Swaledale sheep attracted exceptional demand at St John’s Chapel Auction Mart, where the annual show and sale on Saturday 26 September 2026 produced a top price of £420 and an overall average of £255.11 for 185 Swale lambs and broken-mouthed ewes.
Hexham and Northern Marts Livestock Sales Reports said the mart had a packed ringside, with both returning and new customers attending to secure sheep. The report described buyers as leaving short of requirements, reflecting the strength of the trade for Swaledale stock.
The sale included Swale ewes, shearlings and lambs, with judging carried out by Jimmy Bell of Lanarkshire. The ewes’ championship went to I Collinson of Billing Shield, while the shearlings’ first prize was awarded to C C & R G Martin of Shittlehopeside.
South Wellhope ewes lead the bidding
The highest price of the day was paid for a second-prize pen of 10 ewes from J R & C M Dalton of South Wellhope. The pen reached £420 after attracting strong interest before entering the ring.
South Wellhope also sold 15 ewes at £290, another 20 at £285, 18 at £280 and a final pen at £270. The consignment averaged £302.57, reported as an increase of £133.33 on the previous year.
The champion pen from I Collinson’s Billing Shield flock sold for £370. The same vendor sold nine pens, totalling 122 ewes, at £260 or more, averaging £275.45. The report also recorded £275 for a pen from JT & EF Golightly of Lilswood Cottage and £175 for 20 broken-mouthed ewes from Airey Bros of Brownchesters.
W Emerson of Landeau recorded the biggest reported year-on-year rise. The first pen of 20 ewes made £290 and the next pen of 15 reached £275, with the report calculating the result as £167.89 better than the previous year.
Shearlings and breeding lambs also in demand
Shearlings were strongly bid for, topping at £330 for the first-prize pen of 10 from C C & R G Martin of Shittlehopeside. The same home’s next pen of 11 made £298.
S & SJ Pickering of Low Rigg also reached £300 with a strong pen of Swaledale shearlings. Messrs Green of Hill Farm sold their first three pens of 10 at £295 each, followed by two pens at £292 and £290. The report said another vendor saw a rise of more than £100 on the year.
Swale gimmer lambs reached £175 for 10 from Reed Partners of Dyke Nook, with another 10 from the same holding making £170. Other recorded breeding sheep prices included £230 for Cheviots from Treaty Park and £230 for Suffolk Cross sheep from the same vendor.
More sales planned at St John’s Chapel
The mart report said demand had extended beyond breeding sheep, with Swale store lambs having been “extremely well cashed” during the previous month. The next planned event was a sale of 2,500 store lambs at St John’s Chapel on Saturday 3 October.
St John’s Chapel was also due to host the D District sale of more than 300 Swaledale rams on Tuesday 13 October, with the catalogue expected to follow. The report ended by wishing buyers well with their purchases and inviting them to future sales at St John’s Chapel.