It was Blessington Livestock mart in Co. Wicklow that played host to the inaugural Genetic Jewels sale of top class Irish Charollais females.

The sale was made up of 50 in-lamb shearling ewes and 12 quality ewe lambs from seven of southern Ireland's leading Charollais flocks.

The high quality lots from these top flocks attracted huge interest from across Charollais breeders throughout Ireland and the UK, leading to a brisk trade from start to finish for both in-lamb females and ewe lambs.

Producing both the top price in the ewe lamb section and the in-lamb section was Co. Cavan man David Argue of the Rockdale flock.

The sale topper was Argue's exceptional January-born ewe lamb that went on to sell for €4,200.

This standout lamb was described by Argue in pre-sale comments as “an unbelievable ewe lamb with a cracking head, body and attitude that immediately draws you to her”.

After lively bidding it was Co. Donegal man Karol Gallen that she drew in to place the winning bid.

The sale-topping ewe lamb was sired by Argue's stock ram Hillside Big Al and was a granddaughter to the great Dalby ewe that has been one of the most prominent females within the Rockdale flock over the past few years.

Following directly after was the sale topper embryo sister that also had a super character.

On this occasion it was David Dolan that placed the winning bid of €3,000 to secure the mighty lamb.

Argue's final ewe lamb to grace the ring was a Keadeen Cracker Jack daughter.

This flashy double five star ewe lamb caught the eye of Rodger Ryan, that secured her with his final bid of €2,200.

Argue achieved an almighty pen average of €3,133 for his pen of three standout ewe lambs.

Top priced in-lamb lot

The top priced in-lamb shearling ewe also hailed from David Argue's Rockdale flock.

The mighty February-2024-born shearling ewe was sired by Iskeymeadow Whiskey Mick and out of an ever consistent Bawnard ewe, making her a full sister to the €8,000 Rockdale After Dark  and many other four figure lambs.

Argue described her before the sale as “the best female to ever be offered for sale from the flock to date”.

It was James Anderson that placed the final bid of €4,000 on the section topper. She was also scanned in-lamb carrying twins to Oakchurch Admiral.

The next four highest priced in-lamb shearling ewes also hailed from the Rockdale flock.

The first being a breedy triplet-born shearling ewe, that sold to Edward Malone for €3,800. This flashy Hillside Big Al-sired ewe was also scanned in-lamb carrying twins to Oakchurch Admiral.

She was closely followed by another shearling ewe with a serious carcass and power.

She attracted a lot of attention on the day and the hammer was eventually dropped at €3,500 to James Waddell. She was again scanned in-lamb to Oakchurch Admiral with twins.

The next highest priced lot from the Rockdale pen was an almighty Oakchurch Wizard daughter that was scanned carrying twins to Artnagullion Bandit.

It was up and coming breeder Gillain Harte that paid out €3,200 for this extremely powerful shearling.

The final of the four top priced in-lamb shearling ewes selling for €3,000 was a full embryo sister to Gorteen Blockbuster that was sold in a private deal for £5,500 to Jonathan Wales.

Argue described this lot as “a lady with tremendous lift and presence”.

She was also scanned in-lamb to Artnagullion Bandit, this time with a single. Michael Haverty was the winning bidder on this stylish lot.

David Argue's pen of nine in-lamb shearling ewes achieved the highest pen average for shearling ewes on the day of €2,700.

Bawnard flock

Long-standing breeders Jim and Frampton Jeffery also had an extremely successful afternoon in Blessington, with their consignment topping at €2,200 for their double five-star shearling ewe Bawnard Cathy.

Cathy was sired by sired by Duiske Whats Wanted and she was scanned in-lamb carrying a single to Dunroe Ace. Jan Roskam placed the winning bid to secure this highly starred lot.

Jeffery went on to sell his entire pen of shearling ewes to secure a strong pen average of €1,650 while his pen of four ewe lambs achieved a good average of €1,263.

Attikockan flock

David Dolan of the Attikockan flock had forward a strong pen of ten in-lamb shearling ewes.

This large pen topped at €2,200 for a special daughter of Pembroke Bulletproof, a ram that needs no introduction to the breed having bred the current Irish breed record holder that was sold last year at the Knockcroghery dispersal.

This smart pen leader was sold scanned carrying twins to Dolan's stock ram Gorteen Dragonfly. It was Thomas McCormac that got the final bid in to secure the Attikockan pen leader.

Dolan sold his entire pen of shearling ewes on the day to average €1,650.

Calhame flock

It was Co. Donegal-based breeder William Tait of the Calhame flock that was next to hit the highlights, selling an extremely smart shearling ewe named Calhame Cinderella for €2,000 to David Geelan.

Cinderella was a proud, upstanding daughter of Cloghala Warrior and she was scanned carrying twins to Tait's up-and-coming junior stock ram Caltra Dazzler.

Tait also achieved 100% clearance on the day and obtained an average of €1,004 for his pen of five.

Overall sale averages

The demand for quality was extremely evident throughout the sale, which led to a strong overall clearance rate of just over 80%.

Averages where also very impressive, with in-lamb shearling ewes averaging €1,557 and the slightly smaller ewe lamb consignment averaging €1,657.