WARD and Chowen, auctioneers at Tavistock Livestock Centre, held their first show and sale of mule ewe lambs, the lambs being bred out of either Swaledale or Scotch Blackface ewes and sold through a ring.

A total entry of 280 lambs were put forward for this initial sale, which will act as a good platform for developing the sale in future years.

Judge for the day was Eddie Williamson from Okehampton who was very impressed with the quality of entry.

Champion pen of ewe lambs went to P L Heard of Okehampton and later sold for £68.50 to S Cornelius, Davidstow. Mr Heard duly received an engraved cup and 500ml of Dectomax.

Reserve champion pen went to K C and J C Heard of Okehampton and sold for £65 to R C and M A Cockayne, Northlew. Messrs Heard received a trophy and 5 litres of Ovispec wormer, kindly donated by Countrywest.

Overall 280 lambs averaged £54.96 (top £69.50).

And a good entry of 1,470 store and breeding sheep met a strong trade at Ward and Chowen?s annual St John?s Sheep Fair last Tuesday, held at Tavistock Livestock Centre.

The sale started with the breeding ewes and included the flock dispersal on behalf of W K and L M Dean, Yelverton, of their North Country Cheviot Ewes ? 143 Cheviot ewes sold to £79 for three pens of 2T.

Top price ewes were £82 for two pens of 2T Suffolk cross from T A and B J Cox, Whitchurch.

Older ewes (FM+) were also in strong demand selling to £48 for a pen from E G Dunn, Shaugh Prior.

Store lambs met firm trade throughout with 735 being offered. Top price was £47.50 for a pen from B Wills, Yelverton, (227 ewes averaged £41.79), 275 mixed lambs averaged £38.87 topping at £44 for a pen from B K and L Landick, Sampford Spiney, 150 wether lambs averaged £39.56 and sold to £43.20 for two pens from Roskilly Farms, Tavistock,.

Breeding rams met an excellent trade topping at £330 for a 2T Suffolk from R L Toop, Yelverton, older rams selling to £320 for a 6T Suffolk from P W Coaker, Widecombe-in-the-Moor.

Price ranges were:

Breeding ewes ? 140 Suffolk x 2T ewes, top £82, average £79.34; 41 Suffolk x 6T ewes top £48, av £43.85; 42 Suffolk x FM ewes top £46.50, av £42.13; 11 Suffolk x BM ewes, top £36, av £36; 64 North Country Cheviot x 2T ewes top £79, av £74.21; 24 North Country Cheviot x 4T ewes to £60, av £57.50; 29 North Country Cheviot 6T ewes top £47.50, av £47.03; 56 North Country Cheviot ewes FM top £48, av £41.84; 18 North Country Cheviot ewes BM top £35, av £32.78; 10 Mule 2T top £75.50, av £75.50; 15 Mule FM top £45, av £44.67; 10 Mule BM top £25.50, av £25.50; 71 Whiteface Dartmoor 6T/FM top £27, av £25.30; 19 Whiteface Dartmoor BM top £21, av £18.42; 14 Exmoor x 2T top £65, av £65; 10 Exmoor x FM top £38.50, av £38.50; 23 Masham BM top £35.80, av £34.95; 23 Beulah x FM top £42, av £39.85; 7 Beulah x BM top £26, av £26; 59 Scotch/Welsh Hill BM ewes top £19.50, av £17.52; 18 other FM ewes top £36 av £31.53.

Store lambs: 272 mixed lambs top £44 av £38.87; 227 ewe lambs top £47.50, av £41.79; 150 wether lambs top £43.20 av £39.56; 3 ram lambs top £38, av £38; 49 Hill Wether lambs to £24.50, av £18.93; 31 Hill ram lambs top £14.40, av £13.24.

Breeding rams: 15 Suffolk 2T rams top £330, av £214.67; 3 Suffolk 6T rams top £320, av £213.33; 4 Texel 2T rams top £185, av £167.50; 2 Texel 4T rams top £195, av £172.50; 3 Blue faced Leicester 2T rams £310, av £253.33.

Forthcoming sheep sales: Tuesday 16 September, sale of breeding and store sheep, Tuesday September 30, Goose fair sheep sale (inc rams). Entries for both sales now invited.