Centre records were smashed and a top price of £8,000 achieved at Caithness Ram Sales.
The annual two-day sheep fair hosted by Aberdeen & Northern Marts (ANM) was held at Caithness Livestock Centre, Quoybrae.
It started on Thursday and ended yesterday.
Suffolk shearling sells for £2,800
The event kicked off with the annual show and sale of multi-breed rams, with 125 sold under the auspices of the Caithness Sheep Breeders’ Association.
Centre records were broken for Texels and Suffolks for the second consecutive year.
The top price of £2,800 on day one was paid for a Suffolk shearling from William Barnetson & Son, of Watten. It was bought by JS Baillie, of Tankerness.
The second top price of the day saw another record smashed twice.
First to hit a new high of £2,300 was a Texel from Douglas Webster, of Lower Reiss.
This was then equalled by a Texel from Angus Gunn, of Hill of Forss.
The champion Suffolk, judged by Tommy Linklater, of Stenness, was a shearling from A Brims, of Thruster Mains. It sold for £1,500 to the judge.
The prize for reserve Suffolk was awarded to JB & L Swanson, of Thurso. It sold for £2,000 to M Thompson, of Dornoch.
Alison Webster, of Kildrummy, judged the Texels, with a shearling from A Gunn, Hill of Forss, taking the championship. It sold for £2,300 to D Coghill & Sons, of Halkirk.
Reserve champion was a shearling from D Webster, of Lower Reiss, which went on to sell for £1,400 to William Barnetson & Son.
In the any other breed section, a cross tup from WS McCarthy, of Myrelandhorn, was tapped out as champion by judge Zena Mackay, of Bridge of Westfield.
It went on to sell for £700 to A MacKay & Sons, of Watten.
The reserve champion went to a Blue Texel shearling from K Mackay, of East Mey, which sold for £900 to D Coghill & Sons.
74 North Country Cheviots sold on second day of Caithness Ram Sales
Yesterday’s sale under the auspices of the North Country Cheviot Sheep Society saw a total of 74 rams sold.
A top price of £8,000 was paid for the overall champion of the day, selected by judge Roderick Runciman, of Galashiels, and Andrew Morris, of Logie Farm, Newburgh, Fife.
The top show prize was for Upper Cornquoy Exclusive, a North Country Cheviot shearling, sired by Knockcocher Catapult and bred by J&J Smith, of Holm, in Orkney.
James Bruce, of Scarborough, was the buyer.
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The reserve champion was a shearling ram, Bardnaclavan Eurostar, sired by Soutra Cannonball from DN Campbell & Sons, Bridge of Westfield. It sold for £1,500 to JI Forbes, of Latheron.
The second top price of £3,800 was for a shearling ram, Upper Cornquoy Holm.
It was from J&J Smith and bought by the Mackay firm of South Balkeith, Tain.
‘Outstanding’ show of rams
The champion female was a gimmer from JS Baillie, of Tankerness, which realised £1,300 to James Bruce, of Scarborough.
ANM auctioneer Scott Chapman said: “With an outstanding show of rams across both days, the trade was electric from start to finish, with a packed ringside of buyers, many of whom went home empty-handed.
“The Caithness breeders came out in style, with centre records smashed for a second year running and a fantastic top price of £8,000.”
Gimmers galore
Following on from the sale of North Country Cheviot rams was the annual show and sale of 1,150 gimmers.
The champion pen of 10, judged by Stephen Sutherland, of Castletown, was from J&J Smith, of Holm. It sold for £255 to Fiona Anderson, of Clyth.
Reserve was the first-placed pen of Texels from W & SJ McCarthy, of Bower, which sold for £250 to J&JMB Sutherland & Son, of Latheron.
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