BELTEX males and females met a near 100 percent clearance at the Beltex Sheep Society’s final sale of the autumn season at Harrison and Hetherington’s Borderway centre in Carlisle.

More sheep changed hands compared to the 2019 sale and averages improved in all sections with ram lambs meeting a particularly strong demand to level at £1098 for 32, an increase of more than £250 per head on the year.

Selling for the top price of 6500gns was Vogue Fastrac, a ram lamb from Jonathan Aiken’s Vogue flock near Hesket Newmarket, Wigton. Sired by the 10,000gns Clary Desperado that also bred the champion prime lambs at LiveScot last year, Fastrac is a naturally-bred twin born in February out of the Culsh Bourbon daughter, Vogue Diamond. He caught the eye of Aberdeenshire breeders, Stuart Wood, Alan Miller and Colin Mair, who will put him to work in their Woodies, Lurg and Aviemore flocks, respectively.

Shearling rams peaked at 2500gns for Alan Miller’s Lurg Elmo ET, a son of the Bailey Brook CR7 ram that has bred well for the Aberdeenshire syndicate that owns him. Bred from Woodies Classy Girl, a Carrigans Bob Lee Swagger daughter from the Aberdeenshire flock, Elmo caught the eye of JG Richardson and heads to work near Bewaldeth, Cockermouth.

Females were also in demand and this section peaked at 2000gns for Hackney Elegance from Paul Tippetts. Local breeder Brian Hall continued his good season selling gimmers when his top two made 1500gns and 1200gns, which were in fact full embryo sisters being by the 15,000gns Black Jack Casanova and out of the Woodies Wicked-sired Ainstable Balderdash. Ainstable Embarrassed ET made 1500gns when snapped up by Cam Currie for his Corbelly flock while Ainstable Éclair ET sold to H and DM Forster, Hexham, for 1200gns.