The South of Ireland Suffolk Sheep Society’s recent annual show and sale at Blessington Mart, Co. Wicklow, saw Scottish breeder buy a Cork-bred Suffolk ram for €20,000.
Auctioneer John Doyle described the overall trade on the day as “very strong, with exceptional demand from commercial breeders”. Breeding rams, he added, were of “excellent quality”.
Judging was in the hands of Alastair Barclay of the Blackbrae Flock in Northern Ireland, while commercial breeders Michael and Ger Murphy were on hand to judge the Gigot Ram class.
It was in a championship of exceptional quality that Barclay tapped out a ram lamb from the Annakisha flock of Arthur and Patrick O’Keefe from near Mallow, Co. Cork.
The January 2023-born ram lamb was sired by the Reserve Champion from the NI Premier in 2022 Blackbrae AB President out of an Annakisha ewe.
This stylish lamb had previously won the Open Ram Class and the Male Championship before claiming the title of Supreme Champion.
2023 has proved to be a very successful year for this lamb as he had previously won the Champion Ram Lamb spot at the National Suffolk Championships in Gurteen in June.
The quality of this lamb came to the fore when he was eventually knocked down under Doyle’s hammer for €20,000 and sold to the Cairness Flock of Jimmy Douglas in Scotland.
Other top prices
Taking Reserve Champion on the day was Andrew and Jonathan Lucas’ lamb from the Finnvale Flock.
Their lamb Finnvale BFG had been sired by last year’s Champion, Finnvale Am the Man, who they had retained.
The ram had won the Best Lamb sired by a South of Ireland ram earlier in the day before claiming Reserve Male and Reserve Champion of the Show.
He went on to sell in the ring to the Burnview Flock of William and Stephanie Tait, Northern Ireland for €2,600, while the Finnvale pen overall averaged €1,695, with Am the Man lambs selling to an average of €2,067/head.
A Cairnton Chaos-sired lamb out of a Solwaybank Ewe, owned by Alan Kilpatrick of the Convoy flock in Donegal, claimed the second-highest price of the day for a strong, stylish lamb which also found a home in Northern Ireland.
Other top prices on the day included a Crewelands Dancing Brave ET lamb from the pen of JJ and Martin Doherty, Malinhead, Co. Donegal.
This was a Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) eligible lamb which sold to a fellow South of Ireland Breeder for €2,300. Also selling well on the day was another of the Doherty’s lambs which had placed first in the Pen of Three Class and was knocked down at €2,100.
The winner of the novice class was a very correct lamb from the Cronebane pen of local man, Gus Doyle.
He had beaten off stiff competition from PJ McMonagle’s Forkins Masterplan lamb which sold at €2,200. This novice winner, sired by Donbraid Assassin, went on to sell to a Donegal pedigree breeder, also for €2,200.
There was a number of other lambs sold at the €2,200 mark which included a Kells T-rex sired lamb from the Ballygarris pen of Michael and Marie Jennings in Mayo, and two rams from the Finnvale pen sired by Salopian Pure Gold and Finnvale Am the Man.
The Shearling Ram Class was won by Philip Byrne of the Limepark Flock with his Muirton One Direction Ram which later went on to sell to a commercial buyer for €900.
Female Suffolk classes
The female classes commenced with the Shearling Ewe Class, which saw local breeder John and Esther Gahan claim the top spot with a stylish Lakeview Del Boy-sired Gimmer.
She had fought off stiff competition from two Cairness Our Bucks sired gimmers from the Lismurtagh and Loughrynn Flocks who had been placed second and third respectively.
While these two females remained unsold, the Champion Shearling was knocked down at €1,150 in the ring.
The Suffolk ewe lamb class was a very stylish affair and was tightly contended. Taking top honours from the judge was the Mountford flock of Oliver and Adrienne Deane’s January-born lamb, sired by Ballinatone Al Capone from a Mountford ewe.
This lamb was eventually sold to a pedigree breeder in the west of Ireland. Placed second in her class, Philip Lynch’s Clyda Awesome-bred lamb sold for €820 while the third-placed, January-born lamb from the Milldam Flock of Shane Brady and sired by Cairnton Chaos also sold for €820.
In the final lineup in the Female Championship, it was the Mountford ewe lamb that proved to be the judge’s favourite as she claimed the top honours as Female Champion with Philip Lynch’s Glyde Ewe Lamb claiming the Reserve Female Champion spot.
Suffolk show and sale
With a clearance rate of 85% – well increased from the 2022 rate – it was clear to see that the excellent quality of stock on offer, encouraged buyers to purchase.
The pedigree average price at the sale came in at €2,628 with the commercial average price hitting €804 – up 16% on the previous year’s trade.
While there were no exports to Europe from the sale, there were a significant number of animals exported to Northern Ireland directly from the sale.
Despite the huge demand , there were prices to suit all pockets, with SIS-eligible Suffolk rams being purchased from €500, which made for an extremely brisk trade at the Blessington sale.
The clearance rate was 85% on ram lambs with 70% of the lambs sold headed into the commercial sector – up 20% on 2022.
The Young Handler Class was well supported with first place going to Isabella Taylor, Ballynacannon Flock, second place going to Paddy McMonagle with his own Beltanyview flock, recently founded with his brother Tommy, and third place to Millie Donald from Donbraid Suffolks.
The remaining Society Sales for 2023 will take place in Cahir on September 1; Carnew on September 6; Ballina on October 3; and Raphoe on October 6.