TAKING top call among the cow and calf outfits and top price overall of 3,500gns at Skipton Auction Mart’s annual production sale of pedigree Beef Shorthorns from Gerald Turton’s Upsall herd near Thirsk on Saturday was Augusta X1300 of Upsall.

The 2018 King David daughter sold with her fourth Nelson-sired heifer calf at foot, the April-born Augusta X1782. The duo found pastures new in Suffolk when joining Iken Hall Farms, Woodbridge, a recently established Beef Shorthorn herd run by Richard and Natasha Mann.

The same buyers also paid second top call of 3,300gns for an in-calf heifer, Tessa X1604 of Upsall, an April, 2021 Nelson daughter, out of an exceptional breeding cow and herself scanned in-calf due January to Dingo.

The third annual sale on behalf of Britain’s oldest Beef Shorthorn herd, managed so successfully by Scottish stockman George McCulloch and his wife Maureen, featured a catalogue entry of 47 head - nine cow and calf outfits, a trio of in-calf heifers and 26 maiden heifers, with just three returning home.

The females were all from recognised long-standing lines by renowned Upsall stock bulls, among them King David, Mandalong and Nelson, with all the leading sale day outfits on price featuring King David dams.

The April, 2020, Tessa X1511, went under the hammer with her first heifer calf at foot, Tessa X1730, a January-born by Royal Hunter, the outfit away at 3,000gns when returning to the Thirsk area with buyer Roger Hebdon.

From the Nonpareil line, making 2,700gns was the May, 2019, X1420, with her first heifer calf, X1746, a further Nelson daughter born this March and heading to Cumbria with P&JE Bailey, Appleby.

Next best at 2,300gns was an outfit from the Sapphire line, the 2018-born X1298 sold with her fourth heifer calf, X1737, one of February-born twins to Mandalong, also going to Cumbria with GT&MA Wearmouth, Kirkby Stephen.

All cow and calf outfits successfully found new homes, among them another from the prolific Tessa line at 2,200gns, plus a brace from the Clipper line at 2,100gns and 2,000gns.

All the maiden heifers sold into four figures, from 1,000gns up to 1,900gns for another Tessa, X1659, a March, 2022, daughter of Mandalong. The Welsh buyers were DR&RL Bowen, Narberth, Pembrokeshire.

The Beef Shorthorn Society-supported Upsall sale was immediately followed by a reduction sale on behalf of the Ingleby Beef Shorthorn herd of Laura Ingleby in nearby Maundy, established in 2011.

It produced the day’s top call of 4,000gns for the single cow and calf outfit, the March, 2019, Millerston Primrose Nanny. She sold with her June-born Nahum of Upsall-sired bull calf, Ingleby Taylor, to K Ward, who runs the Kimrina herd in Scarborough and is a regular exhibitor at Skipton’s annual autumn pedigree Beef Shorthorn highlight, this year scheduled for Wednesday, November 8.

Doing best of the five 2022-born maiden heifers at 2,600gns was Primrose Nanny’s own daughter, Ingleby Primrose Sparkle, who became a further purchase by K Ward, with Upsall buyers, the Bowen family in Wales, going to 2,500gns to claim a second heifer, Ingleby Graduate Starling, also by Nahum. The three others on offer, all again Nahum daughters, made 1,450gns, 1,250gns and 1,200gns.

Laura commented: “The majority of my stock bulls have come from Upsall, along with a number of females and I am very grateful to Gerald for his kind permission in allowing me to stage the sale on the back of his own.”