Hexham Ewe and Gimmer Sale
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Hexham & Northern Marts held their traditional prize show and sale of horned hill ewes and, following requests from a large number of customers – both vendors and purchasers alike moved the sale date forward with great and obvious benefit.
An appealing entry of over two and a half thousand Blackface and Swaledale ewes, gimmers and ewe lambs were presented and three hotly contested show classes were judged as follows;
Mr Will Hall, Allensgreen, Bardon Mill was tasked with the judging of the draft ewe classes and his selections were as follows;
Blackface ewes; 1st Messrs Walton, Troughend; 2nd Wanwood Partners, Wanwood Hill; 3rd Messrs Walton, Toft House.
Mr David Gray, Drumnessie, Kilsyth presided as judge over the Blackface gimmer class and after thorough consideration of some exceptional pens he awarded the Gordon Swan Trophy to a smart and sharp pen, the lead of a great offering from The Dudlees Partnership bred on their East Wilkwood heft.
The second prize rosette went to a sizeable score from Messrs Robson, Townshields and third prize was taken home by next door neighbours Messrs Murray, Sewingshields.
The show classes dispensed with a greatly increased crowd gathered at the ringside for the early afternoon start time allowing buyers to assemble from Aberdeenshire to The North and from Devon in The South and trade set off at a pace.
All consignments of draft ewes were well up on the year, the greatest lift was seen for the Champion pen and recipients of The CLA Challenge Cup from Messrs W Walton & Sons, Troughend. The ewes in fine form were every inch the traditional Hexham type with carcass, coats and colour in abundance and secured the title yet again for a delighted Philip Walton and family from the Rede Valley. The pen went on to realise £266 per head representing a lift of £116 on the year with the hammer falling in favour of the judge. Fittingly it was the second prize pen from Wanwood Hill that followed in the rankings at £250 and these were followed by a brace of pens that cashed at £215 – the first from The Airy Bros, Brownchesters and another from nearby in The Rede Valley from Frank Hall, Yatesfield.
£266 Troughend, £250 Wanwood Hill, £215 Brownchesters & Yatesfield, £210 Yatesfield, £195 Toft House, £190 Wanwood Hill & Hotbank, £185 & £182 Troughend, £180 Hotbank & Toft House, £165 The Dunns, £164 Featherwood.
Two noted local flockmasters had chosen to entrust first a complete dispersal and also a flock reduction to the auctioneers and their input to the catalogue was considerable in both number but also in buyer interest.
The Carry House flock of Martyn Archer has long since been synonymous with the North of England Mule and upon his decision to retire from his Wark-on-Tyne holding Hexham Auction Mart was the first and obvious choice through which to market the entire flock of Hexham type Blackface ewes. Impeccably presented and drawn into lots with a keen eye for detail the entire run of over three hundred were a delight to behold and a huge credit to the years of dedicated stockmanship devoted to their sheep by The Archer Family. The ewes courted buyer interest from across the UK and all sold to noted and highly respected Mule sheep breeders – the top two pens at £270 and £260 selling to David & Harry Hope, Mouldyhills, Canonbie, another at £255 selling to The Browell Bros, Quarry House, Hexham and a fourth at £250 being taken home to Lanarkshire by gimmer judge on the day Mr David Gray, Drumnessie.
Likewise, The Walton family of Troughend, Otterburn have, for generations been noted for the consistent quality of their Blackface sheep and due to unforeseen circumstances were sad to offer a flock reduction of 120 Blackface and Swaledale cross ewes from their ‘Archies Side’ heft high in The Rede Valley. Following success in the draft ewe class, some of which would have been drawn at six years old from the same heft, the sought after offering sold easily as well, if not better with younger aged ewes holding equal appeal. These were topped by a smart hybrid pen of Swale-cross-Blackie gimmers that quickly ascended to £270 to then make the long journey North with their new Aberdeenshire owners. These were followed by another pen of the same that changed hands at £250 and sold to The Rowell Family, North Cocklake, Hexham whilst a pen of hefty 2 crop Blackface ewes went home with Andrew Gibson, Thornton Towers, Hexham at £230 each. The auctioneers thank these long-standing vendors for their business on the day and look forward to a continued successful working relationship for many years to come.
After a largely lacklustre sale for the gimmer offering twelve months earlier the auctioneers are pleased to report that a change of date coupled with a buoyant mule ewe lamb trade and perhaps a finite number of top-quality sheep available on the market resulted in phenomenal demand for this class on this day. The first balloted pen of gimmers into the ring just happened to be the champion pen from The Dudlees Partnership and these soared to a blistering £330 per head selling from The Rede valley into The Coquet valley and to Messrs Watmore, Holystone Estate showing a lift of £170 per head on the same sale in 2024. This set the tone for the entire class and these were followed by the second prize pen from Messrs Robson, Townshields that surpassed to sell at £380 for a delighted Neil, Davy & Joey to The Ridleys of Shitlington – a rise of no less than £195 per head. Nick Walton presented an exceptional pen of twenty gimmers and these climbed to £315 which were followed at £300 by the third prize winners from Angus & Jamie Murray Sewingshields. Swale-cross-Blackies sold to £270 from The Dunns holding of The Hall family whilst their pure Swale gimmers from The Raw topped at £225.
TOP PRICES:
£380 Townshields, £330 East Wilkwood, £315 Cowden Burn, £300 Sewingshields, £290 Townshields, £280 Cowden Burn, £270 Sewingshields & Townshields, £265 & £260 Townshields, £240 & £235 Yatesfield, £230 East Wilkwood, Grasslees & Yatesfield, £220 Townshields.
Sale averages as follows; 1158 Blackface ewes £176 (+£52); 369 Swaledale ewes £120 (+£43); 402 Blackface gimmers £251 (+£80); 100 Swaledale gimmers £194 (+£41).
