Record falls in A-A sale

A RECORD price for an Aberdeen-Angus female of 32,000gns was paid yesterday at Neil and Graeme Massie’s Blelack Matrons’ on-farm sale at Blelack, Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.

The top bid was the highlight of a sale which saw the 65 lots – comprising all females in the herd over three years of age – chalk up a remarkable average of £5,519, with strong bidding by buyers from Orkney and Shetland to the south of Ireland.

“This has been a pretty unique day in the history of the Aberdeen-Angus breed,” said auctioneer David Leggat of United Auctions. “The Blelack herd has had a huge influence on the breed over the past 40 years and the sale attracted buyers from all over the country.”

The Massies were selling the older cows in the herd to make way for a younger generation.

The top price came early in the sale and was paid by John Loftus of Preston, Lancashire, for the five-year-old cow, Blelack Eyrie G197, an ET daughter of Nightingale Ernie B133.

Her full brother sold previously for 16,000gns and another has been retained as a stock bull in the herd. A third brother was a Royal Highland Show champion.

The previous record price for an Aberdeen-Angus female was 30,000gns for Netherton Missie from W and D McLaren, Blackford, Perthshire.