airyolland farm where sheep and cattle are rearedbeltex sheep are very muscly with good conformationdutch texels are large meat producing sheep and a terminal sirebluefaced leicesters are crossing sheep to produce mule type ewesscotch mules are great mothers for prime lamb productionhighland cattle are rustic animals bred to survive in harsh conditionsnews stories about livestock and the farmcontact us for sales and other information.

Airyolland

Bluefaced Leicester flock 2801

MV Accredited.

Bluefaced Leicester shearling Airyolland B2

BFL Shearling Airyolland B2 Sold for £3800

The Airyolland flock of Bluefaced Leicesters was founded in the late seventies.  I had been fortunate enough to have purchased an excellent crossing ram from George Ferguson from Old Hall Farm near Newton Stewart.  The mule progeny from this ram were outstanding so I decided to purchase Bluefaced Leicester females to form the foundation of my flock using this ram.  "Old George", as the ram became known as, got me started on the right foot and his influence is still apparent in the flock to this day.

The main focus of our breeding programme over the last thirty years has been to produce BFL sheep that are for producing mules, can't think of any other reason for keeping them to be honest. 

Over the years, rams either produced by or used in the flock have produced 19 different mule ewe lambs to win the champion's rosette at various shows in the South West of Scotland.
 

News
Our Bluefaced Leicester flock is now M.V Accredited. The Bluefaced Leicester ewes have been A.I'd on 3rd October 2011 by Airyolland B16 who sired some of the lambs pictured on our mule page.

Kelso Ram Sales
 Our Bluefaced Leicester tups are sold at Kelso as Shearlings. We try to use as many of them as possible, on the Blackfaces, as lambs, so that the buyers can see their progeny. Pictures of the Mule lambs some of them have bred can be seen in their pen at Kelso.

Kelso 2011

We had an early start at Kelso 2011 where we were second consignor into ring No. 15.We sold to a top of £1700 and averaged £820 for the 6 shearlings. Our top priced shearling, Airyolland C3, sold to The Duke of Montrose, Gartincaber for £1700.This was followed by Airyolland C4,  selling to Glenalmond farms for £900.Mr A McGillivray,Achuaran, Lismore then paid £750 to  take home Airyolland C9.  C14 followed into the ring and sold to Hardie partners, Blackburnrigg for £600. The lot finished up with C11 and C1 selling for £450 and £520 to Messers J&A Wilson, West Kilbride and Mr DB Fleming, Biggar.

Kelso 2010

Trade was brisk for Shearlings at Kelso 2010 where we achieved our highest price yet for a Bluefaced Leicester Shearling. Airyolland B2 sold for £3800 in a three way spilt to G MacDonald, A Minto and J Bell. This stylish tup was placed 5th in the pre sale show and was sired by X5 Riddings and out of Airyolland Y18, a daughter of homebred tup Airyolland W13. This was followed by another Riddings X5 son, Airyolland B3 selling for £2000 to well known Scotch Mule ewe lamb breeders Wallace Parker and Stuart Mitchell. This son of Airyolland W17, a V4 Wellan Draco daughter, had bred some of this year's lambs in the Airyolland show team. Three four figure prices followed with Mr Gibb of Threepwood buying Greenriggs W9 son, Airyolland B22 for £1200. Airyolland B18, another Greenriggs W9 son, sold for £1100 to Mr Dickie of Spango and for the same price Airyolland B11 went to Messers Glass and Smith. Mule breeder J.P Laidlaw of Knowhead took home 2 shearlings, Airyolland B5 and B15 for £1000 and £750 respectively. Overall the 9 shearlings averaged £1247.

Sires of these Mules below were on sale at Kelso 2010.

Bluefaced Leicester shearlings heading for Kelso 2010

 

Kelso 2009
 Despite the fact we were first in the ring at this huge multi-breed sale trade was very good and we had 3 tups break the four figure barrier. The dearest was 2801 A8, a stylish tup with a good skin, sired by Riddings A5 and out of 2801 X24, a W10 Airyolland daughter. He went to Mr JK Hunter Wedderburn, Huntly for £1150. This was followed by his full brother making £1100 to The Duke of Montrose, Gartincaber. At the same price was 2801 A4 a triplet son of Riddings X5 and out of  2801 V11 a T10 Hewgill daughter. He sold to Messers McKie, Finniness,Castle Douglas.

                 Airyolland Shearlings, Kelso 2009.                  

 

Lambing 2011 started well at Airyolland. Our 30 ewes started lambing on the23rd February. First tup lamb born pictured below.

Bluefaced Leicester tup lamb-

Dam- Airyolland A36,

Sire Riddings A16

 

 

Stock Rams

Riddings X5 has bred particularly well with us and has been used extensively in the flock. Two tup lambs sired by him below.

 

 

Wellan Draco

 

 3419/V4 Wellan Draco. Bought at the Welsh

crossing club sale for £3000 in 2003.