PEDIGREE LIMOUSIN CATTLE Friday 16th & Saturday 17th February 2007

RECORD BREAKING LIMOUSIN SALE SEES 52,000GNS
QUEENSHEAD ALTEA SOLD FOR EXPORT TO SOUTHERN IRELAND

Centre record average of £5,175 – Sale grosses £657,000 – Junior Bulls average £8775 – Average up £1100 – Record priced Welsh & N.Irish bulls – Record export price at 52,000gns

A Limousin firework display lit up Carlisle on Saturday 17th February 2007 at the Limousin annual Spring Sale as a high quality show of bulls smashed the pedigree record books. Queenshead Altea, a Greensons Gigolo son from Pat and John Varley, Myrtle Grove Farm, Queensbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire led the way when selling for export to Southern Irish breeder Tom Bailey, Culcommon, Batterstown, Co. Meath for 52,000gns. This is the highest price paid for a Limousin bull for export and is the third highest price paid for any Limousin bull at auction.

One of the biggest audiences of people seen at a pedigree sale in Carlisle added to the electric atmosphere as pedigree breeders and commercial producers lit the blue touch paper and set the record books alight. The £5,175.59 paid for 127 bulls sold was a continental breed and Carlisle centre record average and up over £1100 on the year. In the junior section, 31 bulls sold for an incredible £8775.97, again an all-breeds record average. The sale grossed a mighty £657,299.93, a Limousin sale record and up by over £138,000 on the year. With a home nations theme, breeders from Northern Ireland and Wales set records for the highest priced Limousin bulls sold from those countries at 29,000gns and 26,000gns respectively. In all, four bulls sold for over 20,000gns, with nine bulls over five figures and twenty three over 6,000gns. 127 bulls sold out of the 190 forward at a clearance rate of 66%. The corresponding 2006 sale figures had also seen the inclusion of Haltcliffe Vermount at a world record 100,000gns price.

Queenshead Altea

Centre stage for two days was Queenshead Altea breeders and sellers, Pat and John Varley from Myrtle Grove Farm, Queensbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire. On Friday, their August 2005 born bull had secured the Junior and Overall Supreme Championships at the pre-sale show under the eye of the judge, Jim Mulholland, a breeder and butcher from Midtown Farm, Great Orton, Carlisle. Remarkably, the Queenshead herd itself comprises just four breeding cows with Queenshead Altea being out of the Ronick Iceman sired Ryedale Parfait, the first cow the Varleys bought when re-stocking after FMD, from Peter and Anne Lang’s Ryedale herd. This was their first Carlisle Champion and needless to say, top price to date. In 2004, the Varleys had purchased the Greensons Gigolo sired heifer Cockleshell Tiffany from Lincolnshire breeder Peter Pitcher at the International Limousin Congress Sale held at Borderway. As a consequence of this heifer they used Gigolo to A.I. Ryedale Parfait, which has proved an inspired decision. The Queenshead herd is a supplementary activity to the Varley’s main business of metalwork manufacturing.

A marked new dynamic of the sale was the presence of several leading breeders from Southern Ireland looking to purchase stock bulls. This export potential manifested into reality when noted breeder Tom Bailey, Co. Meath, through his stockman in attendance Pat Greaney, stood up to the plate and bought the day’s top price at 52,000gns which was a record price for a Limousin export. The Bailey herd numbers forty pedigree Limousin cows in all which are run beside flocks of pedigree Texel and Suffolk sheep. Commenting on his purchase, Mr. Greaney said: “This was a lovely bull that immediately caught my eye. He was well balanced throughout and not extreme in any trait. He had a very good top line and an above average backend. I loved the fact that his pedigree was so proven and had a fantastic balance between muscle and milk.” This was the first time Mr.Greaney had been to a BLCS Bull Sale at Carlisle and whilst visiting ‘on spec’ he was absolutely delighted to immediately find the type of bull he was looking for.

In the first instance, Queenshead Altea will head back to the Varleys prior to entry and semen collection at Cogent in Cheshire. It is hoped that semen will be available for world wide use once the first calves are on the ground in the Baileys herd.

Commenting Iain Kerr, BLCS Chief Executive said, "Commercial producers are investing in cattle that provide high performance, ease of management and are market relevant. Breeders are totally focused on providing high quality, premium earning bulls and this continues to drive the quite spectacular demand we are seeing for the breed, commercially and pedigree, both at home and abroad. The records set at this sale are fantastic but it is important to note the strength in depth throughout the catalogue with real quality bulls available to suit all markets and budgets.”

Averages:

44 Senior Bulls £3,689.65

52 Intermediate Bulls £4,307.02

31 Junior Bulls £8,775.97

Overall (127 head) £5,175.59 (plus £1,146.13)

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[Limousin Society's full report]