With close to 100 of the finest Suffolk sheep on offer from breeders across Ireland, there was stiff competition in the show ring and strong interest in the sales ring at the recent Irish Suffolk Sheep Society premier show and sale.

Taking care of judging duties was Barry Murphy of the Murbro Flock and for his first-class winner of the day he went for a ewe lamb from the Bannow Flock of Greg Rossiter in Co Wexford. Greg’s stylish ewe lamb was sired by Glenroe Dinny and out of a Bentley Born Again ewe and sold for 1,050gns.

The second-place ewe lamb came from Michael Murphy’s Moneen Flock in Co Galway and sold for 1,300gns. Both these females sold to new breeders.

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This was followed by the Hogget Ewe class where the red ribbons went to the Columbkille Flock of Richard Moore, Co Kilkenny. This classy Islandmoyle Magic ewe was knocked down at 850gns.

Females were met with huge interest, with most selling to new breeders and achieving an average price of 765gns.

Next was the highly competitive Shearling ram class, where first place went to the Wexfo Flock of Willie Gleeson.

This lovely, correct son of Leaguan Ed is out of a Bentley Lockdown and went on to claim the reserve overall champion, before topping the sale at 2,900gns. Greg Rossiter’s third-place Shearling from the same class, a son of Bentley Born Again, then made 2,350gns. Overall, Hogget rams averaged 1,270gns.

Supreme champion

The prestigious John Joe Mitchell cup was presented to James Rooney of the Benwiskin Flock, who claimed the supreme championship with his ram lamb sired by Benwiskin Cracksman. This powerful ram lamb, which also stood first in the recorded class, proved popular in the sale ring, selling for 2,800gns.

The open ram lamb class was full of high-quality ram lambs and despite stiff competition, Pat Rossiter’s County Flock took first place with a son of Comeragh Micheil, out of a Bentley Boxer ewe.

Standing in pole position with the best pair of ram lambs was James Rooney of the Benwiskin Flock, followed in second by John Martin’s Duncormick Flock.

Overall, ram lambs were in high demand, averaging 1,010gns.

The sale concluded with Richard Moore making a presentation to retiring secretary Anne Mitchell, thanking her for her many decades of work for the Suffolk sheep breed.