United Auctions’ Annual Blackface Ram Sale at Dalmally Mart was “electric” on Saturday, October 11th as a top price of £40,000 was achieved in a ringside that was packed to the rafters.
The sale topper was from renowned breeder Ian Hunter, Dalchirla, Crieff – who bred the record-breaking £90,000 tup sold at Dalmally in 2010 – for his second shearling through the ring.
It went to three buyers J Wight & Sons of Midlock, M E McCall Smith of Connachan, Crieff and Troloss Farms, Elvanfoot.
Next best was £20,000 from E MacMillan, Lurg Farm, Fintry sold to J Wight & Sons of Midlock and CC MacArthur & Co, Nunnerie.
Nunnerie themselves topped the lamb ring to £16,000, selling four ways to JR MacGregor (Dyke) Ltd; Duncan MacGregor Ltd, Burnhead; HA Blackwood, Auldhouseburn, Muirkirk and J Murray, Crossflat, Muirkirk.
Meanwhile Dalchirla made the second best lamb price of £14,000 bought by David Morrison, Dalwyne:
Dalmally auctioneer for the West of Scotland, Peter Wood, who sold the top ram said: “It was an electric sale for Dalchirla, drawing a crowd packed to the rafters, both to bid and see how much the stock would fetch.”
The busy sale kicked off at 10am in the shearling ring with UA’s new auctioneer and Argyllshire son, Raymond Kennedy, starting proceedings in his dynamic style:
By this point hungry farmers had already munched through 800 breakfast rolls while later they enjoyed fish and chips in the autumn sunshine and made good use of the marquee bar.
Scotland’s leading livestock auctioneers sold 172 lambs to average £1021 (down £82 for 26 more sold) and 522 shearlings & aged rams to average £746 (down £38 to 37 more sold on the year).
Mr Wood added: “Overall, the quality of tups was of a high standard with good carcase sheep in great demand from start to finish for the full eight hours’ trading while smaller types were harder to cash.”
One local breeder who “got what he wanted” was John MacPherson of J & J MacPherson, Balliemeanoch, Dalmally. He was “delighted” when his first shearling through the ring fetched £5000 (pictured top), which was split three ways to S McClymont & Son, Tinnis, Selkirk, Burncastle Farming Company, Burncastle, Lauder and RF Lambie, Ashcraig, Selkirk and was “happy with the prices” for all stock forward in both rings.
John is the third of four generations of MacPhersons farming around 1600 Blackfaces on 6200 acres near Loch Awe. He now works with his son Alec and was watched on at the sale by his father Ian, who is retired. Ian inherited the farm from his father (Alec’s great grandfather) John MacPherson and remembers coming to the Dalmally sales as a teenager in the late 1940s.
If you have any old photos of Dalmally Mart in action, please email them to oldphotos@uagroup.co.uk or post a copy to Dalmally Market Photo Appeal, United Auctions, Stirling Agricultural Centre, Stirling FK9 4RN, including any information about the photograph, your name and contact details.
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