| 2018-10-17 |    |
2,650gns Ewe lamb Tops Foulrice Charollais Celebration Sale
The undoubted highlight of the Marwood family’s ‘Celebration Sale’ of 70 females from their renowned Foulrice flock in Whenby, near York, was a top call of 2,650gns for a ewe lamb. (Saturday, October 13)
Sired by the high index ram, Hyde Radio5Live, and out of a Lowerye Neil’s Favourite-sired ewe, this classy ewe lamb, with a top muscle EBV of 6.96 and overall index of 409.36, became a joint purchase by the Dalby and Hyde flocks, the former run by Charles and Helen Sercombe at Frisby on the Wreake, near Melton Mowbray, the latter by Stuart Dunkley in Northampton.
The Foulrice ewe lamb that topped the Marwood
family’s celebration sale at Skipton at 2,650gns.
pic: MacGregor
Photography
Minutes earlier, the Sercombes also went to 750gns to secure another well-bred ewe lamb by Dalby Sherman, out of a Mount Aloe ewe. This one had an index of 414 and a top 5% for eye muscle.
Charles and Valerie Marwood, since joined by son Stephen, have been breeding Charollais sheep since 1982 and the special 70 head sale was staged to mark Charles’s milestone 70th birthday. They are familiar faces at Skipton, winning multiple breed championships and achieving many high price sales over the years.
Their second highest price of 1,700gns fell to a gimmer shearling, Foulrice Stellar, sired by Foulrice Osprey, himself a Dalby Mount Aloe son. Again out of a Neils Favourite ewe with an index of 432, she has been an integral part of this year’s Foulrice show team, standing Charollais and interbreed champion at Kilnsey Show in August. She sold scanned carrying triplets to Dalby Sherman to David Roberts Boyo flock from Leasowes, Kenley, in Shrewsbury.
The Marwoods sold further shearling ewes at 850gns, 780gns and 720gns, and ewe lambs at 550gns and 520gns. The averages - £565.07 for shearling ewes and £564.61 for ewe lambs – clearly illustrated the strength of the sale, which saw successful buyers present from Eire, Northern Ireland, Wales and Southern England, together with a large contingent of buyers and friends from the Northern Counties.
In all, a total of 88 females were brought forward for sale from members of The British Charollais Sheep Society’s Northern Region, producing a solid overall selling average of £565 per head. Also catching the eye with a 600gns ewe lamb sale was David Dennis, who runs the Silton flock at Over Silton, Thirsk.
