Topping the Irish prizes was Skipton regular Willie Torrens from Castlederg, County Tyrone, with £4,600 for Eve, a totally wrecked black and white female from September 2020.
Out of his own Glencregg Jyp and by WJ Irwin’s Graylees Kori, Eve is related to the highest champions on both sides and has won kindergarten twice and qualified for a final.
She joins J Blackwood and Sons in Maybole, Ayrshire.
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Also from Northern Ireland, County Down’s Noel Rutherford has claimed £4,300 from Hillsborough with a partially broken black and white dog Bert, which was sold to an unnamed North Yorkshire buyer in December 2020.
But it was Kevin Evans of Llwynfedwen Farm, near Brecon, who, with his utterly shattered up-and-coming Scottish-bred grey, white and tan two-year-old, scored another in a long list of top-priced coups at the premier North Yorkshire venue , Midderry Nip.
Nip was bred in the foothills of the Angus Glens in Perthshire by Carl-Magnus – or Mosse – Magnusson and his wife Lotta, a Swedish-born couple, both well known in the herding trial world and having won multiple championships at the highest level.
Mr. Evans acquired Nip as a pup, purposely for his own breeding.
He is by Mr Magnusson’s Don, whose own sire was the prolific Welshman’s Derwen Doug, a European Nursery Champion and two-time Welsh and International Brace Champion, out of Mrs Magnusson’s Ruby, herself by another top Evans hound, Tanhill Glen, also a European Nursery and Royal Welsh Champion who, as a stud dog, continues to have a crucial influence on breeding at the Welsh camp and in particular on Skipton’s sales.
Fully home-schooled by Mr Evans and already a solid all-rounder, Nip attracted a great deal of online interest and multiple bids before selling to an unnamed overseas buyer for £9,000 Switzerland fell .
The Welsh legend sold three dogs online for a combined net profit of £17,800.
Second best at £5,900 was Caz, a February 2020 fully trained black and white female owned by Ross Games Best Test Dog Roy and granddaughter of Tanhill Glen. From Lee Bowden’s mainstay Cria from Caerphilly, Caz also goes overseas to northwest Germany with Frauke Spengler from Lower Saxony.
Mr Evan’s third online entry was a partially broken dog, Moli, a ten-month-old black and white female owned by breeder Red Spot who was purchased in Germany and has also made a name for herself at the stud farm.
A daughter of Tanhill Glen and granddaughter of Hybeck Blake, another outstanding test dog in the hands of Mr Evans – the 2019 Supreme International Championship was one of several accolades – Moli was sold locally to Richard Westall in Briercliffe, nearby, for £2,900 by Burnley, sold.
In fact, many of the high-priced dogs being sold online contained solid breed lines from the Evans homestead.
Sion Morgan from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders fetched the second highest price of the sale with his young black and white female Mainstay Bell by R Laurie’s Grosfaen Nap, herself a product of Welsh, International Supreme and World Sheepdog Trials Champions, selling at £7,500.
Out of Jess, a granddaughter of the Tanhill Glen breeder, Bell joined Liam Broster who breeds top quality Hoggs, some of which he sells at Skipton and others to the family run Brosters Farm Shop at Linley Moor, Huddersfield.
North Wales dog trainer Sion Jones, who runs Cefn Eithin Sheep Dogs in Corwen, also made his mark when he sold two partially broken dogs reported as excellent nursery prospects for a combined £11,400.
Sold for £6,400 was Tanhill Glen’s 10 month old black and white daughter, Cefneithin Gypsy, out of Mr Jones’ own solid working dog Freebirch Mist – a full sister also fetched £5,400 when sold last November after six months.
During her training, Gypsy travels to Lancashire with Philip Martindale of Blackrod, near Bolton.
Mr Jones then claimed £5,000 with another 10 month old black and white dog, Cefneihin Spot, a son of Kevin Evans’ Red Spot, from another farm working bitch, Bodtegir Jan – a full sister to Spot also made £8,000 four and a half months old in the last September.
He travels north of the border into the Scottish Highlands with Skipton dealer and buyer Neil Sutherland, a native of Sutherland.
Another Welsh handler, David Bevan of Builth Wells in Powys, fetched the remarkable £2,600 for an unbroken puppy who was only two weeks old and had yet to be weaned.
However, his silver-grey bitch, aptly named Silver, is superbly bred.
She is one of five puppies owned by Ross Games’ Caefelin Clem, who also produced the world’s most expensive sheepdog, valued at £27,000, and a full sister to Kevin Evans’ Pink, a tan and white female born in 2019, who topped the retail price at £14,300 at Skipton’s inaugural sale of 2021.
