Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their annual ‘Tup Tup Chalice’ evening sale of rams and ram lambs on Tuesday 10th September 2024. Forward were 275 head.
12 Aged Rams sold to 900 Guineas
202 Shearling Rams sold to 1600 Guineas
61 Ram Lambs sold to 800 Guineas
Show Classes
Kindly undertaking the judging duties were Nottinghamshire’s Peter Barlow and Sam Crossland who carried out their duties impeccably, we sincerely thank them for their time and effort. Some wonderful classes appeared before our two capable Midlanders on a night which definitely saw the best end quality as high as ever witnessed in DfAM. After eight hard fought classes the Championship rosette ultimately went to the winner of the crossbred shearling class from the non-accredited section; congratulations go to long time supporter Gail Hodgson of Rose Hill, Eastgate with her fabulous Charollais cross Beltex, a super tup with a tremendous carcase had both judges’ undoubted seal of approval. Reserve champion went to the winner of the lamb class in the MV accredited lines, Charles Marwood of Foulrice Farm is a name synonymous with quality Charollais sheep and it was he who claimed the reserve ticket. Other rosette winners are listed below, congratulations to them all on a night where rosettes were difficult to ascertain it was great to see them shared between a mix of seasoned Darlington tup sellers and some very capable first-time vendors.
Show results as follows:
Champion – G Hodgson, Rose Hill, 1100g – GP&A Carter, Woodlands Close Farm.
Reserve – CW Marwood & Son, Foulrice 800gns – RB Farming, North Cote Farm.
Class 1 MV Accredited – Best Tup Lamb (any cross or pure breed)
1st CW Marwood & Son, Foulrice 800gns – RB Farming, North Cote Farm.
2nd JC&A Metcalf, Thirnbank 650g – RB Farming, North Cote Farm.
3rd RE&RE Findlay, Quarry Farm – Unsold.
Class 2 MV Accredited – Best Pure Shearling (continental)
1st T&J Hunter, Newtown Farm 800g – I&A Holmes, Middle Stotfold Farm.
2nd PR Weaver, Little Manor Farm 1250g – D&L Lovegreen, Prospect Farm.
3rd CW Marwood & Son, Foulrice 620g – K&MM Henderson, West Witton Row.
Class 3 MV Accredited – Best Pure Shearling (native)
1st R Craig, North Hanging Wells 1250g – J Skidmore & Co Ltd. North Hanging Wells.
2nd R Craig, North Hanging Wells 1350g – Craven Farms.
3rd PK&HC Dowson, Castle House Farm 850g – RB Farming, North Cote Farm.
Class 4 MV Accredited – Best Crossbred Shearling Ram
1st D Whitcher, Foulrice Farm 850g – Messrs Bell, Wethercote Farm.
2nd CW Marwood & Son, Foulrice 800g – A Rooke & Sons, Rye House Farm.
3rd T&J Hunter, Newtown Farm 1150g – TW Dinning, Watch Currock.
Class 5 Non MV Accredited – Best Ram Lamb (Pure or Crossbred)
1st Whitfield Stout, South Terrace 250g – Fletcher & Coates, Short Thorns Farm.
2nd P Lupton, Greenholme Farm 750g – T Heslop, Crosper Farm.
3rd Whitfield Stout, South Terrace 300g – RB Farming, North Cote Farm.
Class 6 Non MV Accredited – Best Pure Shearling Ram (continental)
1st DR&RL Burns, Lodge Farm 1250g – TW Dinning Watch Currock.
2nd I Spedding, Harelaw 1000g – TE Dobson, Unthank.
3rd C Wharton, Summerfield House 600g – JL Gill, Staindale Farm.
Class 7 Non MV Accredited – Best Pure Shearling Ram (native)
1st RN Kirby & Son, Barstow Hall farm 1600g – RD&D Elders, High Farm.
2nd RN Kirby & Son, Barstow Hall Farm 1200g – I Marshall & Sons, Hope House.
3rd I Spedding, Harelaw 900g – RO Gilson, Old Park Hall.
Class 8 Non MV Accredited – Best Crossbred Shearling Ram
1st G Hodgson, Rose Hill, 1100g – GP&A Carter, Woodlands Close Farm.
2nd JL&M Wilkinson, Bollihope Shields 500g – W Coatsworth, Oaksbank.
3rd P Lupton, Greenholme Farm 750g – TH Heslop, Crosper Farm.
Sale
Top Price 1600 guineas
A massive crowd gathered for the third annual Tup Tup Chalice sale; long proved strong and big was beautiful as buyers looked to put more weight in to their finished lambs. Noticeable premiums were paid for stretchy Suffolk’s, colossal crossbreds, towering Texel’s and commodious Charollais. With weight key to success the value for money would perhaps lie in the smaller end of the tups and also perhaps in some of the less main stream breeds, pick of the trade went to Suffolk’s and big long Texel’s with sensible easy lambing heads.
Top price of 1600 guineas went to the thumping Suffolk shearling which had previously won class seven from R N Kirby & Son, Barstow Hall, the resurgent Suffolk breed continued in fine form selling to 1400 guineas from Newark based E J Boby and 1350 guineas from R Craig, South Hanging Wells Bungalow as all included the shearlings of this brilliant breed averaged well over 1000 guineas.
