Date: 11th -12th September 2025
Judge: Mick Hutchinson
Kelso Ram sales remains one of the UK’s most important annual sales for the sheep industry with circa 4,000 rams going under the hammer at the Border Union Showground.
Despite the additional requirements around Bluetongue regulations there was a significant increase in entries for the Border Union Kelso Ram Sales which took place on Friday, 12th September 2025. There was a resilient and enthusiastic response from vendors even with the ongoing impact of Bluetongue movement restrictions. A lot of English & Welsh vendors pre-movement tested their stock in order to bring them into Scotland and take advantage of what Kelso had to offer.
The pre-sale show was very well attended. Mick Hutchinson from Wolverton in Northumberland executed his duties as judge with speed and efficiency with a large number forward taking a short lead of 10 in each class.
Shearling Rams
1st lot 2014 – Roxburgh Mains
2nd lot 1996 – Glenhead
3rd lot 1992 – Lluest
4th lot 2027 – Logie Durno
Ram Lambs
1st lot 2513 – Cranorski
2nd lot 2516 – Birness
3rd lot 2565 – Westcarse
4th lot 2456 – Maulcastle
Overall Champion
Lot 2513 Cranorskie consigned by Craig Patterson
Overall Reserve Champion
2014 Roxburgh Mains consigned by John Elliot Jnr
SALE
The traditional bell ringing to start the sale was rung this year by Lawrence Laing of the Oxmuir flock, one of our longest established Suffolk breeders.
Ring 8 Shearlings
Harrison and Hetherington’s Scott Donaldson took to the rostrum and the pre-sale buzz around the tent was very evident with a fine selection of high quality shearling rams offered for sale. 285 rams were sold at an average of £1683.86 and a top price of £22,000. The ring was packed with buyers from the bell at 10am and continued until the last sheep went through.
Top pen average went to John Elliot Roxburgh Mains with his 12 averaging £4033.33. He reaped the rewards for his investment in performance recording with many performance recorded flocks being present as both vendors and purchasers.
D & A Jones from the Lluest Flock in Wales saw their consignments 1992 reach £7,000 and 1990 seeing £6,500, the rewards for taking the right sheep for the Kelso audience and making their first appearance at the sale a worth while one! Their pen averaged £3,980 for the five sold.
| Ring 8 Kelso 2024 – Shearling rams | |||
| Consignor | Flock | No Sold | Average (£) |
| J Elliot | Roxburgh Mains | 12 | 4033.33 |
| D&A Jones | Lluest | 5 | 3980.00 |
| W&C Ingram | Logie Durno | 30 | 2286.87 |
| Lorna Campbell | Lornajane | 10 | 2025.00 |
| Scott Bourman | Middlehouse | 11 | 1909.00 |
Ring 10 Ram lambs
United Auctions Richard Harrison, an enthusiastic Suffolk breeder commented after the sale that he had had no difficulty in finding the buyers for ram lambs at Kelso this year. The breed is very much on the up.
Topping the ring was a ram lamb from Gavin Brown’s Capielaw flock. After frenzied bidding it reached £5,000 at the fall of the gavel for lot number 2581.
The top average for the ring came from Kelso regulars Steve and Louise Buckley, Sitlow flock who did all that was required to attend the sale and sell their stock. Their pen had an obvious appeal to the Kelso faithful which led to a top pen price of £3,400 and an average of £1692.87 for the 7 lambs sold.
Hot on their heels was Gavin Brown’s pen from Capielaw flock which averaged at £1,550.00 for 6 lambs sold which included the sales highest price ram lamb of £5,000.
| Ring 10 Kelso – Ram lambs | |||
| Consignor | Flock | No Sold | Average (£) |
| S Buckley | Sitlow | 7 | 1692.00 |
| G Brown | Capielaw | 6 | 1550.00 |
| J Douglas | Cairness | 5 | 1180.00 |
| S Lathangie | Pyeston | 8 | 1150.00 |
| VM Benzie | Milnwood | 5 | 960.00 |
MV Accredited Shearling Rams sold 285 at an average sale price of £1683.86
MV Accredited Ram lambs sold 188 at an average sale price of £869.68
Ring 14 Unregistered Suffolk Shearlings
Many of our members choose to enter their sheep in the non MV ring at the sale. Adam Grieve from H&H oversaw the sale of Suffolks from the rostrum and numbers were up on last year with most of the tups coming from North Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. Some of the usual vendors from outside Scotland chose not to consign because of testing requirements.
There was buoyant trade for the Suffolks as usual in Ring 14 with 452 unregistered Shearlings going through at an average of £1222.99. Top call was £8,500 for a shearling from D&A Redpath from The Yett who’s pen of 9 averaged £3188.89.
The numbers sold were reported to be very high in all three Suffolk rings, with both auctioneers, H&H and United Auctions, reporting very few sheep being taken out unsold. It is a good sign that steels the thought that Suffolks are becoming more in demand. Suffolks equated to just over 27% of all the sheep sold which is an increase again from last year.
Kelso Gallery 2025
