May Fair 2011
May Fair 2011
Richard Currie with Reserve Champion
Graham & Mary Cubitt's Champion Pair of Ram Lambs
Top four in the Ram Lamb Class
Richard Currie, Karen Carson, Samuel Caldwell and Thomas Wright
DORSET RECORDS SMASHED!
New record prices set for Dorset ram lambs from both sides of the water.
On 3rd and 4th May the largest annual gathering of Dorset sheep from all over the UK took place at Exeter Market Place for the society show and sale.
A large number of Northern Ireland breeders travelled over taking with them 33 ram lambs, to make a total of 174 rams available for prospective buyers.
Showing took place on the Tuesday and with plenty of high quality sheep being presented the judges had their work cut out.
Once again Northern Ireland Dorsets excelled.
In the ram lamb class the top 4 places were awarded to Northern Ireland breeders.
1st Richard Currie Hilltop Flock, 2nd William and Karen Carson Downkillybegs flock 3rd Samuel Caldwell Granagh flock, 4th Thomas Wright Ballytaggart flock.
In the pair of ram lambs class 1st prize was awarded to Graham and Mary Cubitt In the Championship line up top honours went to Fooks Bros. Bridport, Dorset with a strong well matched group of three ram lambs, with Richard Curries Hilltop flock taking reserve with a stylish and impeccably turned out ram lamb.
In the sale ring on Wednesday bidding was fierce with Tom Clarke of Devon achieving a new breed record of 6000gns for a tremendous ram lamb sired by Drumlin Legend Reserve Champion Northern Ireland Premier show and sale 2009, having himself set a new Northern Ireland record price of 2200gns.
Second highest price of 4800gns went to Thomas Wright Ballytaggart for a powerful ram lamb, and was eventually bought by Tom Clarke. Thomas went on to sell a total of seven rams with a pen avg. of 1731gns
Richard Curries pen sold to a top of 1200gns with an avg. of 1116gns
William and Karen Carson also had a great sale with their second prize ram selling for 2400gns. Their pen of seven ram lambs sold to an avg. 1178gns.
Not only did the Northern Ireland breeders have a complete clearance but many were buoyed by the great trade and reinvested some of their money to help secure some of the top bloodlines to help keep Northern Ireland Dorsets ahead of the competition.
If you would like to find out more about the Dorset sheep breed, come and visit our stand at the NSA event in Ballymena Market 4th July.
The Northern Ireland Dorset Breeders Club will hold its 39th Annual Premier Show and Sale in Ballymena Livestock Market on Monday 25th July 2011 .
For more information contact William Carson 07841 746705.
