| 2016-11-04 |    |
Hawes Swaledale Ram Sale Drama
The curtain came down on the season finale in quite dramatic fashion at Hawes swaledale ram sales with the final day smashing records and leaving an massive average for the day at £2831 for the 301 tups forward.
The average over the 2 days (26th-27th October) at Hawes Auction Mart was up £386 on the year to level at £2226 for 611 rams forward. Demand for the best tups was as strong as ever seen.
Kisdon Lovely - £92,000
The golden hour of the sale came midway through the afternoon on the Thursday, where until then trade had been good, then starting with Kisdon Lovely from Christine Clarkson, which hadn’t been showed, but had everyone talking about it, due to its great colour and type, there were a lot of people looking to get a bid in, with various consortiums being formed to grab a leg in this tup with some of the truest bloodlines in. As it happened, a consortium wasn’t needed to land this tup, with Paul and Sue Hallam from Derbyshire holding their nerve longer than anyone else, jumping straight back with the bids as other teams faltered. Maurice Scott the auctioneer crashed the hammer down at £92,000 to a spontaneous round of applause and a slightly damp eye from Christine. Lovely by name and lovely by nature, her tup from the Kisdon flock of 170 ewes based in Muker, Swaledale was by a homebred tup she sold a few years back and retained a half share and was out of a ewe by the £34,000 Bull and Cave champion which has been used so successfully with the flock since they bought it.
The atmosphere was electric from then on. Barely half an hour later the days’ champion went through the ring. Brought out by Mark and Chris Rukin from the Stonesdale flock high up in Swaledale, Stonesdale Governor was another much anticipated tup, full of power and great bloodlines. He stepped around the ring and drew the bids in, fast and furious again the bids flew in, with the hammer landing for this cracking tup at £86,000, bought by Alan Coates, Aygill and Robert Wear, Patterdale. Quickly joining the partnership were a brace of buyers from the under bidders’ team, Craig Ridley and Jack Lawson. This tup was again by a homebred sire, Stonesdale Dynamite and out of a ewe by another homebred tup, a son of a Malcom Taylor tup. The Stonesdale second tup into the ring, Stonesdale General stepped up to the mark too, with bidding fast and furious again, this time stopping at £46,000 for this son of a £12,000 Hallam and out of a ewe by a Bill Cowperthwaite. He went back to Summerlodge and Oxnop to Stephen and Brian Porter. The Rukins enjoyed a great trade throughout with their third shearling fetching £14,000, selling to Redgate and Fernyford.
The highlight on the first day of the sale came early in, when John Dixon from the Stainton flock enjoyed his best trade ever, by quite some margin, when his tup, Stainton Vector cashed in at £43,000. This corker was by a Helbeck tup, going back to the prolific Limelight sire. He was bought by Mark Nelson, Bull & Cave and Richard Harker, Grayrigg Hall, who were drawn by his depth of colour and class. They were pushed all the way by Murton Hall from Appleby.
Last into the ring of the whole show were the Ewbank brothers, Mark and Paul, who despite the late billing, enjoyed a phenomenal trade, topping at £30,000 with a powerful shearling by a Grayrigg Hall tup, which has done well for the flock, and goes back to some of their own breeding on its mothers’ side. He was bought by John Richardson, Mark Nelson and Bobby Blades. Mark and Paul also had two other tups hitting the 5 figure bracket, both cashing in at £10,000 as well as a host of others making well into the thousands, rounding off a tremendous trade for the Swaledale sales as a whole.
Other highlights included a £22,000 bid for Dolphinseat Noble Eric 11 from WM Hutchinson, Redgate, selling to Stonesdale and Brian Thornborrow, Frith Holme. John Richardson had a sale of £21,000 selling to WM Hutchinson, Redgate, Neil Richardson, Fernyford and Ian Bell, Askrigg. This eye catcher was by another Grayrigg Hall and was twin to the champion gimmer hogg at Tan Hill show, the “Royal” of the Swaledale show circuit. It was a day to remember for young Barney Richardson, Fernyford, when he took a day off school and not only won the small breeders section, went on to lift the Overall Champion on the first day of the sale with a son of a homebred tup, used as a lamb, and going back to the £46,000 Eric Coates tup. He went on to sell to John Bradley and Jack Wade for £20,000.
Despite the great trade at the top end, the trade was picky, with buyers having plenty of tups to choose from and were very selective, and moving forwards, breeders will be looking to select the best of their tup lambs for the next years’ sale. The future for the breed is clear however, moving forward in strength, with tups heading all over the UK, with many going over the border into Scotland, which is a growing area for the breed as well as Northern Ireland.
