Dark Diamonds tops at 14,000gns for Suffolk ewe lamb

Falling as one of the final in-lamb Suffolk sales in the calendar, the Dark Diamonds attracted a large crowd of Suffolk enthusiasts to Borderway Mart, Carlisle.

With 79 lots catalogued being made up of 56 in-lamb shearling ewes and 23 ewe lambs, there was strong variety available to all buyers on the day.

The quality of sheep on show was extremely high, leading to an overall clearance rate of 99%.

Averages also remained strong, with in-lamb shearling ewe averaging £1,608 (€1,943) and ewe lambs averaging £3,691 (€4,459).

The sale topper was the leading ewe lamb from the Birness pen of the Stuart family. This exceptional ewe lamb sold for 14,000gns (€17,759) to Stephen Cobbald.

Pen average

The Stuart family went on to sell their second ewe lamb for 3,500gns (€4,439) to Patterson, giving them a pen average of 8,750gns (€11,101) for their ewe lambs and an average of 1,670gns (€2,120) for their pen of in-lamb shearlings that topped at 3,000gns (€3,806).

The next-top price was another ewe lamb, this time from the Balguhain flock of Graeme Christie.

She was sired by Castleisle Blackadder and out of the flock's much admired 2023 show gimmer. She sold for 7,000gns (€8,882) to the Boden family.

Christie achieved a pen average of 4,167gns (€5,287) for his ewe lambs and 2,020gns (€2,563) for his pen of in-lamb shearling ewes that topped at 4,000gns (€5,075).

Ewe lamb quality and demand was on fire throughout the entire sale, with the day's third-highest price also being a ewe lamb, this time coming from the NI-based Carony flock of the Ligget family.

This ewe lamb - that was described by Lesely Ligget in pre-sale comments as "one of the favourites" - sold for 6,000gns (€7,612) to Cannon Hall Farm. The Carony pen of ewe lambs went on to average 3,043gns (€3,677).