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• Six Simmental bulls sell to average £5100.
Homozygous polled Simmental bulls proved popular at the recent Incheoch Working Genes Sale of Neil and Debbie McGowan, Incheoch Farm, Alyth, Blairgowrie which culminated on 2nd September. The sale was the fourth time that bulls were sold alongside the McGowans’ on-farm ram sale which was in its 14th year.
The three sons of the Irish bred bull Auroch Deuter, all carrying the double polled gene, averaged £6266 and sold to a top of £7000 for Incheoch Lincoln, a bull with a cracking set of very balanced EBVs for a maternal sire, out of an Apostle dam, and one that both Neil and Finlay thought a lot of. Incheoch Lincoln heads to the Scottish Borders and to Ian MacFarlane of Quixwood.
Born within an hour of Lincoln was Incheoch Londry – the two competed neck and neck all along. Londry was the pick of Steven Smith of Stobshaugh Farm, Cortachy at £5600. His Dirnanean Fivestar dam also bred Incheoch Keystone, the homozygous polled bull that topped last year’s Working Genes sale at £6200.
Following Londry was Incheoch Leopold who caught the eye of Jim Barr of Muirsland Farm with terminal and self replacing indexes of 101 and 129 respectively and strong-bodied cows with good tops right through his dam line. Leopold was bid to £6200 and went straight out to work at Lesmahagow.
A fourth double poll bull was the 15-month-old Incheoch Lexus, a son of Kyleston Iceman and out of a favourite Gibby’s Real Deal cow that also bred Incheoch Jenson who topped the 2019 sale. Lexus was sold to Peter Douglas, Ruletownhead, Newcastleton for £4400
Six Simmental bulls sold to average £5100 on the day and with a fair bit of interest in some of those bulls still available. Two Luing bulls completed the sale, both selling to newly established herds South of the border.
The new sale format involved both on-line and on-farm bidding and saw a complete clearance of the 98 rams also on offer. The Yourbid system, developed by Meadowslea Angus in New Zealand, allowed the sale to work under Covid restrictions last year. With more freedom this year, buyers were able to bid from smart phones while standing in the bull paddocks or even with the traditional ‘nod’ to the team at bidding stations. 50% of buyers bid from a distance however – some harvesting, some with Covid concerns, and others just preferring the system.
Graham Burke of Pentland Livestock, who helped to manage the sale said, “Yourbid is an excellent and easy to use sales platform that allows customers to bid from anywhere without the need to attend the sale and the flexibility to bid on any sheep right up to the conclusion of the auction.”
Neil McGowan added, “It’s great that folk have the confidence to bid from videos and figures when their busy lives dictate – but there’s nothing like being on-farm, getting a bit of chat and seeing the stock with your own eyes.
