T E Dobson Unthank Farm – winners for the second year in succession.
Darlington Farmers Auction Mart held their Great Annual Anniversary show and sale of Mule Gimmer Lambs and other breeding sheep on Tuesday 22nd September 2026. Forward were 1812 head.
875 Gimmer Lambs sold to £330
657 Shearling Ewes sold to £340
241 Breeding Ewes sold to £250
23 Breeding Rams sold to £700
16 Store Lambs sold to £87
Show Classes
Sincere thanks go to our judges this morning, the Northumbrian pairing of Philip Dixon, West Heddon and David Patterson, White House carried out their duties with admirable ability and professionalism as they sifted through some very strong classes placed before them.
The champion pen for the second year in succession went to the incredible Mule gimmer lambs of TE Dobson, Unthank Farm. The outstanding annual consignment from the loyal Stanhope based family are always a pleasure to sell; size, scope, skins and colours to be proud of they are worthy winners indeed.
The reserve champion rosette went to another regular supporter of this sale, Miss E and Mrs J Boocock, Freebrough Farm, Moorsholm took the honours with an excellent pen of Texel shearlings.
The hotly contested Mule gimmer lamb class saw another smart pen from a Weardale consignor pick up the second ticket, namely C Hodgson, Hill House West, Westgate. Third prize went to the Wharton family of Segbushwell, Blackford and the fourth rosette was awarded to a bonnie pen from SK Wilson, Rose Cottage, Barnard Castle.
The judges pick in the any other breed gimmer lamb class was a terrific pen of Texel bred lambs from T Common & Son, Low Ardley and topping the Mule shearling placings was a really well put together pen from JF Harland, Old Lodge Farm, Moor Road.
A full breakdown of the show results is below, followed by the sale report.
Show results as follows:
Champion (pen of 10 Mule Gimmer Lambs)
TE Dobson, Unthank Farm sold to JG Walton & Son, Hurworth for £340
Reserve Champion (pen of 10 continental shearlings)
Mrs J & Miss E Boocock, Freebrough Farm sold to AC Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear for £295
Class 1 – Best pen of 10 Mule Gimmer Lambs:
1st TE Dobson, Unthank Farm sold to JG Walton & Son, Hurworth for £340
2nd C Hodgson, Hill House West sold to D Stainthorpe, Mickleby for £215
3rd JR&JA Wharton, Segbushwell sold to RA Patterson & Son, Capheaton for £230
4th SK Wilson, Rose Cottage sold to WK Wilkinson & Sons, Barnard Castle for £208
Class 2 – Best pen of 10 AOB Gimmer Lambs:
1st T Common & Son, Low Ardley sold to D & M Buck, Northallerton for £200
2nd K Sayer, Scotland Farm sold to C Hall, York for £170
3rd JW&B Firby, Manor Farm sold to C Hall, York for £126
Class 3 – Best pen of 10 Mule Shearling Ewes:
1st JF Harland, Old Lodge sold to S&RE Williamson, Hamsterley for £290
2nd J Milbank & Son, Gayles Field sold to JG Hall, Stockton for £270
3rd B Staley, West Underhurth sold to JG Hall, Stockton for £280
Class 4 – Best pen of 10 AOB Shearling Ewes:
1st Mrs J & Miss E Boocock, Freebrough Farm sold to AC Simpson & Son, Witton-le-Wear for £295
2nd Mrs J & Miss E Boocock, Freebrough Farm sold to FW Hodgson & Son, Staindrop for £290
3rd J Milbank & Son, Gayles Field sold to AW Dixon, Heddon-on-the-Wall for £235
Mule Gimmer Lamb Sale Report
An extraordinary year for the Mule lamb producers as their hard work looks well rewarded in 2026. The sale average jumped £38.59 to see them all in level at £187.12 apiece. As always in Darlington, largely running lambs forward with the tuppers few and far between but no matter what size, all classes were in very high demand. The magical top pen of ten from Messrs Dobson, Unthank Farm stole the show and the top price when they reached £330 per head. The unstoppable Unthank lambs followed with other pens at £250 and £245 ahead of some classy Cumbrian lambs from the Wharton’s of Segbushwell at £230. Almost two-hundred lambs traded at £200 or more, you can see from the averages below that vendors enjoyed a significant lift in price from start to finish.
