Organic Ayrshires sell to £3,700 at Exeter Livestock Centre
Despite the drop in milk prices, demand for dairy cattle remained strong at the monthly dairy cattle sale at Exeter Livestock Centre.
In fact, auctioneers Kivells and Husseys reported an excellent trade at the sale, which included the third annual sale of 70 pedigree Ayshires on behalf of South West Ayrshire Breeders, and drew in buyers from as far afield as Cheshire and Shropshire.
A key fixture at the sale was a consignment of cows and heifers from East Church Ayshires of Honiton.
And the top price on the day was an East Church show heifer – East Church Napiers Rosette – which went under the hammer for £3,700 to Len Bartlett for his Holstein herd at Honiton. This one is by Ardmore Crown Napier and bred from four generations of VG or EX cows going back to the renowned East Church Rose Bowl EX90.
Other leading prices from the East Church herd included £2,150 for East Church Ristourns Mary Lane. This one is by Lagace Ristourn and out of a VG89 Woodland View Pardener dam – the buyer was Richard and Tracey Martin of Torrington.
Meanwhile, Blaise Tomlinson travelled down from Leicestershire and purchased a fresh heifer East Church Blasters Rose Bud for £2,000. Sired by East Church Blaster she also descended from the great Rose Bowl cow who was her third dam.
Two more fresh heifers sold at £1,700 apiece – first was East Church Sunshine Red by Savard Red selling to Mr W G Coles of Wellington, and second was East Church Bucaneers Nutmeg by Brocklehill Bucaneer selling to Messrs HJ Cotton of Pembrokeshire.
Fresh cows sold to £1,550 for East Church Crab Apple, a second calver by East Church Tomahawk. And dry cows sold to £1,500 twice for East Church Nelsons Destiny 2 GP83 a third calver due in June by McCornick Nelson ET and East Church Mandella Fairy VG86 by Hunnington Mandella due for her second in June. In-calf heifers from East Church sold to £1,500 for a July calving heifer by Brocklehill Bucaneer.
East Church Averages:
10 freshly Calved Heifers £1885
4 Freshly Calved Cows £1358
14 Dry cows & In calf heifers £1405
Other Vendors
Treginegar Dairy Farms of Padstow sold a freshly calved heifer Pam Ayres Bonnie Snowball by Bonnie Brae Sakic for £1,650 and a third calver by Yellow Briar Journalist sold to £1,500. Other in-calf heifers sold to £1,500 for Trevor Howe of Truro with Gadles Tilly by Ardmore Crown Napier due in July to sexed Oblique.
Ayrshire youngstock sold well from the same vendor with bulling heifers selling to £980 for a pair of heifers by Lagace Ristourn and Jelyca Oblique – both heifers had two gens of VG and EX behind them and sold into Dorset with Messrs Venn Farm Partnership.
Organic youngstock sold to £700 for two heifers by Green Lane Marshall and Stamford Trigger from Messrs HE and FE Allen of Boscastle.
Averages:
7 in-calf Heifers £1,175; 19 Yearling Heifers £605; 3 Crossbred calves £320
Organic British Friesians Herd Dispersal
The day finished with a complete herd dispersal of 70 Organic British Friesians from Mr TAC Grooms of Ty-Hen Farm, Ceredigion, South Wales.
And the long journey down to Exeter was very well worth it with a tremendous trade from start to finish especially considering the herd was not milk recorded, loose housed and 65% of the herd having had 5 or more calves.
The top price from this selection was 1,700gns twice for 2004 and 2007 born dry cows due in June.
Meanwhile freshly calved cows sold to 1,650gns for a 2006 born cow. And autumn calving cows saw an immense trade selling to 1,650gns four times for young cows due in August and September to the British Blue cross sire.
The British Blue cross MRI bull ,Nobby born in 2005 sold well for 1450gns.
Averages
57 organic cows and heifers £1,241 1 British Blue x MRI Bull £1522
9 3/4 and high cell count cows £694
Total: 67 Head £1155