Top Welsh handler and triallist Kevin Evans was yet again top dog on price with a £9,000 call, plus other solid selling prices, at Skipton Auction Mart’s latest online-only March working sheepdog sale. (Tues, March 9)

Mr Evans, of Llwynfedwen Farm, near Brecon, achieved another in a long list of top price coups at the leading North Yorkshire venue with his fully broken Scottish-bred rising two-year-old grey, white and tan dog, 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 renowned in the sheep dog trialling world, having won multiple championships between them at the highest level.

Mr Evans acquired Nip as a pup, purposely because of 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 dual Welsh and International Brace Champion, out of Mrs Magnusson’s Ruby, herself by another top-notch Evans dog, Tanhill Glen, also a European Nursery and Royal Welsh champion, who as a stud dog continues to have a keynote influence on breeding in the Welshman’s camp, and on Skipton sales in particular.

Fully trained at home by Mr Evans, Nip, already a solid all-rounder and said to be a tremendous nursery prospect or ready for open trials, attracted avid online interest and multiple bids, before falling for £9,000 to an unnamed overseas buyer from Switzerland.

The Welsh legend sold three dogs online, netting a total of £17,800. Next best at £5,900 was Caz, a fully trained February, 2020, black and white bitch by fellow Welshman Ross Games’ top trials dog Roy and granddaughter of Tanhill Glen. Out of Caerphilly-based Lee Bowden’s Mainstay Cria, Caz also heads overseas to north-west Germany with Frauke Spengler, of Niedersachsen, or Lower Saxony.

Mr Evans third online entry was a part-broken dog, the ten-month-old black and white bitch, Moli, by the breeder’s own Red Spot, acquired from Germany and also making his mark at stud. Out of a daughter of Tanhill Glen and granddaughter of Hybeck Blake, another eminent trials dog in the hands of Mr Evans – the 2019 Supreme International Championship was one of multiple accolades – Moli sold locally for £2,900 to Richard Westall in Briercliffe, near Burnley.

In fact, many of the high price dogs sold online contained solid breeding lines from the Evans homestead.

Taking second top call of £7,500 was Sion Morgan, from Galashiels in the Scottish Borders, with his young black and white bitch, Mainstay Bell, by R Laurie’s Grosfaen Nap, himself a product of Welsh, International Supreme and World Sheepdog Trials champions. Out of the breeder’s own Jess, a granddaughter of Tanhill Glen, Bell joined Liam Broster, who breeds prime hoggs, some of which he sells at Skipton, supplying 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 selling two part-broken dogs flagged up as excellent nursery prospects for a combined £11,400.

Doing best at £6,400 was the 10-month-old Tanhill Glen black and white daughter, Cefneithin Gypsy, out of Mr Jones’ own solid work bitch Freebirch Mist – a full sister also made £5,400 when sold at six months last November. Well into 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, Cefneithin Spot, a son of Kevin Evans’ Red Spot, out of another farm work bitch, Bodtegir Jan – a full sister to Spot also made £8,000 at 4½-months-old last September. He goes north of the border to the Scottish Highlands with regular Skipton vendor and buyer Neil Sutherland, who hails from Sutherland.

Another Welsh handler, David Bevan, of Builth Wells in Powys, achieved the remarkable price of £2,600 for an unbroken pup just two-weeks-old and still to be weaned. However, his silver grey bitch, aptly named Silver, has first-rate breeding. She is one of a litter of five pups by Ross Games’ Caefelin Clem, who also produced the world’s highest priced £27,000 sheepdog, and a full sister to Kevin Evans’ Pink, a 2019-born tan and white bitch that topped the selling prices at £14,300 at Skipton’s opening sale of 2021. 

The youngster sold locally to father and son dairy and pig farmers, Norman and Chris Bell in Cowling, and will be used solely as a work dog. The Bells run a 100-strong Holstein Friesian dairy herd, some of which are sold at Skipton, along with dairy-bred rearing calves.

Asked why they had purchased a pup so young, Mr Bell Snr explained: “We have an old work dog who is ready to retire and thought let’s start again. We just liked her and the long-term plan is to potentially breed off her.”

Also sold in the unbroken section for £2,500 was a fully home-bred and reared six-month-old bitch, Barcroft Nika, from well-known Welsh breeder and photographer, Sophie Holt, of Hendre Brynach, Brecon. The strikingly marked red merle tri-coloured youngster – she has two 
blue eyes - is by GL Davies’ Dreamwork Fred, out of Sophie’s own Foinaven Ava and a granddaughter of Kevin Evans’ Henna, who sold for a then world record price of £20,000 at Skipton two years ago. Nika was another dog to find a new home overseas when falling to a Norwegian buyer, Nina Basma, of Viken.

