Herefords sell to £4,600 at on farm sale

The fourth Ervie Spring Bull Sale held by the Douglas family at Mains of Airies near Stranraer saw fifteen strong Hereford bulls with imported Line One influence, scattered well across the UK.

Sale topper was Ervie L1 Achiever 111394 selling at £4,600 to pedigree and commercial producer, Robert Armstrong, East Fourstones, Hexham. This was a high maternal, straight Line One Hereford bull with both sire and dam imported from the USA.

Another top prospect with good figures and high maternal, Ervie Advance 111395 was the next in the ring, selling at £4,300 and was the choice of Black Baldie breeder, Robert Parker, Drumdow, Stranraer.

Repeat buyer and traditional upland suckler producer, Jim McKenna from Gass Farm, near Newton Stewart went to £4,000 for Ervie Advance 111334. This heavyweight bull with light birth weight and a balanced set of EBV’s was also high in all maternal traits.

Commenting after the sale, herd owner John Douglas was realistic about the bull trade.

“Although both our average and top price has dropped slightly on the year, I think that this sale places our Line One cattle completely in tune with the commercial sector of the beef industry. Demand was good and farmers knew exactly what they were looking for, but upland stock farmers have been hammered financially by the long spell of bad weather, with high extra feed costs and also higher than normal stock losses. I think this tempered the trade but we’ll reap our reward another day.”

While suckler cow breeders were after the higher performance bulls with high maternal background, it was obvious the dairy farmers present were looking for a more compact bull with heavier muscling, but a light birth weight, and were willing to battle for the right bull. Gordon Service bid to £3,900 for Ervie Advance 111399 for his Baltersan dairy herd near Newton Stewart.

15 bulls sold from £2000 to £4600 with an average of £2,833.