Top call for Texel shearlings was twice 1250 guineas, on both occasions for tups up out of the Midlands; firstly, from P R Weaver of Little Manor Farm, Newark who produced one of the pens of the night and then later for the excellent winner of class six from first time tup vendors DR&RL Burns, Lodge Farm, Leicestershire. The brilliant Burns pen checked in again at 1200 guineas whilst P R Weaver followed strongly at 1150 guineas and 1100 twice. Also claiming the 1100 guinea price tag were J C Thwaite & Son, Cragg Hill Farm, Lartington (twice) and also C Foxton, Ness Farm, Nunnington.
Cross bred shearling tups are often popular and the big heavy boys were certainly so, more success from the South, C S Noble, Grange Farm set the pace with a Texel cross Beltex at 1200 guineas closely followed by D J Summers & Son, Hall Farm, Gainsborough with a gargantuan Suffolk cross Texel at 1180 guineas. Charollais cross Beltex is a familiar suiter to many systems and they were well represented on the night topping at 1150 guineas from T & J Hunter, Newtown Farm, Hunmanby and 1100 guineas from our worth champion G Hodgson, Rose Hill Farm, Eastgate.
Tup lamb trade looked terrific, top of the pile was our excellent Charollais reserve champion from C W Marwood, Foulrice; Suffolks topped twice at 750 guineas from both P Lupton, Greenholme Farm, Ripon and M C & M D Sparke, Salmonfield, Hexham. Top Texel tup lamb was a super maker from P & K Brannen, Scartop, Penrith at 650 guineas and whilst cross bred tup lambs aren’t always in the higher echelons a wonderful trio of Beltex cross Suffolks from Master R Craig, South Hanging Wells Bungalow certainly dispelled that myth to top at 600 guineas.
Final mention goes to the older tups and in particular to the pedigree two shear North Country Cheviot ‘Smerlie Defender’ sold by our judge Sam Crossland, Nottinghamshire he topped the section at a remarkable 900 guineas.
A pick of the top pen averages is listed below.
E J Boby, The Old Farmhouse sold 4 Suffolks to average 1087 guineas
J C Thwaite & Son, Cragg Hill sold 4 Texels to average 1012 guineas
P R Weaver, Little Manor Farm sold 12 Texels to average 1010 guineas
R N Kirby & Son, Barstow Hall sold 7 Suffolk & Texel to average 1010 guineas
C S Noble, Grange Farm sold 5 crossbred to average 990 guineas
Top Prices
Shearling Rams
Suffolk – 1600 1200 1100 650 RN Kirby & Son. 1400 1000×2 950 EJ Boby. 1350 1250 950 R Craig. 900 P Lupton. 900 780 650 I Spedding. 850 PK&HC Dowson.
Texel – 1250 1200 620 600×2 400 DR&RL Burns. 1250 1150 1100×2 1020 1000×2 950 900×2 880×2 PR Weaver. 1100×2 1050 800 JC Thwaite & Son. 1100 550×2 C Foxton. 1000 850 800×2 700 I Spedding. 780 700 WM Reed & Sons. 650×4 550 D Barron. 650 DJ Mallon. 650 550 R Bailes. 620 600×2 550 C Wharton. 600×2 550 520 480 450 T Common & Son. 600 550 480 400×3 C&E Mandale Ltd. 500 RN Kirby & Son. 480 400×2 W Wearmouth & Son. 400 350 W&M Knaggs & Son.
Cross Bred – 1200 1150 1000 800×2 CS Noble. 1180 500 350 320 DJ Summers & Son. 1150 900 T&J Hunter. 1100 750 700 600 500 450 380 G Hodgson. 850 D Whitcher. 800 CW Marwood & Son. 600 550 520 I Ford. 600 500×3 450 400 I Kirk. 580 DJ Mallon. 580 C Foxton. 500 JL&M Wilkinson & Son. 450 C Wharton. 420 400×5 ASA Whitfield. 320 250 D Myers. 300 250 220 WM Reed & Sons.
Charollais – 1050 600 500×2 D Whitcher. 800 700 T&J Hunter. 620 600 450 CW Marwood & Son.
Beltex – 500×2 T&J Hunter. 300 RG&RG Findlay.
Blue Texel – 380 220 200 CR McLaren. 300 JA Barker.
Dutch Spotted – 250 MW Reed. 250 DS Bezuidenhout. 220 200 180 C Cumming.
Ram Lambs
Charollais – 800 500 450 CW Marwood & Son. 580 500 T&D Harrison. 450×2 D Whitcher.
Suffolk – 750 600 400 P Lupton. 750 600 520 500 480 MC&MD Sparke. 650 R Craig. 200×2 L&M Evans. 200 BR&PA Fox.
Texel – 650 550 500 400×3 P&K Brannen. 650 400 JC&A Metcalf.
Cross Bred – 600 550 500 R Craig. 300×2 JL&M Wilkinson & Son. 160 150 D Myers.
Blue Texel 300×2 250 M Whitfield. 180 150 C Cumming. 140×2 M Radford.
Dutch Spotted 250×2 S Williams. 250 CA Hodgson. 190 180 T Duckitt. 150 DS Bezuidenhout.
Beltex 160 D Myers.
Rams
Cheviot – 900 S Crossland. 250 Appleby Farming.
Dutch Spotted – 500 JA Barker. 220 C Cumming.
Blue Texel – 450 M Whitfield.
Berichon – 400 D Whitcher
Suffolk – 280 200 C Taylor.
