Goose sheep fair report at Tavistock Livestock Market for Tuesday, October 8

The day kicked off with an entry of just over 850 breeding ewes, again being sold through the cattle ring. Topping the this section at £112 were a pen of 2T North Country Mules for Mr R Sizmur of Okehampton who also had a Full Mouths at £80.

There were a large entry of hill bred ewes forward with some notable prices including £80 for a pen of 6T/FM Swaledale ewes from Mr RJ Brendon of Camelford. £70 for a pen of 2T Scotch Blackface from Messrs Tamar Farms LLP of Lamerton, £78 for a pen of Lleyn x Exmoor horn from Mr JAT Hodge of Okehampton who also saw his run of Exmoor Horn & Badger Face ewes top at £62. A good run for Messrs M & A Cole of Sampford Spiney topped at £68 for a pen of 6T/FM Beulah ewes with a pen of 2T Cheviot ewes from Messrs Coaker & Geen of Princetown sold to £82. Other ewes sold included £84 for Texel Mules from Mr C Mortimore of Chagford with £72 twice; the first for FM Welsh Mule and second for pen of FM Cheviots for Messrs Abel Brothers of Peter Tavy. £86 for a pen of 4T/6T/FM Texel Mules for Mr RJ Brendon of Camelford

A sizeable entry of just under 250 mostly mule bred ewe lambs met a healthy trade although some of the best still offering value to those investing in the future. Top of the day was seen for Mr R Sizmur of Okehampton who sold North Country Mule Ewe Lambs to £75 with Scotch Mules topping at £73 for Messrs DH & C Legassick of Sheepstor. Cheviot Ewe & Store Lambs were in demand on the day with Mr KJ Watson of Yelverton receiving £71 for his pen of Ewe lambs.

A fantastic entry of just shy of 900 store lambs sold to a brisk trade with long keep, running lambs selling particularly well to buyers from Wales, Cornwall, Somerset and Devon with many not managing to buy what they had intended. Top of the day was seen for Texel cross lambs from Mr IG Mortimore & Son of Chagford who sold further pens to £66 and £64.50. Regular vendor Mr AP Legassick of Tavistock sold his usual quality entry of Charollais x lambs to a top of £68.00 with another regular Mr T Roskilly, Tavistock selling Mule lambs to £66 along with Messrs MJ & WH Cann of Whitchurch who sold Texel crosses to the same money. Messrs FG & DM Penwill of Tavistock received £65 & £62.50 for a superb run of Suffolk cross lambs. Long keep running lambs were a sharp trade with continental cross lambs which you would expect to market in the spring of the year trading between £49-£62. Hill bred lambs also met healthy demand with long keeping mules topping at £58.50 for Mr T Roskilly, Scotch Ram Lambs topped at £44 for Mr SS Dalglyn of Saltash with some excellent runs including those sold by Mr EJ Doidge of Tavistock who sold just short of 100 on the day. Welsh lambs sold to £38 for Mr A Cole of Tavistock with Jacob crosses topping at £46.50 for Mr ER Tucker of Tavistock. The best sold lambs appeared to be Cheviot bred running lambs which were in hot demand, very few were sold under £50 with the top price of £59 for Messrs PJ & MA Hearn of Whitchurch followed closely by Mr T D Vallance of Horrabridge who sold to £58.

Read more: Truro Livestock Market Report for Wednesday, October 2

Just over 150 Grazing Ewes were harder to place than Store lambs but both grazier and abattoir bidders were in attendance. They topped at £55 for Texes from Mr SA Smith of Lifton with Mr E Hillson of Yelverton also selling Suffolk cross ewes to £54.50 & mules to £47.50. Messrs G & R Cundy of Lamerton sold Texel cross ewes to £51 with a large run of mostly Beulah Speckled ewes from Messrs BJ & L Landick of Sampford Spiney topped at £40 with the majority trading at between £27-£32 a head.

An excellent line up of 225 breeding rams sold an unprecedented near 100% clearance with a packed ringside of potential purchasers throughout the majority of the sale. Top price was £420 for a 2T Texel from Miss GA Rogers of Sydenham Damerel. Suffolks topped up £400 for a 2T from Mr M Waycott of Ashburton who also had others to £380. Next in line was £350 for a 2T from Messrs Abel Brothers of Peter Tavy and £320 for a 2T from Mr N Dalgarno of Tregoney. In the section a large entry of Cheviot rams peaked at £350 for a 2T from Mr GHJ Medland of Tavistock, crossbred rams to £360 for a 2T for Charollais cross Suffolk from Messrs Abel Brothers of Peter Tavy. Blue faced Leicester’s topped at £310 for a 2T from Mr N Dalgarno Charollais topped at £300 twice firstly for a 2T from Mr M Waycott of Ashburton and secondly for a 2T from Messrs Abel Brothers of Peter Tavy. Poll Dorsets sold to £260 twice for Messrs DJ Thomas and Son of Launceston.