8th September 2011

Worldwide Audience Watches Scottish National Texel sale

Youth and new technology take sale to new high

Last month’s Scottish National Texel Sale at Lanark saw an unprecedented interest in the breed, with the sale watched live on every Continent, the gross income for the sale totalling £928,058 and a top price of 46,000gns achieved for a ram lamb, Foyle View Superstar, from teenage breeder Michael Smyth, Northern Ireland.

The sale enjoyed an electric atmosphere on both days, with an estimated 1000 strong audience at the pre-sale show, bolstered with an audience of in excess of 2500 in attendance on sale day.

And, following a new initiative which saw the Society stream the sale live on its website the audience was bolstered worldwide, with three cameras used to capture the highlights as they unfolded during the day.

Commenting on the success of the streaming British Texel Society chief executive John Yates said, “Webcams are not new, but we wanted a better quality broadcast that showed the sale at its optimum, so we invested in better technology and professional services.

“We were not disappointed, members loved it and our web stats showed a massive increase on the previous year with close to 3000 views over the two day event. The broadcast was a huge success, with viewers from all Continents logging on to watch the sale.

“Overall website traffic in August also hit new heights, with page views totalling 20,908 from 8252 unique visitors. For a small business such as ours these are great traffic figures and demonstrate the worldwide appeal of the British Texel.

“The streaming was well received and was a great way of extending the sale to those members that didn’t have time to get to the sale. They were still able to share some of the sale experience”

The shearling ewe sale on the first day added to the excitement, with a packed ringside helping 10 shearlings surpass the £1000 mark, an additional three exceeded the £5000 level.”

The second day’s audience were not disappointed either as the sale saw 175 ram lambs sell at £1000 or more, representing 47% of all rams sold during the day. An additional 22 ram lambs went on to sell at prices between £5000 and £10,999, while 15 rams exceeded £11,000.

The good number of recorded rams available also met a ready trade, with plenty of the rams forward within the top 10% of the breed evaluation. The highest indexed ram on offer, the pre sale champion Cowal Saltire, from the Cambell brothers Cowal flock, sold at 14,000gns with an index of 428.

The Scottish National Show and Sale of Texel Sheep - Ram Lamb prices £5000 - £10,999 - 2011

Highlights from The Scottish National Show and Sale of Texel Sheep - Ram Lambs

Sale Facts:

Top price 46,000gns

Gross sale income £928,058

73 shearling ewes forward, 60 sold (82%) to average £947

496 ram lambs forward, 369 sold (74%) to average £2346

12 shearling rams forward, four sold (33%) to average £1391