure first place in the group of three class. This ram lamb sold for €1,000.
Taking the reserve male championship and following in the footsteps of his father which did the same was a ram lamb from the pen of brothers John and Colm McHugh.
This Donnelly Alonso-sired ram was the pick of the Clougher flock at €2,400.
However, the highlight of the sale came when lot 202 from Rodger Doherty, Donegal, hit the market at €12,000.
Sired by the 60,000gns Strathbogie Yes Sir, who also sired the €15,000 high-seller at last year’s sale, this lamb was a red rosette winner in the novice ram lamb class. Securing the champion for his flock in Donegal was John McLoone.
Second-top male price of the sale was a double five-star ram from John and Con McHugh.
This son of the aforementioned Donnelly Alonso was the pick of Wexford breeder Liam Dillon at €3,000.
Second top-priced ram from John and Colm McHugh, which sold for €3,000. \ MacGregor Photography
A maternal brother to this ram was next in line when the Kilclammon son sold for €2,700 to Pat Lyons.
The next highest call was €2,500 when James Dunne sold his Strathbogie Boss son to PJ Kenny, Co Longford.
First-time premier sale exhibitor TJ Duffy got off to a fierce start when he sold his two rams for an average price of €2,150.
Top of these was a bid of €2,400 for the Strathbogie Yes Sir son which sold to Allysha Moore.
This ram came with a proven track record, having placed as male national champion at the society finals in Kilkenny last month.
In the female section, strong demand saw a near 90% clearance across shearlings and lambs.
Shearling ewes were particularly impressive, with 88% selling to average €940, up nearly €100 on the year.
Top-priced female of the sale from John Greene, which sold for €3,300. \ MacGregor Photography
Top-priced female was a bid of €3,300 for the third-prizewinning shearling ewe from John Greene. This Duncryne Uber Cool daughter was the pick of Roger Doherty.
The Greene family also secured the reserve female championship with a shearling ewe bred by the 11,000gns Strathbogie Yabba Dabba Doo. This ewe heads to Roscommon with Patricia McCormack at €2,100.
Taking the female and reserve overall championships of the pre-sale show and continuing their successful year were father and son Arthur and Patrick O’Keeffe with their shearling ewe.
The Annakisha ewe is a daughter of Claybury Warrior and hit the market at €2,000, selling to Francis Divilly.
Liam Dillion recouped most of his investment of his newly purchased ram when he sold a shearling ewe for the second-top female price of €2,500. This Arkle A One daughter was secured by Ron Darlington.
Hitting a price of €2,300 was a shearling ewe from Monaghan-based Malachy McMeel.
The final female to hit over the €2,000 mark was the sixth-prizewinning shearling ewe from John and Colm McHugh. This Thornville Alberto gimmer sold for €2,100 to Daniel Murphy, Co Monaghan.
The Irish Texel Sheep Society held its premier sale in Blessington Mart over the weekend, which witnessed a particularly strong first half.
Record crowds attended the Wicklow mart on Saturday morning to select their choice of the nearly 300 sheep on offer.
The strong start to the sale helped to boost trade, with only the very late lots finding it hard to get the very high prices.
That said, a very strong interest from commercial breeders helped to get the majority of rams into the €450 to €950 bracket. However, pedigree breeders were also investing well, with a number of high sellers helping to boost the average ram sale price to €1,000 for 158 sold.
While Kerry fans may have been celebrating getting to another all-Ireland on Sunday night, Fergal O’Se, eldest brother of Darragh, Tomas and Marc, was celebrating an overall champion result on Friday evening.
The avid Texel breeder took a number of top places on the Friday evening before eventually being tapped out as male and overall champion with one of three ET brothers.
The Garngour Alabama-sired rams are out of a Tullagh Saracen-bred ewe, with the champion coming out of the open ram lamb class.
Male and supreme champion from Fergal O’Se, which sold for €2,600. \ MacGregor Photography
On sale day (Saturday), this stylish ram went on to sell for €2,600 to the McHugh flocks.
The second of the lots, placed second in the lamb plus class and matched the price of his champion pen mate, sold to the Deegan family.
The last ram of the pen joined with the two prizewinners to secure first place in the group of three class. This ram lamb sold for €1,000.
Taking the reserve male championship and following in the footsteps of his father which did the same was a ram lamb from the pen of brothers John and Colm McHugh.
This Donnelly Alonso-sired ram was the pick of the Clougher flock at €2,400.
However, the highlight of the sale came when lot 202 from Rodger Doherty, Donegal, hit the market at €12,000.
Sired by the 60,000gns Strathbogie Yes Sir, who also sired the €15,000 high-seller at last year’s sale, this lamb was a red rosette winner in the novice ram lamb class. Securing the champion for his flock in Donegal was John McLoone.
Second-top male price of the sale was a double five-star ram from John and Con McHugh.
This son of the aforementioned Donnelly Alonso was the pick of Wexford breeder Liam Dillon at €3,000.
Second top-priced ram from John and Colm McHugh, which sold for €3,000. \ MacGregor Photography
A maternal brother to this ram was next in line when the Kilclammon son sold for €2,700 to Pat Lyons.
The next highest call was €2,500 when James Dunne sold his Strathbogie Boss son to PJ Kenny, Co Longford.
First-time premier sale exhibitor TJ Duffy got off to a fierce start when he sold his two rams for an average price of €2,150.
Top of these was a bid of €2,400 for the Strathbogie Yes Sir son which sold to Allysha Moore.
This ram came with a proven track record, having placed as male national champion at the society finals in Kilkenny last month.
In the female section, strong demand saw a near 90% clearance across shearlings and lambs.
Shearling ewes were particularly impressive, with 88% selling to average €940, up nearly €100 on the year.
Top-priced female of the sale from John Greene, which sold for €3,300. \ MacGregor Photography
Top-priced female was a bid of €3,300 for the third-prizewinning shearling ewe from John Greene. This Duncryne Uber Cool daughter was the pick of Roger Doherty.
The Greene family also secured the reserve female championship with a shearling ewe bred by the 11,000gns Strathbogie Yabba Dabba Doo. This ewe heads to Roscommon with Patricia McCormack at €2,100.
Taking the female and reserve overall championships of the pre-sale show and continuing their successful year were father and son Arthur and Patrick O’Keeffe with their shearling ewe.
The Annakisha ewe is a daughter of Claybury Warrior and hit the market at €2,000, selling to Francis Divilly.
Liam Dillion recouped most of his investment of his newly purchased ram when he sold a shearling ewe for the second-top female price of €2,500. This Arkle A One daughter was secured by Ron Darlington.
Hitting a price of €2,300 was a shearling ewe from Monaghan-based Malachy McMeel.
The final female to hit over the €2,000 mark was the sixth-prizewinning shearling ewe from John and Colm McHugh. This Thornville Alberto gimmer sold for €2,100 to Daniel Murphy, Co Monaghan.
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