Borderless Bidding At Borderway

More than 5,000 lots catalogued, 2,500 registered bidders and over 55,000 bids placed in 2025 alone. These are the  figures that highlight the success of Harrison & Hetherington's online auction platform, six years after it launched the UK's first online livestock auction.

Last year, H&H conducted 63 online timed auctions, marketing everything from pedigree and commercial cattle and sheep to poultry, pups, plant machinery, camelids and livestock genetics. And, with dozens more online sales scheduled throughout the summer, demand for the platform shows little sign of slowing down.

What began as an emergency response to the Covid-19 pandemic has evolved into a thriving sales platform, creating new opportunities for breeders and buyers across the UK, Ireland, Europe and beyond.

In 2020, Harrison & Hetherington partnered with MartEye to launch and conduct the UK's first fully online livestock auction. The inaugural sale, the Border and Lakeland Holstein Club Annual Spring Sale of pedigree Holstein and British Friesian bulls, was a landmark event, a huge success and the UK's first entirely virtual dairy pedigree sale.

Harrison & Hetherington’s  Assistant Pedigree Manager, Anna McGregor said: "Covid-19 restrictions made it impossible to conduct live livestock sales and launching online timed auctions allowed normal trading to continue without the face-to-face sales that the traditional mart represents.

"At the time, we believed this was an opportunity and hoped it would become an additional way of doing business in the future. Six years on, online auctions have become an established and important part of our business and continue to complement our traditional live sales."

The platform has also helped open up new markets, particularly for Irish breeders affected by post-Brexit livestock movement restrictions between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

"For many Irish customers, bringing livestock to a live sale in Carlisle effectively became a one-way ticket," explained Anna. "If animals didn't sell, returning them home could be difficult due to movement and export regulations. Online sales remove that risk entirely."

Buyers now participate from across Europe, while sheepdogs have been sold to destinations including Norway, the Faroe Islands and North America. Livestock genetics, including embryos and semen, have reached markets as far afield as Australia and New Zealand.

Supported by digital marketing, online catalogues, photographs and videos, the sales allow buyers to assess stock in detail before bidding.

Among those who have embraced the format is Northern Ireland pedigree breeder Mark Priestley, who sells his Limestone Suffolk flock stock through invitational and pedigree sheep sales hosted on Harrison & Hetherington's online platform.

"We've been participating in online sales since 2021 and now hold at least two major sales each year, selling up to 50 lots at a time," said Mark. "This simply wouldn't be possible without the expertise of Anna and her team."

While Mark still values the atmosphere of the traditional auction ring, he said online selling has created opportunities that would not otherwise be possible.

"I still enjoy selling through the ring because it's great to showcase stock in front of people. But one of our recent online sales generated more than 50,000 views. You would never gather that many people together physically from so many different backgrounds and locations at one time. That's the power of the internet.

"We've sold sheep as far away as Italy, Spain and Portugal. Online sales create a truly international marketplace and allow the market to determine value transparently."

He added that presentation is key to successful online selling.

"A picture speaks a thousand words. We invest in professional photography and create our own videos. Buyers need an honest representation of the sheep from several angles so they can see exactly what they're purchasing."

Six years after hosting the UK's first online livestock auction, Harrison & Hetherington's online sales continue to help breeders reach wider markets while complementing the company's traditional auction operations.

With a busy online trading season ahead, some of H&H's upcoming online sales include:

• Black Magic Suffolk Female Sale (Northern Ireland), 26th-28th June

• Breeders Choice Summer Selection Suffolk & Texel Sale (Republic of Ireland), 4th-6th July

• Beltex Bombshells Sale on behalf of the Aileach View Flock (Republic of Ireland), 10th-12th July

• Diamond in the Making Sale on behalf of the Diamond Flock (Republic of Ireland), 10th-12th July

• Trueman Show Limousins Sale (Northern Ireland), 31st July-3rd August

• Sheep Dog Spectacular Part 3, 1st-3rd August – featuring 50 collies, kelpies, working dogs and pups.

• Derg 10 Years Celebration Sale of Blue Texels (Northern Ireland), 21st-23rd August.