Dutch Spotted Sale

With a massive entry of this ever increasingly popular sheep breed which has only been in the country for a few years, all eyes were on the Carlisle sale and they saw over 500 sheep entered, up on last year’s entry by a couple of hundred animals. Any pre-sale doubts were soon dispelled as the sale opened to a packed ringside with buyers from all over the country.  The ringside remained full for the duration of the sale with buyers prepared to pay for their picks and a great trade in each section was seen.

Topping the trade was a powerful tup shearling Mount Pleasant Desmond, from Bentham based breeder Graham Jackson, who runs a small flock of 12 ewes.  Desmond was placed as the overall champion at the pre-sale show, held on the Friday evening, by joint judges Alan and Brenda Middleton of the Misty Top flock. Desmond is no stranger to the red, white and blue ticket, having taken the breed championship at the Great Yorkshire Show earlier this season and part of the reserve Interbreed pairs at the same show. He is by the prolific homebred ram, Mount Pleasant Cracker, (who was first prize aged ram at the Yorkshire Show and whose breeding is behind a lot of the best sheep in the breed at the moment), and he is out of Breeze, a smart ewe which Graham picked at the initial selection day in Dumfries as a gimmer lamb back in 2018. He sold for a breed record price for a shearling ram of 11,000gns, selling to young breeder Oliver Watson, who is just 13 years old, who also went on to purchase the female champion ewe, Blue Stone from Ali Jacksons TipTop flock for 4500gns. A boy starting as he means to go on!

Topping the trade in the gimmer section was a lovely, sweet lamb from Ali Jackson, Tiptop Easy Girl. She didn’t prove an easy girl to purchase however with keen duo of Jack Simpson and Steph Shirt from the Back Tor flock, having to fork out 10,000gns to make her theirs. This lamb was out of the flock’s best ewe, imported last year and sired by Mount Pleasant Ducati another son of Mount Pleasant Cracker. They were taken by the lambs’ sharpness and the line of breeding behind her too. Ali, who runs one of the bigger flocks, with around 70 ewes, was one of the first people to import the breed into the country after seeing them in Holland and was impressed with the carcase and the ability to finish with good grades off grass. Combined with an easy lambing, he feels they have great potential in the commercial market here in the UK. He enjoyed a great trade throughout and along with the champion ewe he also took the first prize in the ram lamb section, with another son of Ducati out of his imported show ewe Hannah, brought over in 2016.  Hannah went on to take the Interbreed title at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2019, the first year the Dutch Spotted sheep had classes there, creating quite a sensation. This powerful lamb sold for 6500gns to P Robinson, Eire.

The Diamond flock from Emma Allen, Drumclamph, Co. Tyrone, enjoyed a great trip over the water, with a pen of well-muscled sheep with sharp heads and great carcase, topping with a bid of 6500gns for their tup lamb, Diamond Emperor, which sold to the newly established Polka Dot flock of Jimmy Bell and Rachel Buckle. He is by Drumhirk Decider, had already bred lambs to 5000gns and Emma bought him in a private deal from the South and is out Glencloy Clementine she bought in another private deal from Liam Campbell. The same sire was behind their next ram lamb which sold for 5500gns to Alan Smyth and Nick Brown from the Eden and Irthing Valley flocks respectively. This one was out of the flocks’ foundation ewe, Bella II, which is proving a great breeder, previously selling lambs to 3900gns. Her Embyro sister sold in a 5000gns deal later in the sale, selling to Dave Roberts and another full sister fetched 3000gns, selling to J&J Corbett, New House Farm, Leadon.

Sara Gibbons from the Whatmore flock has a great reputation in several breeds and her venture into the Dutch Spotted sheep hasn’t harmed that reputation in any way. Her only entry in the gimmer lamb section could only be described as a “Brick on Legs” with lots of width and muscle attracting a lot of attention. She is by Glencloy Chance, a son of the 2016 imported “Spaniard”, who is behind breeding of several of the top bloodlines and out of a imported ewe “Candy Floss” John Morton, Blencarn was the final bidder on this lamb with such potential.

One of the more admired pens in the tup lamb section was the Irongray pen from Sharon Hiddleston. Her pen leader, Irongray Elmo, was bid to 5800gns, in a two-way split. He is by the 2016 Import, Hiroshima, and out of a 2018 imported ewe.

The day was one of the most important days in this fledgling societies history and it certainly grasped it with both hands. It is hard to see enthusiasm for the breed waning and certainly the commercial opportunities for the sheep are wide and it will be good to see them build even further on the strong foundations they have laid down over the last couple of years.

Prize List