Annandale Dispersal Sale

Baby Rose Red Hits Top Spot At Annandale Dispersal

Milk producers and Holstein breeders from across the UK and Ireland travelled to Milton Farm near Moffat for the dispersal sale of the famous Annandale herd owned by the Armour family.  The Annandale prefix was first registered back in 1946 by Willie and Jimmy Armour who became famous for breeding exceptional dairy cattle.  Matthew Armour continued this tradition breeding a special herd of robust powerful Holsteins with strong pedigrees that has been regarded as one of Scotland’s best for many years.

The undoubted quality on offer combined with Matthew’s attractive and likeable personality resulted in the ringside packed to capacity, buyers from N. Ireland played an important role with 25% of the sale crossing the Irish Sea.  Trade topped at 10,000gns for a Red & White two year old with almost 200 animals selling for or more than £2000 and demand for Annandale bulls was strong with bulls topping at 8,000gns.  

Topping the sale at 10,000gns was Annandale Baby Spot Rose Red who was purchased by Mr Wilson from N. Ireland.  Rose Red was sired by Gen-I-Beq Aikman and had recently calved in July and had quickly developed into one of the herd favourites.  Her dam was an EX91 Picolo Red daughter her full sister, Penn-Gate Piclo Fife Red EX90 was an All-American winner in 2012, next dam was an Excellent 92 Advert followed by Penn-Gate Skychief Finesse dam of 16 Excellent daughters in the USA. 

One of the unique features of the Annandale herd was the way Matthew Armour successfully used his own bulls with the aim to bred the ‘Annadale kind’.  Selling for 5,500gns was one such special cow, Annadale Mayday Oriole a Very Good 88 3yr old milking in her third lactation.  She was sired by Annandale Mayday and bred from the Oriole cow family that originates from the Mar-River herd in the USA.  This beautiful balanced cow was purchased by Mr Stewart from N. Ireland.

Much of the breeding success at Annandale is the down to the strength and depth of the prolific cow families.  The Millie family that traces back to the Meadow Bridge herd in Ontario has always impressed at Annandale.  Selling for 4,800gns was Annandale Allclass Millie, she was a Very Good 87 2yr old bred from ten Excellent or Very Good generations with the first five all high scoring Excellent cows.  This close to perfect heifers was purchased by Desmond Farms from the Rep. of Ireland.

The Rhapsody cow family has been in the headlines this summer already and selling for 4,500gns was Annandale Lanvin Rhapsody who was purchased by Mr Black from N. Ireland.  She was sired by Lanvin and was bred from thirteen generations of Excellent cows.  This impressive framed cow displayed a ton of power and strength and sold dry due to Dalliance in September.  Her ultra stylish heifer sired by King-Doc topped the heifer calf trade selling for 3,200gns to Mr Therkeld from Kendal. 

The heifer calves were in demand and selling for 3,000gns was Annandale Henry Melinda who was purchased by Mr Stewart from N. Ireland.  She was sired by Annandale Henry with her first six dams all classifying Excellent going back to the powerful Excellent 95 pointed Pond-oak Ned Boy Margot. 

Selling for 2,900gns was a super correct daughter of Lindenright Apps from the Marie cow family who was bought by Mr Pirie from Argyll.  Marie was bred from five Excellent dams going back to the impressive Denmire line with four direct Excellent 94 pointed cows all with over 100 ton of milk lifetime. 

Exceptional bulls are what the Annandale herd is famous for and its what the Armour family have excelled in sine the late 1930’s and it was no surprise that their bulls once again attracted a massive amount of interest in the run up to the sale.  Seven bull sold to average £3645 and they topped at 8,000gns for Annadale Kraft who was purchased by Mr Black from N. Ireland.  Kraft was one of the very best bulls ever to be bred at Annandale classifying Excellent 95, he was sired by Reece and bred from the Kim cow family originally developed at Oak Ridges Holsteins in Canada.

Our next sale at Borderway takes place on Wednesday 1^ST September and features 316 dairy cattle in the Borderway Monthly Dairy Day sale.  The online catalogues for this sale is available at www.harrisonandhetherington.co.uk   or can be ordered from the Pedigree office on 01228406230.  The online Live Bidding platform is available for all our dairy sales, please register for this service at least 24 hours prior to the event.    

Averages

172 Cows & Heifers in milk                           £2222.09
82 In Calf Heifers                                              £1763.23
40 Bulling Heifers                                             £1428.00
106 Heifer Calves                                             £1226.32
7 Bulls                                                                   £3645.00
15 Faulted ¾ cows                                           £1337.00
422 Holsteins                                                     £1806.98

Leading Prices

Lot          Price                      Purchaser
30        10,000gns       Messrs Wilson, Ballymena, County Antrim
223      8000gns          Messrs Black, Aghadowey, Coleraine, County Londonderry
86B      5800gns          Messrs Dickinson, Hesket New Market, Wigton, Cumbria
169      5500gns          Messrs Stewart, Portaferry, Newtownards, County Down
158      4800gns          Messrs O Sullivan, Newcastle West, Newcastle, West Co. Limerick
183      4500gns          Messrs Black, Aghadowey, Coleraine, County Londonderry
156      4000gns          Messrs Millar, Coleraine, County Londonderry
150      3800gns          Messrs Vance & Sons, Whithorn, Newton Stewart, Wigtownshire
145      3600gns          Messrs Howie Well House, Kirkcolm, Stranraer
24        3400gns          Messrs Stewart, Portaferry, Newtownards, County Down
125      3300gns          Messrs Taylor, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire
76        3200gns          Leyburn Farming, Derrynoose, Armagh
183A    3200gns          Messrs Threlkeld, Burton In Kendal, Lancashire