Dorsets Lead the Way At Spring Lamb Sale

At the recent Spring Lamb show and sale, held at McClellands Livestock Market in Ballymena, a pen of four Dorset lambs topped the market, selling for £140 each. These excellent quality lambs, which were awarded 1st prize in the Dorset class, were produced by Ian Dodds, Glenwherry. Ian is no stranger to this success as he has been bringing out top priced Dorset lambs at this event for a number of years. The four lambs weighed an average of 20.5 kg and at 682p per kilo were over 50p per kilo more than the next highest price. Of the top prices in the sale report over a third were for Dorset lambs which demonstrates the quality and demand for new season Dorset lamb.
The top priced pen of lambs was purchased for Bruce’s Hill Farm Shop by farm manager Steven Buick. Steven commented that as soon as he walked into the market this pen of lambs immediately caught his eye as being the shape and size of lambs he wanted. He was looking for young lambs which had a good carcase conformation without being too fat and these certainly fitted the bill. He was delighted that they killed out at over 51%, showing that they are genuine spring lambs. The lamb has now been attractively displayed in store by butcher Colin Longstaff read for the Easter market.

The farm shop has been opened in a new location near Kells, Co Antrim on the edge of the busy A26, for just over a month and it is hoped that the out of town position will make it very convenient for the discerning consumer who can find quality produce, locally sourced and not have to carry it any distance to the car!
Steven also noted that he intends to provide a service for those travelling from the Belfast direction up to the north coast, where they can order and pay for the goods on line and collect their box without having to cross the dual carriageway. Opening hours have also been extended to 6 pm.

At Bruces’s Hill Farm shop there is great emphasis not only on quality but on local produce. The beef and pork is produced from owner Mike Frazer’s own Edenvale Farm. Mike’s particular interest is in Dexter cattle and the whole enterprise has grown from his purchase of 5 Dexter cows just a few years ago. These have won numerous prizes on the agricultural show circuit and were the foundation stock for the Dexter herd which supplies the very popular Dexter beef for the shop. There is a desire to use native breeds for all meat types and Aberdeen Angus is also a major feature on the beef counter. Farm Manager Steven Buick and butcher Colin Longstaff are adamant that the marbling effect produces a much superior flavour. All the beef is hung for a minimum of 21 days, usually up to 28 days. This combination is surely a winning one as two awards were scooped by the Bruce’s Hill team at the European Angus Steak Tasting Competition. In this, their first year of entering, they won Best Ribeye Steak and Best Vegetable Roll.
Edenvale Farm has grown rapidly and now Steven is managing around 520 acres for Mike Frazer, which includes a hill farm near Glenwherry, a farm at Templepatrick and one adjacent to the shop near Kells, Co Antrim. There are over 200 suckler cows as well as a pig unit to supply pork for the shop. Quality is the most important issue for consumers, whatever the product and now that customers have had the opportunity to sample the succulence and flavour of Dorset lamb hopefully Steven will be seeking to source more lambs like those purchased last week.
With the Spring Lamb season under way the NI Dorset Breeders Club is aiming to further expand on its Lamb marketing scheme. This is currently the only scheme of its kind for sheep breeders in Northern Ireland and provides members with a premium per kilo for pure bred Dorset lamb.
Anyone interested in more information on the NI Dorset Club should contact Club Secretary William Carson on 07841746705.