Former Ireland and Ulster rugby captain, Rory Best, and his father, John, are set to host a special sale of 21 select Angus heifers this weekend.

A review of the 21 heifers on offer at the Loughans Aberdeen Angus online sale presents many well-known breeding lines from Ireland and Scotland.

The highly famed Rawburn prefix is there with Rawburn Black Halk and Rawburn Boss Hogg appearing quite regularly.

And many of the heifers are either in calf or have a calf at foot.

Rory, along with his father, and his brother, Simon, operate a spring-calving pedigree Angus herd near Poyntzpass in Co. Armagh.

The family’s herd has always performed well in shows and sales, and this year was no different with a podium performance at Balmoral, and top-price sale for the same bull of 4,400 guineas at the Angus premier sale.

Angus
Lot 11

Rory’s choice

Rory’s pick of the sale is Lot 11 – a March-born animal described by Rory as “a sweet young heifer with excellent confirmation and style”.

Lot 18

Another one to watch in the upcoming sale is Lot 18, Loughans East.

This homebred, April 2019-born heifer is sired by Loughans James Eben and out of Loughans Easter T213. She was served on December 11 this year by Loughans John Elliot.

The calf at foot (seen in the picture above) is sired by Weeton King Lear and, according to Rory, is showing “the same growth potential as the parents”.

Lot 17

Lot 17 is sired by Fordel Minnesota Prime P753 out of Loughans Pixie.

This March 2020-born heifer has shown “exceptional growth over the last six months” and is said to have good length stemming from her sire, Fordell Minnesota Prime.

Lot 8

The heifer pictured above is Lot 8 Loughans Kali W882 sired by Liss Mars M242 and out of Loughans Kali T187.

The dam is Loughans Kali T187 sired by Rawburn Black Hawk .

This March-born heifer is in calf and is due in March to Loughans Eric Mars.

“This is a very nice heifer, typical of the breed. Sired by the great, growth bull Shadwell Jafar Eric,” said Rory.

Loughans Aberdeen Angus sale takes place via timed auction on the Marteye Elite platform in conjunction with Markethill Mart from December 31 until January 3.

All heifers can be exported and heifers can be viewed by appointment by contacting Markethill Mart.