A huge crowd was attracted to Saundersfoot, Pembrokeshire for the dispersal of Hean Castle Estate’s prize-winning herd of pedigree Polled Hereford cattle.
The sale was conducted on Saturday, August 24 by Jonny Dymond from Shrewsbury-based Halls auctioneers who sold the pedigree cattle to 42 successful buyers from across Wales, the borders, Cornwall and Scotland.
The herd was founded following the sale of a dairy herd in 2012, with the first calvings to the Hean Prefix in 2014. David Burnhill joined the estate as herd manager in 2016 and his expertise and attention to detail breeding this foundation made the herd very appealing to buyers.
David identified a few foundation families to develop, namely the Diadem and Doris, however one female which commanded his highest interest was Glenvale 1 Plover 412 who was flushed to huge benefit.
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The sale topper was Hean 1 Plover 878, a granddaughter of 412 by Studdolph Topper, with a heifer calf at foot by the much admired stock bull Solpoll 1 Superduty. Only the third lot in the ring, this powerful 2017 born cow sold for 5.400 guineas to Vaughan Farms Ltd of the Kingland Herd, near Leominster.
Next in the prices at 5,000gns was Hean 1 Acorn 187 with her heifer calf at foot by Hean 1 Tullis. This Solpoll 1 Superduty heifer was a real star of the show, generating strong interest from some of the biggest names in the breed before selling to relatively new breeder Messrs Lewis & Codd for their Furzy Herd in Haverfordwest.
A very pleasing 4,400gns was achieved for Hean 1 Diadem 053. Typical of the Hean cattle, she was a medium sized, well balanced and correct cow with beautiful udder, but her heifer calf by Superduty was a real show stopper and drew the attention of Messrs S. Chilman for their Presteigne-based Kinsham Herd.
The same buyer secured Hean 1 Plover 006, a 2019 born ET Bred cow from Plover 412 with heifer calf at 4,200gns. There was very strong interest in the finest and showiest females on the sale as well as commercial demand meaning that very few cows and calves sold for under 2,000gns. Overall, the 64 cows and calves averaged £2,641.
In-calf heifers were topped by an absolute beauty, Hean 1 Doris, a Superduty daughter that had been running with Hean 1 Tullis 003 to calf next spring. After fierce bidding from some of the biggest names in the breed, she sold for 4,200gns to the original home of the Doris, T. G. & E. I. Thorne to join the Glenvale Herd in Milford Haven.
Next in the in-calf heifers was another from the Plover family, Hean 1 Plover 292 which had been running with Hean 1 Takoda 008. A winning bid of ,3200gns was made by from Mr J. Twose from the Beca Herd, Whitland.
Yearling heifers from the autumn calving herd created a real sparkle to finish the day’s trading. These 100% grass fed 11-month-old heifers sold to a peak of 1,500gns and returned an average of £1,159. Topping this section was Hean 1 Plover 360 which also sold to Messrs Lewis & Codd.
Stock bulls peaked at 5,000gns for the 2018 Solpoll 1 Superduty, which went back to Dorepoll 1 R51 Duchess 525 and was also secured by Vaughan Farms. 2019 born Hean 1 Takoda achieved 2,800gns.
The sale averages: 64 cows and calves £2641.41, 17 in-calf cows £1,655 34, in-calf heifers £1,692, 31 bulling and maiden heifers £1,044.75 5 and stock bulls £2,919.