Between them, the duo offered for sale a total of 121 top-notch females comprising shearling ewes, aged ewes and ewe lambs, many from leading bloodlines. There was total clearance for all, sold both live and via the internet with a live online bidding facility.

The Crimple Head sale achieved a total of 29 four figure prices, with a top call of 5,000gns, another at 4,200gns and an overall average of £1,018 for 97 head sold. 

However, the day’s leading price of 6,000gns came from the Meifod sale, with another at 4,400gns and an overall average of £1,421 for the 24 sheep successfully sold.

For Richard, Alex and Charlie Wilson, it represented a complete dispersal of their Crimple Head flock, first established in 2011, and the 5,000gns sale leader was one of the flock favourites, a March, 2019, shearling ewe by the Mullan Armani son, the 2,600gns Strathbogie Bachelor, who has produced some of the best runs of shearlings ever bred in the flock.

Known at home as ‘Patch,’ the ewe is from a dam by the highly used and locally bred Hull House Winner, a Langside Thunderbird son who has put such a strong stamp across the flock, with  the majority of the breeding ewes for sale being his daughters. Keenly contested ringside, the Crimple Head frontrunner found a new home in County Durham with Darlington’s Geoff Teward.

Two further March-born shearing ewes with the exact same breeding as the top price performer also caught the eye, one hitting 4,200gns when finding a new home on Lancashire’s Fylde with Rawcliffe’s Robert Mason, the second knocked down for 3,600gns and heading over the water to Northern Ireland with Federnagh Texels in Co. Armagh.

The last of the Crimple Head shearlings to hit 3,000gns was another Strathbogie Bachelor daughter selling to Flash House Farms in Penistone, South Yorkshire, while the first Crimple head ewe in the ring also did well at 2,200gns. 

The 2018-born daughter of Roxburgh YMCA, a joint 5,500gns purchase in 2017, remained in the area when joining well-known local Texel breeders John and Alison North in Giggleswick. A second Crimple Head ewe, this time going back to Hull House Winner out of an Arkle U Star ewe, made the same price when acquired by the Mills family in Pickering.

Shearling rams topped at 2,200gns for a March, 2019, son of Strathbogie Bachelor, out of a home-bred dam by Langside Thunderbird, breed champion and reserve interbreed champion at the 2015 Great Yorkshire Show. He is both sire and grand sire to a large proportion of the Crimple Head flock. His well-bred son found a new home in Wharfedale when knocked down to Francis Caton in Weston, Otley,

The flock’s ram lambs sold to 1,300gns, this for a March-born son of the joint 5,000gns purchase, Fferwd Crouch, himself by the renowned Cambwell Trademark, out of a Roxburgh YMCA ewe. This, too, travelled to Wharfedale when joining the Keighley family’s Manderlea flock in Otley.

Heading the ewe lamb prices at 1,100gns was an April-born daughter of Stonebridge Ya Belter, champion ram at the 2017 Northern Area sale, out of another Hull House Winner dam. She became a further Robert Mason purchase.

The main focus of the Crimple Head flock has always been to produce well-grown powerful rams with excellent confirmation, while maintaining the character and breed traits of the Texel.

Carefully selecting stock rams and retaining top females in the flock has proved a recipe for success at Crimple Head, producing some notable successes in both the show and sales arenas, including at the annual Northern Area club sale at Skipton and the Great Yorkshire.

“I feel the flock as a whole has never been in a better place to continue producing top end rams and females for the pedigree and commercial markets,” commented Mr Wilson ahead of the dispersal. After it, he said: “I was over the moon. It was a great sale with full clearance and a fantastic sale average.”

Turning to the Meifod dispersal, the day’s 6,000gns top price performer was among senior ewes that attracted a massive amount of interest both ringside and over the internet. 

The March, 2018, daughter of the 11,000gns Sportsmans Tremendous 11, who has left such a strong mark on the breed, out of a Kirrin ewe by Knock Trojan, travelled to the Welsh Borders to join Rob Evans at Hope Valley Texels in Shrewsbury, who also went to 3,400gns to secure a full sister.

The Meifod sale also achieved 4,400gns for a March, 2018, daughter of the joint 7,000gns purchase Arkle Yahoo, himself by Brackenridge Underdog, out of a Cambwell Rob Roy dam. The ewe, herself out of a Hope Valley Wiz Khalifa ewe, returned to Wales with Carl Bellis, of Cosyn Texels in Peniel, Carmarthen.

For Gareth Jones, the dispersal sale comprised the adult female portion of the family’s Meifod flock in Henllan, Denbigh, first established in 2006 with the purchase of two Beidiog gimmers, which gave the family both a strong foundation and taste for the breed. 

This was followed with the keynote acquisition of a 1,600gns in-lamb Glenside gimmer, FGP05 138, who has proved both integral to and extremely influential on the flock’s breeding. A natural twin sister to the 26,000gns Glenside Legacy, she was still fit and active at ten years of age, breeding over 40 lambs for the flock, some high profile prize winners among them.

Indeed, Meifod has constantly produced quality Texel rams and females for both the pedigree and commercial market, making multiple appearances in both local and national shows, and claiming many breed and interbreed championships, among them the 2010 Royal Welsh male championship.

“We have enjoyed our time with the Texel breed immensely and the friendship and memories shared with our fellow breeders. We would like to thank all of our customers over the years and wish all of our purchasers the very best of luck with our females,” said Mr Jones. 

Top prices and sale averages: Pedigree ewes to 6,000gns (av £1,298) – Meifod 6,000gns, 4,400gns, 3,400gns, Crimple Head 2,200gns twice. Shearling ewes to 5,000gns (av £1.232) – Crimple Head 5,000gns, 4,200gns, 3,600gns. Ewe lambs to 1,100gns (av £552) – Crimple Head 1,100gns, 800gns twice, 700gns. Shearling rams to 2,200gns (av £1,248) – Crimple Head 2,200gns, 1,400gns, 1,200gns twice. Ram lambs to 1,300gns (av £761) – Crimple Head 1,300gns, 1,200gns, 600gns.

Craven Cattle Marts’ sales manager and auctioneer Ted Ogden said: “Rarely do two flocks like these come to the market on one day, and both Richard and Gareth’s individual attention to detail shone through in the sheep, with type evident in abundance and allied to carcass for the commercial element of what they have achieved over the years.”