OXFORDS SELL TO 1550GNS AT RECORD-BREAKING WORCESTER

OXFORD DOWNS peaked at 1550gns at the annual Worcester Show & Sale, which saw no less than three new record prices within the breed.

Topping the trade was a Langrigg shearling ram from Andrew Rutherford, Guards Farm, Gretna, Dumfriesshire. Sired by the former breed record holder Billesdons Braveheart out of a home-bred Langrigg ewe, the sale topper sold to Martin Johnson, buying for his Longfriday flock at Wollaston, Northamptonshire.

It proved a memorable day for Langrigg which also had top price in the female section with a 1200gns bid for a shearling ewe sold to the Greenlands flock run by Roland Williams at Capel Seion, Aberystwyth. This Billesdons Braveheart daughter created a new female breed and shearling ewe record.

And records also fell in the lamb sections of the sale. Margery Brown from Tenby, Pembrokeshire set a new breed ram lamb record of 1000gns when she sold one from the Monkstone flock in a joint deal to Yorkshire breeders Jack Richardson and Richard Hampshire for their Rose-dene and prospect flocks respectively. The record-breaking lamb is by Greenlands Ystwyth Lad out of a home-bred ewe by the Ai sire Pirnie Tim.

Keeping it in the family, Margery’s son and Association President James Brown broke the 37-year old ewe lamb record for the breed with a Greenlands Ystwyth Lad daughter from his Tenby-based Redhouse flock. This one sold at 600gns to Roger & Sue Banks, Great Ellingham, Norfolk for their Thistledown flock.

Averages

Shearling ewes 27 sold to 1200gns and averaged £359.33

Ewe lambs 10 sold to 600gns and averaged £351.75

Flock ewes 1 sold to 300gns

Shearling rams 12 sold to 1550gns and averaged £462.00

Ram lambs 5 sold to 1000 gns and averaged £415.80

2/3 shear rams 1 sold to 300gns

Overall, 56 head sold to 1550gns and averaged £383.43

Auctioneers: McCartneys