A top price of 3,800 guineas, good averages and a real buzz reflected a solid trade with a premium for the best tups at the NSA Wales & Border Ram Sales Early Sale.

Held at the Royal Welsh Showground, the Early Sale is traditionally a trailblazer for the season. It didn’t fail to set the standard and satisfied both vendors and buyers.

The highest price went to a February born Foulrice shearling, sold to Hywel and Avril Rees, from Charles Marwood, CW Marwood & Son. Charles was delighted and pleased with the overall run of prices.

He said: “It’s a much better sale than last year, the whole tone is different. People are looking for sheep. Last year we had had two years of Covid and then the drought.

“The shearling was by our senior stock ram, Lowerye Vulcan. He is very well balanced and was indexed the top 2/3% of the breed and was the second prize performance recorded ram in the show today.

“We have retained his twin brother as a stock ram. He was indexed in the top 1% and was the second prize shearling at the Great Yorkshire Show and one of the winning pair.”

Buyer Hywel Rees said his purchase would be going on his pedigree Llynfi flock of 68 Charollais ewes. He also runs a commercial flock of 300 ewes at Somerset Farm in the Vale of Glamorgan with his wife, Avril.

He said: “It has good muscling and is well fleshed, with good bone, good on its feet and a good all rounder.”

A Charollais yearling from Gareth Jones’s Roblestone Flock, Camrose, Pembrokeshire, made 2,000 guineas. Gareth, who serves on the NSA Wales & Border Ram Sales committee, said it was born in December 2022.

The ram was ‘a good strong yearling, third in his class in the Royal Welsh this year, where a few people had spotted him’. Gareth also had a good average and praised the sale, especially for the early lambing producers.

Arwyn and Jane Davies’s Charollais breed champion sold for 1100 guineas, a December born shearling. The Arbryn ram sold to RJ and J Towers, Ingleton, Yorkshire.

Arwyn was pleased with the trade and said: “The top end were selling really well and the shearlings had gone really well, with quality selling.”

It’s been a good year for the Arbryn flock of 60 pedigree ewes, who took the Interbreed group of three at the Royal Welsh Show. Arwyn also judged the Charollais classes at the Balmoral Show and the Royal Highland.

Tim Prichard sold the highest priced Beltex X ram at 1020 guineas. Adrian Davies sold three Beltex X shearlings at 1,000 guineas and one at 900 guineas.

The champion Texel was from the Chave family’s Peacehay Flock, Somerset. The shearling made 900 guineas. Their pen topped at 1,000 guineas.

Paul Quick was pleased with his run of a dozen Loosebeare rams. His yearling ram made the Texel breed top price of 1150 guineas, with his ‘good back end, plenty of width and a good level top’. It went to Lewis Rea of Hay on Wye, who has just started his flock.

The Quick family had an average 800 guineas and have been selling at the NSA Wales & Border Ram Sales for 20 to 30 years. Paul also bought a ram and said the appeal of the early sale is that it gives people the opportunity to buy from more than one breed, with ease of parking.

Paul said:”It was a good sale, but quite selective. Anything with a bit more quality and there was definitely a premium. It was a better sale than last year.”

The Suffolk sale was topped at 750 guineas with a shearling ram from BG & RV & BH Jones, Gower.

The organizers were delighted with the day’s trading. Chairman Graham Jones said: “There was a nice buzz and atmosphere around. It was fairly selective trade.

“The best sheep were selling pretty well and there was quite a good bottom in the market. On the whole it was a better sale than last year. There was some money flying about for the best rams. The cross bred rams had a buoyant trade.”