A crowd of eager buyers gathered in Donegal Livestock Mart for the South West Donegal Blackface Sheep Breeders Group’s sale of in-lamb females and ewe lambs.Prices were strong throughout the sale with auctioneer Alex Gourley taking bids from ringside and online. The sale achieved a strong overall average of €524 and an overall clearance rate of 79%.
A crowd of eager buyers gathered in Donegal Livestock Mart for the South West Donegal Blackface Sheep Breeders Group’s sale of in-lamb females and ewe lambs.
Prices were strong throughout the sale with auctioneer Alex Gourley taking bids from ringside and online. The sale achieved a strong overall average of €524 and an overall clearance rate of 79%.
Catching judge Eamonn Conway’s eye in the pre-sale show was a stand-out shearling ewe from Cathal Breslin’s impressive pen of in-lamb shearling ewes.
The Ardara man’s champion lot later went on to top the sale, selling for €2,000 to the Kilmacrennan father-and-son duo, Gavin and Stephen Friel.
The champion lot was a direct daughter of the much-admired €3,800 Woolford and was scanned carrying twins to the €1,600 Cam.
The champion lot was followed directly after by another Woolford-sired shearling ewe from Cathal Breslin.
She was scanned in-lamb carrying twins and sold for €1,750. She was also purchased by Gavin and Stephen Friel.
The sale’s first prize-winning aged ewe also came from Cathal Breslin’s pen. She was a strong second-crop ewe that was sired by the €9,000 Woolford and was scanned carrying twins to the €1,600 Cam.
After a flurry of bids coming in from online and ringside, the hammer was dropped at €1,850 to the successful bidder Joanne Woods. This successful run led to a super average of €1,143 for Cathal Breslin’s impressive pen of in-lamb females.
First prize-winning aged ewe from Cathal Breslin that sold for €1,850, with judge Eamonn Conway.
The next top-priced aged ewe of the sale came from the pen of Jim and Brendan Robinson. She was a fourth crop ewe scanned carrying a single and sold for €950 to Mark Smyth.
Ewe lambs
Topping the ewe lamb section was the first prize-winning ewe lamb and overall reserve champion from Joanne Woods that sold for €1,050.
First prize-winning ewe lamb and reserve overall champion from Joanne and Shaun Woods that sold for €1,050, with judge Eamonn Conway.
Sired by a €2,000 Cam she was picked up with a successful bid from Gavin and Stephen Friel.
Woods had other success on the day as she picked up third in the highly contested ewe lamb class.
This ewe lamb was sired by a P Gallagher ram and sold for €300 to Cathal Breslin.
Reserve champion ewe lamb from Shaun and Joanne Woods and champion shearling ewe from Cathal Breslin.
SHARING OPTIONS