The Border British Blue Club held its annual spring sale in Borderway Mart on Saturday 11 May. Forty-nine bulls sold to an average price of £6,777.14 (€7,881) while 25 heifers averaged £4670.40 (€5,431).

Topping the trade at Saturday’s highly anticipated sale was the Supreme Champion from the pre-sale show, Almeley Shaggy. Bred by Graham and Kathryn Morgan, their June 2022-born bull, a black and white son out of the Pinnacle Hero-sired Almeley Narissa and himself sired by Crackley Bank Oscar, he had all the style needed to attract the sale topping figure of 25,000gns. Having bought many of the top priced lots at Carlisle over the last couple of years, Kevin and Sonya Fletcher from North Perthshire paid the top price of 25,000gns to take this chap to work in their Coul Herd.

The Morgans also claimed the second highest price of 16,000gns when their Almeley Sterling also sold North, this time to Smallburn Farms, Duffus, Elgin, with Andy Anderson. This dark blue roan bull was born two months later than his herd mate and was also sired by Gass Okay.

It was a weekend to remember for the Morgan family who impressively saw their 10 bulls cash in to an average sale price of £8,946 (€10,424).

There were two bulls sold for 12,000gns on the day, with the first of these being Maes Supernova, the Reserve Senior Champion from the Jones family from Corwen. A two-year-old black and white bull, he is the result of a flush between Colos Van Daisel and the Kilowatt D’Ochain-sired Ridge Dean Jasmine, a former show heifer that was Junior Female Champion at the Royal Welsh Show. Forking out for this bull was renowned show calf producers from Cumbria, John Smith-Jackson and Neil Hardisty.

The second bull to achieve 12,000gns was Blair and Shona Comrie’s Stonebyres Saracen, a 23-month-old blue and white bull from the husband and wife duo from Lanark. Saracen was sired by the homebred Stonebyres Ninja and was bred from a Kersey Geronimo dam, Stonebyres Leona.

There was plenty of quality in the female section of this year’s sale with heifers exhibiting show quality demanding some of the highest prices. Topping the tarde on the day was Kevin Watret’s Solway View Stella that sold outside the ring for the top price of 7,500gns.

Daughter

Offering a rare chance to buy a direct daughter of the herd’s noted brood cow, Stella is bred from Solway View Elegance, a Gitan Du Pti’T Mayeur daughter that features in the pedigree of many of the herd’s top show and sale leaders. Sired by General De L’Ecluse and born via embryo transfer in August, 2022, she sold to Corrigan Loughcrew Enterprises in Co Meath.

The Morgan family were back in the spotlight in the heifer ring when their 14-month-old Almeley Tangerine sold for the second highest female price of 7200gns to Messrs Owens from Leominster.

This flashy red heifer is another ET daughter and is by Negrita Du Lac and out of Almeley Miss Unique, an Almeley Arlequin daughter.

Trailing closely behind at 7,000gns when knocked down to an undisclosed buyer was Solway View Sunlight, a first prize winner from the Agri Expo and Live Scot. Born in October 2022, her pedigree includes Colos Van Daisel on to another consistent breeder, the Solway View Firecracker-sired Solway View Kesha.