The Irish Vendéen Sheep Society held its annual AGM on Saturday 25 November in the Bridge House Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

Three awards were presented – best breeder award for 2017, show flock of the year for 2017 and novice show flock of the year for 2017.

The best breeder award went to Ann Ford, Kilnacrott, Ballyjamesduff, Co Cavan. This award is well-deserved acknowledgement of Ann’s hard work for the Vendéen Sheep Society in 2017.

Ann fulfilled the roles of secretary and registrar for the past year and she worked hard on behalf of the society with Sheep Ireland to make the registration process of pedigree Vendéen lambs as easy as possible through Sheep Ireland’s lamb plus scheme.

Ann continues to act as registrar for the society and plays a vital role in overlooking the registration process by Sheep Ireland and issuing pedigree certs for all registered progeny.

Show Flock of the year award went to Ciaran Coughlan, owner of the Noggus Vendéen Flock, Noggus, Ferbane, Co Offaly. This made it two in a row for the Offaly man as he claimed the same award in 2016. Ciaran had an outstanding year in the show rings throughout the country and his flock didn’t disappoint in the sales ring either.

Unbeaten

Ciaran’s senior stock ram Quitrent Oldo remained unbeaten all year in his own category, claiming the all-Ireland senior ram champion in Clonmel Show in July.

Ciaran’s lambs also performed well in the show ring, picking up red rosettes in the ewe lamb category in Tullamore Show this August.

The Novice Show Flock award went to the father and son team of Cyril and Keith Anderson, Springfield, Lismacaffrey, Co Westmeath.

This was the first year for the Andersons showing their pedigree Vendéen sheep.

They went to several shows including Bonniconlon, Roscommon and Mullingar and featured highly in the lineups at them all. They also had the champion ram lamb in the regional ram sale in Roscommon in September.

This was a great achievement for their first year and this award is an acknowledgement of that.

Allams winter fair tops £6,200

Last week, the Kings Hall held the 94th Allams winter fair. The pinnacle of the Northern commercial showman’s calendar, this year’s show marked what is likely to be the last ever event to take place at the historic Kings Hall before it goes into redevelopment.

The showgrounds will stand as a memorable place for many who won championships and took home top prices throughout the years at the many prestigious shows and sales it hosted.

One of those will be Declan McKenna of Clogher, who took home the top price of £6,200 at last week’s fair.

His 13-month-old Charolais-cross heifer weighed in at 540kg, selling for £11.48/kg.

Sired by a Charolais stock bull out of Liscally Eti, the heifer by the name of Faye is out of a Goldies Oswald bred dam that goes back to a Belgian Blue dam.

Exhibited by Declan’s daughters Shauna and Orla, the sale topper was purchased by the newly formed FBD commercials, made up of the Flatley brothers Kieran and Christopher (Kilkelly, Co Mayo), and TJ Duffy (Westport, Co Mayo).

Speaking after the sale, the trio said: “We are delighted with the purchase as we think she’s a real cow maker that will hopefully produce something special. The long-term plan is to flush her and if it suits do a few local shows along the way.”

This year’s Donegal Texel Breeders’ sale of in-lamb Texel shearling ewes once again offers new and established breeders the chance to buy into some of the best proven Texel breeding Ireland has to offer.

Taking place at 6.30pm (show at 5pm) on 15 December at Raphoe Livestock Mart, approximately 70 shearling ewes will come under the hammer from many long-established Texel flocks including John Greene’s Larahirl, William Doherty’s Hillcrest, Richard and Andrew Wilson’s Shannagh and Shane McHugh’s Figart flocks.

A number of ewes this year will be scanned in-lamb to Strathbogie Yabba Dabba Doo, the £11,000gns purchase made by Messrs Greene (Larahirl/Greenstar/Culdaff), McLaughlin (Clara) and Doherty (Urris/Hill View) in Lanark last year. This lamb is a son of the successful £12,000gns Glenside Wild Boy and sired Larahirl A-Lister, sold for €2,600gns at Blessington sale earlier this year.

The same vendors also offer a number of ewes in-lamb to the €5,700gns Larahirl Alphonsos, a full ET brother to Greenstar Alfie, the supreme champion at this year’s Blessington sale, sold for €17,000gns to the Milnbank, Seaforde and Strathbogie flocks in Scotland.

Messrs Doherty (Hillcrest) and Wilson (Shannagh) also offer for sale a number of ewes in-lamb to the overall champion at this year’s English National Sale in Worcester. Sportsmans Alabama was purchased for £5,500gns and is a son of Ellen Valley Wild West, the reserve male champion at last year’s English National Sale, and is out of a dam by Milnbank Times Square.

Silverhill

Neville Myles’ long-established Silverhill flock also offers for sale 10 ewes in-lamb to the 2016 all-Ireland reserve champion Annakisha Yogurt.

This ram, sired by Claybury Warrior, also has Kelso Pavarotti and Millars Outstanding in his maternal bloodlines. A half-sister claimed the female championship at Blessington Sale earlier this year, selling for €1,450gns.

A ewe lamb will also be offered for sale, from Isobell Moore’s Labbadish flock, in aid of Children’s Cancer.

€2,700 top at Texel in-lamb sale

The recent Texel in-lamb sale held in Blessington last weekend saw a full clearance, with the average settling at €750.

Top price on the day, lot 17, sold for €2,700 and was exhibited by Arthur and Patrick O’Keeffe, Mallow, Co Cork. This ewe was sired by Claybury Warrior and sold scanned carrying twins.

Only shown once this year, she was placed second in the Growvite National Texel Championships. The O’Keeffes also sold the third-highest-priced ewe on the day when lot 19 went under the hammer at €2,000. This ewe was sired by Knock Trident and sold carrying triplets. This ewe was a prolific show winner this year, having claimed reserve champion at Tullamore Show.

Second-highest price was exhibited by Anthony Donnelly, Claremorris, Co Mayo, when he sold lot 45 for €2,400. This one was sired by Knock Ursus and sold carrying twins.

Ryan Texels offered a Doonhill Viking sired in-lamb ewe in aid of the Irish Cancer Society. Scanned carrying two lambs, she sold for €1,000.