CCM Skipton LIVE Working Sheepdog Sale...

Live working sheep dog sales, with field trials for fully broken working sheepdogs and pen trials for up and coming working sheepdog pups, made a welcome return to Skipton Auction Mart on Thursday 22nd July. Proudly sponsored for the first time by WuffitMix.

Top price dog of the day came from leading welsh handler and trialist Kevin Evans of Llwynfedwen Farm, near Brecon, realising 10'000gns (£10'500).

Taking second top call of 5,500gns (£5,775) was Keith Bouch, of Kirkoswald, Lazonby, with his rising two-year-old black and white bitch, Copperthorns Tess. Next best on price at 4,700gns (£4,935) was regular Lancastrian vendor, Carnforth’s Tony Birkett, with his March, 2019, black and white bitch, Mist. Top call in the unbroken pup pen was a 2,200gns (£2,310) sale by Jean Howes with her well-bred six-month-old black and white bitch, Midge.

On a blistering day for both hot dogs and handlers, the new format Skipton sale was staged as a pilot to cater for underlying demand from both vendors and buyers who much prefer to do business via live sales rather timed online auctions, which have proved so successful during the pandemic. And while the normal strong contingent of Irish vendors was excluded because of continuing travel restrictions, an albeit smaller than usual, yet healthy attendance of potential buyers was supplemented by keen online interest, with over 40 people registered as potential buyers, along with several hundred remote onlookers across the entire sale. The outcome was a very good clearance rate.

Skipton’s next working sheep dog sale on Tuesday, August 10, will revert to a timed online format only to cater for interested parties from both near and far, with the winter sale on Friday, October 15, seeing a return to the trials field, again complemented by a real-time online viewing and bidding facility.

Thanks again to Robin Moule, CCM Press Officer for the full sale report. We look forward to sponsoring the next live sale in October.