The South-East Irish Texel Club hosted its South East Stars In-Lamb Ewe and Maiden Ewe Lamb Sale at Tullow Mart, Co. Carlow, on Monday, December 30 .
The Knockhill flock owned by John and Stephen Redmond achieved the top-two prices on the night with the highest price of €4,000 paid for a Rhaeadr Entrepreneur daughter out of Proctors Chumba Wumba.
This ewe carried a four-star replacement and a five-star terminal rating and is scanned in lamb to the £30,000 Drumcon His Highness.
After a round of intense bidding, it was new breeder John Tuke who secured the in-lamb ewe on the night.
The next-highest price also came from the pen of the Knockhill Flock by way of a ewe from the Knockhill Great Expectations line.
She is 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 from the pen of the Treemore Flock owned by John and Neil Kidd. The daughter of their home-bred ram Treemore Emmanuel, produced 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 fourth-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 and was secured by Brian Gallivan on the night.
The next highest price was from the Knockhill pen again, with €2,600 paid for a Hexel Fever Tree out of the Millinbank ewe, which is from the same line as the Blessington Champions.
Overall the South-East Texel Club described the sale as “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”, according to the Texel club.
“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”, the club statement on the sale concluded.