2 days ago
Texel ram makes €40,000 at sale in Blessington Mart
The 2025 Texel Premier Sale has broken all records, with Sean McHugh and family claiming the new Irish record for a Texel ram at €40,000.
The previous record price of €38,000 had been in place for 19 years before the sale at the weekend.
In addition, this year the sale had its biggest ever entry of rams in the premier sale, according to the Irish Texel Sheep Society.
The sale took place on Friday (August 8) and Saturday (August 9) in Blessington Mart, with James Porter of the Saltcotes flock in England taking on the difficult job of judging.
In a statement, the Irish Texel Sheep Society said: "The ram trade had big anticipation due to the high standard that was on offer, so it was no surprise the record was broke on Saturday."
The record-breaking ram, Speenogue Iron Man, was owned by Sean McHugh from Lifford, Co. Donegal.
Speenogue Iron Man. Source: Irish Texel Sheep Society
The ram, which had stood in second place in the Irish Sired class the day before, was sired by Silver Hill Helpful, who was bought by McHugh in Blessington last year for €6,000.
The home-bred dam of the ewe which Silver Hill Helpful was bred from was purchased for €1,200 in the Derrylahan sale.
Speenogue Iron Man was sold for 40,000gns in a five-way split between Brian Divilly, Ronan Gallagher, Darragh Niland, Michael Gilmore, and Sean Farragher.
The sale began with the shearling ewe class, for which the Irish Texel Society said there was "no shortage of big powerful shearling ewes".
Pat and Barry Farrell came out on top with a full sister to last year's champion, who went on to do the same as her sister and claim the overall Female Champion title.
She was sired by Hilltop Golden Eye, who is out of a Teiglum ewe that has bred the Female Champion for the Farrells for the last three years.
This year's Female Champion later went on to sell for an Irish record at auction of €10,000 to Alan Blackwood.
Other noteworthy winners included the son of Auldhouseburn Fancy Pants from the flock of Irene Donnelly in the Novice class.
Auldhouseburn Fancy Pants. Source: Irish Texel Sheep Society
He was shown under the guidance of Donnelly's brother, Anthony Donnelly and claimed the Reserve Male Champion and Reserve Overall title.
He later sold for €20,000 to Fintan Hackett and Alan Glendening.
Overall, the averages were the best the sale has seen, according to the Irish Texel Sheep Societywith hogget ewes averaging €1,766, up from €972, and with a 92% clearance.
Hogget rams €1,461, up from €1,072, saw a 97% clearance; ram lambs €2,005, up from €1,627, had 86% clearance; and ewe lambs €1,297, up from €1,062, achieved an 86% clearance.
