£5,600 top call at CCM Skipton online summer working sheepdog sale

Powys’s Evans, of Llwynfedwen, near Brecon, had four entries in the sale, a brace going to buyers in America and Germany. He was top dog on price at £5,600 with a fully broken two-year-old red and white dog, Foxridge Flynn, another well-bred son of his red Spot, a German import increasingly proving his worth as a stud dog.

Out of David Edwards’ Tanhill Lilly, bred by Kirkby Stephen’s Alec Baines, Flynn returned to Wales with Merthyr Tidfil’s Rory Parker, who runs some 500 Welsh Mountain sheep, plus a small flock of Valais Blacknose. He had earlier seen Flynn at work on the farm, before bagging him online as a work dog only.

Another fully broken and fully home-bred Evans dog, this time a black and white bitch, Kemi Nan, was one of the £5,100 performers. The June, 2021, daughter of European Nursery Champion and dual Welsh and International Brace Champion, Derwen Doug, out of Scalpsie Joy, herself a daughter of fellow Welsh handler Ross Games’ accomplished trials dog Roy, joined an American buyer, Dr Karen Thompson, of New Kent County, Virginia.

Over the years, Dr Thompson has imported a number of top-class working dogs from the legendary Welsh handler for her Thompson’s Border Collies Farms, also home to Dorper hair wool sheep and percentage Boer goats. Back in July, 2020, and again at a Skipton online sale she paid £10,200 for another well-bred Evans dog, Kemi Floss.

A retired theologian who has been working, training and breeding Border Collies for some 40 years, Dr Thompson was herself a well-known trialist in the 1970s and 1980s, serving on the board of directors of the North American Sheepdogs, which later became The American International Sheepdog Society and now the American Border Collie Association. “I’ve been importing steadily from Kevin Evans since 2012 and he’s never failed,” she commented.

Evans claimed a second top price of the day in the unbroken section with a £2,100 sale of another fully home-bred youngster already showing a great deal of potential, the 15-week-old red, tan and white bitch, Kemi Joy, a daughter of the Swedish-bred Midderry Frank and litter sister to Kemi Ruby, who herself made £5,050 in an online auction.

Out of Dunelle Gwen and further demonstrating the global appear of online Skipton sales, Joy fell to a German buyer, Lara Sander, who runs a small farm with horses, sheep and a few dogs in Bergheim, between Düsseldorf and Cologne.

While it was her first time buying a dog at auction her boyfriend Bernd Nöthen purchased a three-and-a-half-month-old bitch, Kate (since renamed Liz), online at Skipton in September, 2020, for £2,700, which was then a new world record price for an unbroken pup.

Lara explained: “He is very happy with this dog, so now it was my turn! I am so happy to have won the lot of Kemi Joy because I liked the way she works with style and focus, showing a good sheep sense in my eyes. And, of course, I like her special colour. I hope she will develop into a good dog for farm work and trialing too. We will see, but I expect to have a lot of fun with her.”

From the same home, a part-broken 11-month-old bitch, Cornbeg Ali, again by red Spot, out of P Murphy’s Cornbeg Mini, made £1,200 when heading to Northern Ireland and County Londonderry’s Catherine Bradley.

The second £5,100 performer was first-time Skipton entrant, Scotland’s Matilda Young, from Cairnryan, Stranraer, with her February, 2021, black, white and tan dog, Lad, by Jordan McGowan’s Tony, out of JL McMillan’s Page. The solid all-rounder returned to Scotland with a Perthshire buyer who requested anonymity.

Matilda made an immediate impact when a second dog entered also netted £4,700. The May, 2020, Ingleborough Stella, fully bred by John Kelsall, by his Seth out of Denwyn Jess, goes to Cumbria with Cockermouth sheep farmer Neil Marston, a well-known breeder and multiple show winner with his North of England Mules.

Matilda said she was pleased with her near £10,000 haul for her two Skipton sales. She has been breeding, working and trialing dogs for six years, finishing fifth in last year’s Scottish National with another high-class bitch Jess.

Ceredigion’s Dewi Jenkins, of Talybont, near Aberystwyth, also claimed £5,100 with his July, 2021, black and white bitch, Gwyddil Bella, another daughter of Clwyd Bob, himself by the handler’s main stud dog Jock, the 2022 International Supreme Champion. Both stud dogs have had a major influence for the Welsh handler on Skipton selling prices of late.

Out of fellow Welshman T Davies’ own Bella, Gwyddil Bella, a full litter sister to Dewi’s Kim, who established a then new world record price of £27,100 when sold online, returned to her country of breeding when claimed by a Powys handler who requested no publicity.

A trio of fully broken entries went under the online hammer at £3,500, two of them coming from Ireland’s Francis Mongan, of Cullionboy, Co Donegal. The first and Lot 1 was Nan (Jan), a January, 2021, black and white bitch, and another daughter of Evans’ red Spot, out of Queen, from Welsh shepherd, John Griffiths, based near Brecon in Powys.

Skipton’s next working sheep dog sale, a live fixture with field trials, is scheduled for Friday, July 21.