Back with the broken dogs, Bolton’s Dan Purtill hit £5,600 with a strong three-year-old black and white bitch, Sal, who also boasts solid breeding credentials through Ross Games’ top trials dog, Roy, twice an International Champion on the father’s side, and Aled Owen’s Welsh National and International Supreme Champion, Llangwm Cap, on the dam’s side. Sal heads to the Hambleton hills in North Yorkshire with Osmotherley’s Ashley Watson.

The first German dog ever to be sold at Skipton made £3,500. The near two-year-old fully broken Belway Ace was offered online by Hendrich Kienker, of Wolde, a municipality in the district of Demmin, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. By his own Mick, out of B De Kerf’s Kemi Liz, Ace goes to the far north of Scotland with Alice Muir in Caithness.

Herr Kienker also sold a second younger January, 2021, part-broken black and white dog, Jpot Jack, for £1,550 to a buyer from West Virginia in the United States. Skipton Auction Mart’s general manager and auctioneer Jeremy Eaton. “The power of the online selling system is clearly illustrated by the fact that we were able to match a dog from a German handler to a buyer in the US.”

Heading the Irish prices at £4,600 was Eve, a fully broken September, 2020, black and white bitch from Skipton regular Willie Torrens, of Castlederg in County Tyrone. Out of his own Glencregg Jyp and by WJ Irwin’s Graylees Kori, Eve is related to Supreme Champions on both sides and has herself twice won nurseries and qualified for a final. She joins J Blackwood & Sons in Maybole, Ayrshire.

Also from Northern Ireland, Co. Down’s Noel Rutherford, of Hillsborough, claimed £4,300 with a part-broken December, 2020, black and white dog, Bert, which sold to an undisclosed North Yorkshire buyer.

Next best at £4,200 was Cydros Sky, a May, 2019, black and white bitch from familiar face Carol Mellin, of Moor Lodge Farm, Oakworth, whose Moor Lodge Ben has long been used to marshal the sheep at live sales on the Skipton trials field. The daughter of Derwen Doug, granddaughter of Tanhill Glen and Brendan McAllister’s Spot, and great granddaughter of Jimmy, another Kevin Evans’ Welsh National Champion, has gained four nursery placings this season. She fell to Stuart Whitfield, of Haltwhistle in Northumberland.

Achieving £4,100 was Scotsman George Simpson, from Huntly in Aberdeenshire, with his September, 2019, tri-coloured bitch, Trish, a daughter of his own Elwy Jack, out of WG Davidson’s Mona. Trish has run in this year’s nursery trials, finishing third of 32 in the Highland League. She returned to the far north of Scotland with Ann McPherson, of Inverness.

Three part-broken entries made £3,000 and above, the pick of them at £3,600 Brobar Ruby, a September, 2019, black and white bitch from Skipton regular Tony Birkett, of Carnforth. By Jim Cropper’s Nidderdale Barry, out of G Brierly’s Ruby, she goes to Hawes with Trevor Blades.

Selling at £3,500 was a 22-month-old black and white dog from Welshman Andrew Green, of Bronwydd, north of Carmarthen, whose litter sister sold for £9,800. Another son of Tanhill Glen, Rock was knocked down to Ayrshire’s Ian McFadzean.

Keeping it in the family, Kevin Evans’ father, David, of Penclyn Farm, Brecon, made £3,100 with a black and white bitch, Derwen Molly, an 11-month-old Derwen Doug daughter. Ready for further training, Molly, out of Gerwyn Jones’ Gwen, returns to Wales with Gethin Lewis, of Sennybridge in Powys.

Oliver Watson, of Millom, in Cumbria, commanded £3,000 with an eight-month-old black and white bitch, Joy, whose sire, Ace, finished runner-up in World, Supreme and Welsh National trials, while the dam, Sally, was fourth in the Supreme. Stirling’s Kenneth Wood was the purchaser.

Skipton’s online sale again offered a comprehensive selection of fully broken part-broken and unbroken dogs for both farm work and as trial prospects to suit most tastes and pockets, with selling prices from as little as £250. In fact, outside the principals ten dogs sold for three-figure prices, with seven more making £1,000-£2,000, a further seven £2,000-£3,000.

Jeremy Eaton commented: “As anticipated, with lambing time upon us trade for unbroken, part-broken dogs and pups was selective, but trade for well-broken dogs (well filmed) was as strong as ever.”

Skipton’s next working sheepdog sale is scheduled for Friday, May 21. It will be a live sale with field trials for broken dogs, with an online and telephone bidding facility also available for all lots.