A FLYING trade for the 100-plus pedigree and non-pedigree cows and heifers on offer saw a new centre record top of £3,300 at Gisburn Auction Marts, with everything in-milk levelling in excess of £2,000.

It was a 36 kg second calf cow by Mozarella which drew the top bid for Bashall Eaves vendors D. and L. M. Cowgill. Their Heygill Mozarella Mary, placed second in class, had given 7,342kg with her first calf and, out of an 11,974kg dam, was sold 10 days calved to G..A. Hargreaves and Sons, Stoke on Trent. From the same vendors and going to the same buyers at £2,980, was the third placed cow also from the Heygill Mary family, but this one by Mogul and out of a 12,232kg dam. It had a 9,783kg first note and was sold giving 43kg.

At £2,840, Messrs Hargreaves also bought the day’s reserve champion, a 45kg second calver by Montross Jedi from North Yorkshire’s Craven district breeder G.B. Moorhouse. Aireburn Jedi Lily is out of an EX93, 50 tonne Shottle dam.

Brindle, Chorley vendors E.H. and R. Eccles topped the pedigree heifer section at £2,780 when their Denhamhill Jareb Peggy 3, from an EX91, 100 tonne grandam, went to a Cheshire buyer who also took two others at £2,600 and £2,520. These were the Denmire Pensive-sired Smellows Buttergold 217 from J. D. Taylor and Son, Broughton, Skipton, and a Secretariat heifer from M. and J. Bistol’s Claremont herd at Newton in Bowland, which also produced a Delta-Lambda heifer selling at £2,600 to N.W. and J.M. Coulthurst, Goosnargh, Preston.

It was the Ingleview herd of R. and E. Butterfield, Bentham which took the day’s championship with their Stantons Chief-sired Ingleview Calphurnia bred from an EX90 Stanleycup dam. The 32kg heifer went to Messrs Coulthurst at £2,500.

Four more heifers hit the £2,400 mark, one being a Rooster-Red daughter from Denhamhill, together with entries from K.E. Robinson and Son’s Kilnhall herd at Bentham, a Mogul heifer from R.W. Bainbridge and Son, Whittington, Carnforth, and a Peak Altaamulet sired Fortland heifer from Messrs Hull, Winmarleigh, Preston.

The non-pedigree newly calved section topped at £2,480 for Haighton, Preston vendors J. and B. Rowland selling to Cheshire.

There was a strong trade for in-calf heifers which reached £2,000 and £1,950 for G.C. and E. Asquith and Son, Paythorne, Gisburn for two in-calf to the Angus, while bulling heifers peaked at £970.

AVERAGES

Pedigree newly calved heifers £2,170; pedigree newly calved cows £2,735; non-pedigree newly calved heifers £1,750; non pedigree newly calved cows £1,425; in-calf heifers £1,806; maiden heifers £775.

Coloured breeds continue to be in demand at Gisburn Auction Mart’s Saturday breeding and store sheep sales.

Currently weekly for the ‘sheep with lambs at foot’ season, the attention for Dutch Spotted sheep has continued to increase over the last year resulting in record prices for Gisburn’s breeding sheep ring.

Saturday April 16 saw a Mule recipient ewe with twin embryo gimmers from the Sandstone flock make to £1,120.

Sandstone Freya and Sandstone Freija; both sired by Williams Dynamite, a Tiptop Aero son purchased by Del Amson, Bickerton, as a Ram lamb in 2020, were purchased by Messrs Whittam and made their way to their new home in Gilstead.

Another Mule recipient with a registered same way sired, February born ram lamb at foot, Sandstone Fernando, made to £590.

From the same home was gimmer hogg Sandstone Emma which was purchased as a replacement by Kurt Smith of the Spring Vale flock for £820.

Trade continued on Saturday 23rd topping at £1,300 for an imported one-crop Dutch Spotted ewe with twin gimmers. DA Clown was brought in by Jamie Shoesmith of West Marton and was bred back to his stock tup; Dutch bred ‘Drake’.

She was sold with the end of February born gimmers at foot; Shoeys Fulgara and Shoeys Fortuna, to a local breeder. Another set from the same breeder, sired by the same ram, sold to £1,000 this time for a twin ram lamb outfit. The same age, Shoeys Ford and Shoeys Flame caught the eye of Tim Metcalfe and headed off to Bradford.

The Shoeys flock had two single outfits sell for £700; once for a homebred one-crop with ram lamb at foot, and again for a Navac shearling with single gimmer at foot.

The mart is now looking forward to its specific ‘May Magic’ coloured breed sale on Saturday May 28, with outfits, geld ewes and geld gimmer hoggs of any breed welcomed.