B District – Hawes Day 2

Topping the trade over the two-day sale was Fawcett’s Cowboy from Graham Scarr, Fawcetts Farm. He was sired by the £14,000 Aygill Imperial purchased in 2015 and out of a Helbeck sired ewe which was Champion in Kirkby Stephen in 2013 and sold for £38,000 to a trio of breeders, Trevor Blades, Bobby Blades and John Bradley.

David and Michael Allinson, West Briscoe sold their pen leader, West Briscoe Rocker, for £34,000 to Craig Ridley, Haltcliffe, Richard Harker, Grayrigg Hall and Richard Hargreaves, Meadow Bank. He was sired by a £1500 Mark Ewbank and out of a gimmer shearling by a £14,000 Summers Lodge.

Alan and Steven Coates, Aygill, sold Aygill Noble for £30,000 to Roger Hird, Shepherds Lodge and Richard Hird, Gillfield  with Aygill keeping a share in him too. Noble was by a Stonesdale tup which took the male championship at Tan Hill show a couple of years back, while its mother was by a Skidmore tup

John Thorpe, who runs Mossdale near Hawes achieved his best price to date since taking over in 2013. His first tup in, Mossdale Fandango, is by a Haltcliffe sire, which was the son of the £50,000 Grayrigg Hall and out of a ewe by a homebred son of a Kenny Whitehead, and sold to Graham Pears of Flash Farms, Sheffield.

Setting another personal best for a small flock came from the mother and son team, Sheena and James Pratt. Dale View Bullet Proof was sired by an old Mossdale tup that cost £17,000 as a shearling which they bought as an old tup and sold to Mark Nelson, Bull and Cave and Paul Hallam, High Birkwith.

• JR&SL Pratt, Dale View sold Lot 343 for £18,000 to P Hallam, M Nelson & M Taylor.
• MR&LE Rukin, West Stonesdale sold Lot 360 for £11,000 to M/s Thompson, East Unthank and M/s Ridley, Allenshields.
• AD Coates & Son, Aygill sold Lot 420 for £30,000 to R&H Hird, Shepherds Lodge with half share retained.
• JE Thorpe, Mossdale sold Lot 432 for £20,000 to G&E Pears.
• JE Thorpe, Mossdale sold Lot 433 for £10,000 to M/s Ridley, Haltcliffe.
• RJ White, Rigg Farm sold Lot 514 for £11,000 to T Wear.
• GJ Scarr sold Lot 557 for £16,000 to J&T Buckle.
• Hunter & Whitehead, Thwaite Farm sold Lot 616 for £10,000 to J Thorpe.
• M&EM Wilson sold Lot 632 for £14,000 to J White.

G Harker & Son – 2000, 1400

CR&MJ Birbeck – 6200

JR&SL Pratt – 18000

MJ&JD Handley – 1300

F&MP Allinson – 34000, 7000, 4200

M Allinson – 3800

MR&LE Rukin – 11000, 4500, 3200, 1000

JR Blades – 1400

B&M&O Acton – 6500

Clarkson & Stoddart – 3000, 2400

W Watson – 1100

JT Dixon & Son – 1000

Walburn Hall Farms – 1100

A&J Harrison – 5500

H Harrison – 2000

AD Coates – 30000

M&S Sunter – 1600

JE Thorpe – 20000, 10000, 4000

Dent Bros – 3000, 1000 x 2

JW Dent & Sons – 3200

Dent & Dixon – 1800

Miss C Dent – 3000

S&K Emmott – 1800

F&R Bainbridge – 1000

A&M Brennand – 4000

JR Bainbridge – 1200

GJ&ME Walker – 1600

M Wallace – 2800

GL Hutton – 5000 x 2, 3200

WA Dinsdale & Son – 2000

G&DA Allison – 6500

RJ White – 11000, 6000

JC White – 1200, 1000

JS Cloughton, Carpley Green – 2400

J&JE Bradley – 5000, 4200, 2300

R&E Cowperthwaite – 3000, 1200, 1000

SW Porter – 3500, 1200

WJ Porter – 2600

EW Atkinson – 1600

GJ Scarr – 38000, 16000, 8000, 2200, 1200

TW Cowperthwaite – 1400

S&D Robinson – 2200, 1200

TW Bell & Son – 1500

A&TA Blades – 4000

JW Porter & Sons – 9000, 1600

Hunter & Whitehead – 10000, 2000

B Mudd – 2000

M&EM Wilson – 14000, 9000

JH Pedley – 1200

Average:  £2261 for 216

2-day overall average: £2322 (+£287 on 2019)

With 26 tups hitting the 5-figure mark at Hawes and with more than 60 tups over 4 Association sales hitting that magical mark, it shows the length buyers are going to get top quality tups and bloodlines. With averages at Hawes rising nearly £290 to £2322 for the 2-days it rounded off a bumper year for the sheep industry and certainly a landmark season in the Association’s 100^th year. The founding fathers of the breed may not exactly recognise the breed that they founded all those years ago, but they would recognise the dedication and skill that the modern breeders bring and be proud of the influence that the Swaledale breed exerts across the sheep industry even still in these modern times.  And with that thought…. here’s to the next 100 years!