Swaledale tup makes record £105,000

Breed records were reset at Kirkby Stephen market today (19 October) when a Ghyll House Swaledale ram sold for a chart-topping £105,000.

The 21-year record was broken by Ghyll House Notorious from W Richardson and Son, Dufton, Penrith. The much-fancied shearling was knocked down to a joint bid from noted breeders Paul Hallam, High Birkwith, and J Nelson and Son, Bull and Cave.

The previous record was set by Arthur Slack of Stoneriggs with Brackenber Bronco, which made £101,000 in 2002, the year after the disastrous foot-and-mouth disease outbreak.

See also: £92,000 bid for a ‘lovely’ Swaledale tup at Hawes

James Little of Harrison & Hetherington took the bids, with colleague Mark Richardson looking on. Mr Richardson said there was a real buzz around the packed ring for one of the best tups seen at the sale for a long time.

“There was a lot of interest in him and lots of top breeders going for him,” Mr Richardson told Farmers Weekly. “Plenty of syndicates and people had clubbed together to buy him.”