Last week, the first pedigree sheep sales for 2018 took place when the Irish Vendéen Sheep Society hosted its premier show and sale in Roscommon Mart.

This kickstarts what will be a busy few months on pedigree sheep breeders’ farms, when they try to generate much of their yearly income.

Unfortunately, the late spring and drought conditions currently being witnessed meant the first sale of the season got off to a rocky start.

The early sale date, plus small numbers at the ringside, meant that less than 50% of the stock present found new homes.

John Lynch exhibiting the overall champion at the Vendeen premier show and sale. Also pictured is sponsor Mark O’Rourke, Growvite

Highest-priced ram

However, there were some minor highs throughout the sale, which saw rams hit a high of €750. The ram that reached the high price was from Ena Nagle’s Landmark flock, which she runs in Mitchelstown, Co Cork.

Carrying five stars on both the replacement and terminal indices, Landmark Sidney caught the attention of two prospective buyers before eventually being knocked down to Eoin Flynn, Ballinasloe, Co Galway.

Sidney, a twin ram born in December 2017, was sired by stock ram Quitrent Pablo, who stood reserve breed champion at the recent NSBA championships in Cillin Hill last month.

Securing the second top price of €700 was the third prizewinning ram lamb Ballinascraw Springsteen. Bred and exhibited by John Lynch, this double four-star lamb was homebred on both sides. Born on 15 December 2017, the stylish Springsteen was secured by Tipperary farmer James Shay.

John Lynch was in the limelight also when he secured the overall pre-sale show champion with Ballinascraw Reginald.

This shearling ram came out trumps in the first class of the day before being tapped forward by judge Thomas Jackson as overall champion. Sired by Killeen Wen and out of homebred dam Ballinascraw Odearest, the champion left the sales ring unsold having failed to meet his reserve.

The reserve championship sash of the show went the way of Mark and Audrey Crowe, Dunsany, Co Meath.

Their December 2017-born ram Killeen Sampson came out in front of the biggest class of the day before standing reserve overall to Ballinascraw Reginald.

This young ram came with a wealth of breeding, with his sire Noggus Rock placing second at the all-Irelands and his grandsire all-Ireland senior ram champion in 2017. Carrying four stars on both the replacement and terminal indices, Sampson also left the ring unsold.

Securing the third top price of the sale was Ciaran Coughlan, Ferbane, Co Offaly. Noggus Suarez is the ram’s name and heads to Kildare at a price of €640. Carrying four stars on the replacement index, this one is out of French AI ram Cottage Whitehorn.

Overall, 20 of the 47 rams on offer found new homes to average €512.

Mark and Audrey Crowe exhibiting the reserve overall champion at the Vendeen premier show and sale. Also pictured is judge Thomas Jackson and sponsor Mark O’Rourke, Growvite

Females

The male sale set a similar tone for the females. While clearance was higher at 59%, average remained low at €285. Top price for the females was €400, which was hit twice.

First to hit the money was the first-prizewinning ewe lamb Valley View from Andrew Gilmore, Kingscourt, Co Cavan. This six-month-old ewe lamb is sired by former show ram Drumeden Opel, while dam is Killua.

Matching her at the money was Ena Nagle, Mitchelstown, Co Cork. Having secured the top-priced male earlier in the day, Ena was back on form to secure the joint-top price in the female ring.

Her ewe lamb was sired by Cottage Jasper, while the dam was homebred Landmark Kate Biddy. Securing the two top-priced ewe lambs was the aforementioned James Shay.