The youngster is sold locally to father and son dairy and pig farmers Norman and Chris Bell in Cowling and is used exclusively as a working dog.
The Bells run a 100-head Holstein Friesian dairy herd, some of which are sold at Skipton, along with dairy calves.
When asked why they had bought such a young puppy, Mr Bell Snr explained: “We have an old working dog who is ready to retire and thought let’s start over.
“We just liked them and the long-term plan is to possibly breed them.”
Also sold in the unbroken section for £2,500 was a fully home bred and reared 6 month old bitch, Barcroft Nika, by well known Welsh breeder and photographer Sophie Holt of Hendre Brynach, Brecon.
The strikingly marked red merle tricolor youngster with two blue eyes is by GL Davies’ Dreamwork Fred out of Sophie’s own Foinaven Ava and is a granddaughter of Kevin Evans’ Henna, which sold for a then world record £20,000 at Skipton two years ago.
Nika was another dog that found a new home abroad when it fell to a Norwegian buyer, Nina Basma from Viken.
Back in broken dogs, Bolton’s Dan Purtill netted £5,600 with a strong 3 year old black and white female, Sal, who also has solid breeding credentials through Ross Games’ best trials dog, Roy, who was twice an International Champion at the Sire is side and Aled Owens Welsh National and International Supreme Champion, Llangwm Cap, on dam side.
Sal travels to the Hambleton Hills in North Yorkshire with Ashley Watson from Osmotherley.
The first German dog ever sold at Skipton fetched £3,500.
The almost two-year-old, completely broken Belway Ace was offered online by Hendrich Kienker from Wolde – a municipality in the Demmin district in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
From his own Mick, out of Kemi Liz by B De Kerf, Ace goes to the far north of Scotland with Alice Muir in Caithness.
Mr Kienker also sold a second, partially broken black and white dog, Jpot Jack, in January 2021 to a buyer from West Virginia in the United States for £1,550.
Skipton Auction Mart General Manager and Auctioneer Jeremy Eaton commented, “The power of the online sales system is demonstrated by the fact that we were able to match a dog owned by a German handler with a buyer in the United States.”
Second best at £4,200 was Cydros Sky, a May 2019 black and white female by well-known face Carol Mellin of Moor Lodge Farm, Oakworth, whose Moor Lodge Ben has long been used to herd the sheep in live sales at the Skipton Trials field to arrange.
The daughter of Derwen Doug, granddaughter of Tanhill Glen and Brendan McAllister’s Spot and great-granddaughter of Jimmy, another Welsh National Champion owned by Kevin Evans, has won four Nursery places this season.
It fell to Stuart Whitfield of Haltwhistle in Northumberland.
£4,100 was achieved by Scotsman George Simpson from Huntly in Aberdeenshire with his September 2019 tricolor bitch Trish – a daughter of his own Elwy Jack out of WG Davidsons Mona.
Trish took part in this year’s Kindergarten exams and finished third out of 32 in the Highland League.
She returned to the far north of Scotland with Ann McPherson from Inverness.
Three partially broken entries brought in £3,000+, the best being £3,600. Brobar Ruby, a September 2019 black and white female owned by Skipton regular Tony Birkett of Carnforth.
From Jim Cropper’s Nidderdale Barry from G Brierly’s Ruby, she goes to Hawes with Trevor Blades.
A 22 month old black and white hound owned by Welshman Andrew Green of Bronwydd north of Carmarthen has been sold for £3,500 whose sister from the litter has sold for £9,800.
Rock, another Tanhill Glen son, was sold to Ian McFadzean of Ayrshire.
Kevin Evans’ father David, of Penclyn Farm, Brecon, kept it in the family and made £3,100 from a black and white female dog, Derwen Molly, an 11 month old daughter of Derwen Doug.
Molly from Gerwyn Jones’ Gwen returns to Wales with Gethin Lewis from Sennybridge in Powys ready for further training.
Oliver Watson, from Millom in Cumbria, scored £3,000 on the eight-month-old black and white Joy, whose sire, Ace, was second in the World, Supreme and Welsh National Trials, while dam, Sally, was fourth in the Supreme.
Kenneth Wood from Stirling was the buyer.
Skipton’s online sale again offered a comprehensive range of fully broken, partially broken and unbroken dogs for working on the farm and as experimental dogs to suit most tastes and pockets, with retail prices from just £250.
In fact, outside of the principals, 10 dogs were sold for triple figures, a further seven fetched £1,000-2,000 and a further seven fetched £2,000-3,000.
Skipton’s next sale of working German Shepherds is scheduled for Friday 21st May.
There will be a live sale with field trials for broken dogs, with online and telephone bidding also available for all lots.
