A large crowd of Yorkshire breeders, together with others from, Cumbria, Cheshire, Dorset, West Wales and the Midlands attended the dispersal of Donaldson Partners’ old established Barlees herd on the farm at Stokesley, near Middlesbrough. The herd had a history of over sixty years and was being sold due to a reorganisation of the family farming partnership.
The herd was in great form for the sale and while there was a solid trade around the 2,000 guinea mark for good young cows from the herd’s indigenous families, it was clear that the real interest lay in the lots from the Holsteins that had joined the herd more recently.
Top price was 5,000gs, paid by Andrew Lawrie of the Grangehall herd, Lanark for Barlees Marie ET, a Shottle daughter out of the well known show cow Denmire Gibson Marie 22, that was sold for 18,000gs in the 2008 Smiddiehill dispersal.
Her sixteen month old daughter by Gen-I-Beq Lavaman, with a PLI of +£342, was also the subject of keen bidding, with the hammer falling at 4,200gs to Robert & Elaine Butterfield of the Ingleview herd.
Welsh buyers were in good form with an undisclosed buyer giving 3,700gs for the 87 point 2yo Holmland Windbrook Lila Z ET and 3,000gs for Huddlesford Golden Laurie ET (VG-87), due this month with her third calf to McCutchen. Her oldest daughter by Foxberry JS McFly also heads to South Wales, purchased for 3,300gs by Roosta Holsteins, Carmarthen.
Barlees Gem 6 ET (VG-88), a lovely young cow pictured on the front cover of the catalogue made 3,200gs to a Midlands buyer and another to reach the 3,000 guinea mark was the much admired Barlees Miss America 15 (Ex-91), who joins the local Bickleygate herd of Paul and Mark Day. Two strong Leicestershire buyers were Brian Sercombe and Alan Smith who took 29 and 16 head respectively for their Foresthill and Bumblebeehall herds.
A feature of the sale was the exceptionally strong trade for the younger cattle, with the heifer calves at foot averaging over £900. Top priced calf at 1,750gs was Barlees Erland 3, a nine month old daughter of Larcrest Cancun out of an Excellent Deehaven bred cow, purchased by Metcalfe Farms, Leyburn for their Washfold herd.
27 animals made 2,000 guineas or more and the 171 animals averaged over £1,460 per head, a great tribute to the breeding skills of the Donaldson family and an important demonstration of the merits of quality pedigree breeding, even in difficult times for the dairy industry.
