Blimey! What a day! Just as with the cheviots at Lockerbie these Swaledale tups at the Chapel took a bit of footing. Good bodied commercial sheep were close to the four figure mark all day with most of Shep's neighbours having to pay that magical £1,000 to get themselves a stock hill tup.
No stupid prices though, the top price I saw was £6,000 for a cracking sheep off Billing Shield. The champion of the day realised £4,700 off East Unthank.
Yep, you're right, Shep was on the wanders again. Into Durham this time to St Johns Chapel to view some Swaledales. Again I was fortunate enough to travel with a neighbour.
Swaledales are a hardy hill breed with quite a number of flocks residing in Tarset and nieghbouring areas. Different to the blackfaced sheep although you could be forgiven for thinking they are the same - there are similarities in that both breeds have horns, similar leg colour and as the present day blackie can also sport a grey nose and eyes then a confusion could arise. Swaledales have a coarser hair, different skin (wool) type, generally longer legs and very striking black and grey faces. They are also renowned for having a poorer carcase.
Shep hadn't been to the Chapel for teens of years (if not longer) and was pleasantly suprised. Always noted as a sale venue for having sheep of a stronger carcase I was well and truly impressed with the carcases on show, there were some remarkably broad swales to be found, but they did take some buying.
Another change I noted was that the pens were all covered over. The pens at St Johns Chapel are all outdoors, it's an old, traditional mart, not one of your modern concrete affairs. Years back when I used to attend the vendors would turn up with tups and tarpaulins and an array of 'tents' would cover the individual pens. In the modern era the mart has marquees covering the pens enabling sheep and men to remain dry and comfortable. As it happened the day was a dry one but there is no doubt about it should the weather do what it's good at in the dales then the marquees will be a godsend.
The tups on sale off each farm are penned up for prospective buyers to see and handle, enabling you to look at the conformation, teeth and generally give the sheep a good going over before deciding whether to mark them in your catalogue ready to bid for them when the time comes.
In sale order off the catalogue the pens of tups are driven down the alleyways and to the ring, once outside the ring they are caught up singly, brushed up and given a final titivate
before being released into the auction ring one at a time. Then the business of buying and selling commences.
The ringside is generally packed with folks and fills even further if a champion or highly rated sheep is due to enter. Waiting with bated breath to see who gets it and what price it makes, or maybes you're the one bidding, hopeful the sheep will be heading home with you later in the day.
The hard work is down to the auctioneer (and yes, you're right - it's a woman), a good auctioneer can make all the difference to realising a good price for the seller but also keeping the buyers happy as no one likes to think they've been run for a sheep (auctioneer putting in false bids). Once the gavel is dropped the bid is sealed - there's no going back for either buyer or seller, however, if a seller is dissatisfied regarding the price he/she will tell the auctioneer and the gavel will not be dropped - the sheep will be passed out of the ring unsold.
The champion sheep of the day entered the ring to a packed ringside, silver ware was handed out and applause given before the auctioneer got down to the task in hand. This sheep realised £4,700 with the auctioneer giving the buyers plenty of time to reconsider their bidding.
The champion of the day off East Unthank which sold for £4,700.
There were many good sheep to view, and as already said they weren't bought for pennies, with many having to dig deeper into their pockets than they had hoped to but all (hopefully) satisfied with what they loaded up and took home.
It had been a long day, the sale commenced at 9.30am and sheep had been penned long before that. You can't blame these boys for wanting to rest and enjoy the comfort of the straw their pen was bedded with. Not only does the straw give them a comfy lie, it keeps the pens and ultimately the fleeces clean and it also saves the sheep from having to stand on hard concrete all day.
Shep had had a good day away, viewed some cracking good sheep and met up with faces, some almost long forgotten,a pleasant break from bending over all day tailing ewes that's for sure!
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