An award-winning family of pedigree sheep breeders from the north-east is holding its 11th annual on-farm ram sale next week.
The Ingram family – William and Carole and their three children Gregor, Bruce and Amy – run around 1,800 ewes of various breeds at the 215-acre Logie Durno farm, near Inverurie.
They launched an on-farm tup sale in 2005 after hearing about New Zealand farmers doing the same.
The sale has grown in popularity and next week’s fixture, which takes place on Tuesday August 9 from 3pm, will see 260 rams from eight breeds go under the hammer.
A new addition for this year is the ability for buyers to view videos of the rams “in action” on the farm business’s website before the sale.
The breeds on offer are pure Bluefaced Leicester, Charollais, Suffolk and Texel, as well as four breeds the family has developed.
These include the Durno breed, which is a mix of Texel and Charollais genetics and a breed the family describes as the “ultimate terminal sire”, and the Logie breed, which is a mix of Durno Hybrid and Lleyn genetics to produce an “easier care maternal sire”.
The other two breeds are the Beltex x Durno hybrid breeds and the Fronteira, which is a maternal line comprising a cross between a high index Bluefaced Leicester and a Texel.
Gregor said: “Every ram is checked over before the sale to see that it is sound and ready for work. If it is not it will not be sold. Every ram has gone through a tough selection process its whole life to make sure it is fit for purpose.”
He said for the first time, all rams on offer at the sale have been completely grass-fed, and a new three quarters Texel ram will be available.
The family is no stranger to success and at Thursday’s Black Isle show they lifted the sheep interbreed champion rosettes with two-shear Charollais ram Rhaeadr Orlando.
The tup, which is by Warnfawr Neo, was bought at Worcester for 5,000gn and his Black Isle success follows taking the championship title at Turriff, the Highland and Angus, as well as the reserve male champion rosettes at the Royal Welsh.
