Midland Club Show & Sale, Shrewsbury, 13th May 2023
South Devons to 6,400 gns at Shrewsbury
The return of the South Devon Midland Club’s spring sale to Shrewsbury saw a range of good quality pedigree cattle offered to buyers from across the country.
Sale leader was the homozygous polled Z Coton Inquisitor 2 from C J Page, Banbury, Oxfordshire. With bloodlines including Woodbastwick, Waterlane, and Welland Valley this February 2021 born bull sold to Colcharton Farm Partners, Tavistock, Devon for 6,400 gns.
Taking the second highest price of the day at 3,600 gns and travelling up from Newquay, Cornwall was R A Rundle’s Kestle Dominator 5 by the prolific sire Welland Valley Dominator and out of home-bred cow, Kestle Tulip 111. With a Quality Beef Index in the top 5% of the breed this bull went to Herefordshire beef producer, A K Watkins from Kentchurch.
Third bull to sell was from O Brewin, Thorpe Langton, Leicestershire going to Wood Farm Partnership, Daventry, Northamptonshire for 3,000 gns. This April 2021 born son of Carzise Claudius 1 carries one copy each of the nt821 and F94L myostatin gene variants.
Top price in the heifer section went to R W Bostelmann from Eccleshall, Staffordshire for a heterozygous polled daughter of Edmeston Homer 1, AI Z Rufford Snowdrop 26, selling to O Brewin for 3,100 gns. The same buyer acquired another heifer on offer from Mr Bostelmann, Rufford Snowdrop 27, this one by Tregarrick Instow for 2,750 gns.
Meanwhile, R V Hartshorn’s January 2021 born heifer AI Cilgwrrwg Gwyneth by Welland Valley Dynamic 6 sold to T M Paton & Sons, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire for 3,000 gns. This Telford, Shropshire bred female expressed eye muscle area and 400 day weight EBVs in the top 5% of the breed.
This same heifer, Gwyneth, was judged overall breed champion in the show ring by judge Nick Hood from Woodbastwick, Norfolk, beating R W Bostelmann’s AI Z Rufford Snowdrop 26 into reserve female champion. Male and reserve breed champion was O Brewin’s North View Ace, with Kestle Dominator 5 placed second best male.
Averages: bulls £4,550; haltered 2021 heifers £2,322; haltered 2022 heifer £1,155; non-haltered 2021 heifers £1,549; non-haltered 2022 heifers £1,183.
Auctioneers: Halls
