South East Stars shone bright for the last female sale in South Ireland in 2024 on the 30th of December in Tullow Mart.
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.
