It was evident to see the demand for the breed in the region by the record crowd that showed up on the night to view the stock on offer.

It was the Knockhill flock of John and Stephen Redmond who achieved the top two prices on the night. The highest price was for a Rhaeadr Entrepreneur daughter out of Proctors Chumba Wumba. This ewe also carried a four-star replacement and a five-star terminal rating. She is scanned in lamb to the £30,000 stg Drumcon His Highness. This ewe was met with spirited bidding and was the choice of new breeder John Tuke.

The new highest price came from the Knockhill flock with a ewe from the Knockhill Great Expectations line. She was a daughter of Uskvale Get Ready and the Teiglum ewe by Wydden Ding Dong, who also bred the best ewe lamb in Knockhill this year. She sold for €3,800 to Malachy McMeel and John Neville.

Next to hit the high prices was the Treemore flock of John and Neil Kidd with a daughter of their homebred ram Treemore Emmanuel, producing their top price of €3,700. This ewe was out of the best female line in the flock, which has bred rams to £15,000 stg. She is carrying twins to Hillcrest Goodfellas and was again the choice of John Tuke.

It was then back to the Knockhill pen for the next highest price with another daughter of his Teiglum ewe and by Rhaeadr Entrepreneur, making her a full sister to Great Expectations. She sold in lamb to Rathfeigh Henry, a double five-star ram. She was the pick of Brian Gallivan.

The next highest price was from Knockhill again, with €1,600 for a Hexel Fever Tree out of the Millinbank ewe, which was from the same line as the Blessington Champions.

Overall, it was a sale full of strong, fit, and functional ewes. This can be seen in the prices, with an overall clearance rate of 92% and an average price of €1,100 for shearling ewes and €1,125 for ewe lambs.

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This is due to the dedication of the members of the society breeding the type of sheep the market requires. We have rams going through our sales to highs of €20,000 and females to €4,500, but the real success is the number of crossbred sheep farmers investing in the Texel breed for their stock rams.

We also remember past members who we have lost over the last year and members who have lost loved ones.

I would now like to wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and successful lambing. I look forward to meeting you in the coming year at our shows and sales for another great year.

Warm Regards 

Willie Doherty

Chairman 

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It was a great day for the Texel breed in Blessington with the sale being held despite the storm Darragh! But the storm didn’t stop the demand for the Texel breed, with the top price coming from Donegal from the Shannagh Flock of Andrew & Richard Wilson.

Their leading price was for a 5-star Terminal and 4-star rated replacement ewe scanned carrying 2 lambs by AHB Fancy Pants (Fancy Pants sired lambs to 100,000gns at Lanark in 2023 and is also a double five-star ram). This ewe was sired by Harestone Eldorado and her dam was by Sportsmans Cannonball. She sold to Fintan Hackett for 4200gns.

The next highest price was Lot 51 from the Ryan Flocks. This naturally born and reared double 5-star ewe sold scanned carrying 2 lambs to Connemara Hennessy. She was sired by Kilduff Flash and her dam was sired by Hillcrest Yeovil. She sold to John Tuke.

The next highest at 2800gns was from the O’Keeffe Family, Lot 28, a 4-star Terminal rated ewe scanned carrying 1 lamb to Knockhill Hercules. She was sired by Garngour Flyhalf and her dam is by Midlock Dapper, who has sired numerous show winners for the O’Keeffe Family in recent years.

Next up was Lot 6, a shearling ewe from the Silverhill Flock of Neville & Aaron Myles, selling at 2000gns to David Barrett. She is a double 5-star ewe by Hexel Fan Club and her dam is by Mullan Armani. She sold scanned carrying 3 lambs to Glenside Guardsman.

Topping the ewe lamb trade was Lot 80 from Anthony Donnelly’s Flock, selling to Pat & Barry Farrell, Co. Meath. This March-born ewe lamb is sired by Claybury Dunkirk and her dam was Oberstown Gucci, who was Champion Female at the Blessington Premier in 2023. This lamb’s full brother was sold at the premier sale for €15,000.

There was exceptional demand throughout the sale for quality lots. This sale was another testament to the demand for Texels. There was 100% clearance in the shearling ewes, which averaged 1125gns, and 6 out of the 10 ewe lambs were forward.

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