Big crowd sees Ayrshires top 1550gns at Beeston Castle sale
Ayrshire, Jersey, Guernsey and Shorthorn cows drew a big crowd to Beeston Castle in Cheshire, where Ayrshires twice reached 1550gns.
But the talk of the sale was the demand for Jerseys, which sold to 1400gns.
There were 150 head on offer and apart from cows that had calved more than three months, most easily found buyers.
Both the 1550gns lots came from the Knutsford, herd of Alan Coutts and Sons in Cheshire and included the champion Knutsford Daphne 43rd.
This Ex90 third calver is by Hunday Major Red and was freshly AI’d to McCornick Nelson.
She was claimed by Andrew Gough of W H Slater Farms, Shifnal, Shropshire, who judged the show classes.
Carmarthenshire dairy farmers D & C Walters gave 1550gns for the fourth-prize winning heifer Knutsford Flo 115th, by Plum-Bottom Tridents Lot.
Regular buyer Philip Willliams made the next two highest bids of 1500gns.
One came for the reserve champion Heydale Winsome 106th, a milking heifer by Heydale Blizzard, consigned by D Berresford & Son of Buxton, Derbyshire.
She shared the journey home to South Wales with a freshly calved heifer by Brocklehill Jordan from Mark Partington.
Volume buyers included Marlbrook Farms of Bude which took 18 Ayrshires back to Cornwall.
There were three leading bids for in-milk Jersey heifers, peaking at 1400gns.
Those bids came all came from Gareth Williams, who secured 24 Jerseys for his herd at Goodwick, Pembrokeshire.
He took two in-calf heifers from J Badham, Rugeley, Staffordshire, although both were bred in the Woodbine herd of Mark Smith.
The first was Woodbine Navigator’s Gingerberry, a Ferreira American Navigator daughter due in October to Schultz Brook Hallmark.
A 1200gns bid from Mr Williams bought him a Lester Sambo daughter carrying a Limousin calf for January.
The Guernsey leader at 950gns was an in-calf heifer by Brymor Sting Boy from A & M Hall, Cheshire.
Buyer was R Smith, East Dereham, Norfolk.
Shorthorns sold to 820gns for an in-calf heifer from the Broadlane herd of the Norbury family at Crewe.
Leading averages: 54 Ayrshire cows and heifers in-milk 777, 15 Jersey cows and heifers in-milk 830 and Shorthorn cows and heifers in-milk 675.
(Wright Manley)