TE Dobson sold 98 average £231 (+£45)
C Hodgson sold 36 average £204 (+£16)
JR & JA Wharton sold 75 average £210 (+£50)
SK Wilson sold 18 average £195 (+£43)
W Burton sold 44 average £185 (+£52)
RL Carter sold 26 average £174 (+£84)
J Featherstone sold 18 average £174 (+£72)
W Emerson sold 23 average £173 (+57)
C & JC Stephenson sold 25 average £170 (+£45)
GM & V Bayles sold 50 average £170 (+£22)
Mule Gimmer Lambs:
£330 £250 £245 £228 £220 £210 TE Dobson. £230 £215 £212 £210 £200×2 JR&JA Wharton. £215 £208 £195 C Hodgson. £212 £208 £185 £162 SK Wilson. £210 £200 £172 £170 RL Carter. £205 £182 £180 £175 W Burton. £195 £175 £162 J&MJ Walton. £185 £140 £122 JR Carter. £178×2 £155 J Featherstone. £175 £170 W Emerson. £175 £172 £170×2 £165 GM&V Bayles. £170 £165 £142 HW&M Alderson & Son. £170 £165 £160 £158 D EM & ID Brown. £170×2 C&JC Stephenson. £155 £122 W Coatsworth.
Other Breed Gimmer Lambs
A nice offering of gimmer lambs followed, trade upkeeping with the sharp sheep prices of late. A marvellous run of Beltex lambs out of Charollais ewes from Gail Hodgson, Rose Hill landed the top two prices when seven sold at £230 and five followed at £225; these cracking lambs all sold at £182 last year which shows that the continentals too could enjoy the price hike witnessed by the Mules. Top of the Texels at £200 were the excellent prize winners from the Common’s of Low Ardley, the annual run from the Hexhamshire based firm averaged £183 which is £24 up on last year.
AOB Gimmer Lambs:
Continental – £230 £225 G Hodgson. £178 £175 M Radford.
Texel – £200 £182 £175 £170×2 T Common & Son. £170 £130 K Sayer. £152 £150 £148×2 MR Cass. £152×2 A&R Thompson.
BFL – £195 £180×2 S Straughan.
Blue Texel – £180 £170 N Demuschamp.
Cheviot Mule – £170 £156 K Sayer.
Beltex – £172 £169 £157 MR Cass.
Sale Report – Shearlings, Ewes & Rams
Proceedings began with a dispersal of Mule ewes from EG Bulman, Northallerton. A genuine flock of hard working NEMSA Mules all the way through from shearlings to broken mouthed ewes attracted plenty of interest from far and wide. The dispersal of 218 head averaged a pleasing £189.75, the two and three crop ewes enjoyed the best of the trade selling to tops of £250.
Following the ewes were a handful of rams, size remains very important in the tup rings and today was no exception, top went to a stretchy Texel from regular supporters A&R Thompson, Dimmingdale Farm.
Moving on to the warranted ewes and shearlings, a ringside packed with buyers who are arguably leaning more towards the Mule than the continental. Some excellent runs mixed through a sale but it has to be said that there was a fair proportion which have clearly suffered in the drought this summer. The top price of £340 went to an excellent pair of Suffolk X Texel shearlings from R Wise, Hall Farm; plenty of other shearlings floated around £300, the pick of the continentals would be eighty-nine excellent Texel crosses from the prize winning Boocock mother and daughter team who topped at £295 and averaged £261.57. Best of the Mule shearlings were also some of the show ring successes; Jeremy Harland sold his thirty-six to average £286.94 with a top of £290.
EG Bulman:
Mule Shearlings – £210 £200×2 £190
Mule Ewes – £250 £248 £245 £228 £205 £200×2 £190 £185 £160 £155
Rams:
Texel Shearling – £700 A&R Thompson. £400 DR&RL Burns.
Continental Shearling – £500 £480 £400 G Hodgson.
Blue Texel Shearling – £350 CR McLaren.
Cheviot Shearling – £300 A Wilson.
Aged Rams:
Texel (2 Shear) – £600 £500 A&R Thompson.
BFL (2 Shear) – £350 L Carter.
Breeding Ewes:
Continental – £205 £185 W Coatsworth. £185 DA Gill. £180 MR Cass.
Mule – £198 JD&MS Mortimer. £160 W Coatsworth.
Texel – £192 S Straughan. £192 JD&MS Mortimer.
Cheviot – £175 A Wilson
BFL – £170 £155 S Straughan.
Zwartbles – £125 AF Smith.
Jacob – £100 D Sizer.
AOB Gimmer Shearlings:
Suffolk – £340 £250 R Wise. £205 DA Gill.
Continental – £300 CA&JG Skidmore. £260 A Watson. £225 £215 JD&MS Mortimer. £200 £145 £120 DA Gill.
Texel – £295 £290×2 £270 CA&JG Skidmore. £295 £290 £285 £265 £260 £245×3 £220 Mrs J & Miss E Boocock. £270 £240 £225 £200 S Straughan. £270 £250 £245 £240 £220 £185 £165 £162 Moss Kennels Farm. £250 P Langstaff. £235 £232 J Milbank & Sons. £210 £200 £195 G Williamson.
Zwartbles – £210 £185 AF Smith.
BFL – £190 £165 £150 S Straughan.
Mule Shearlings:
£295 £290 £275 JF Harland. £280 £270 £240 £210 £200 CM&TF Seymour. £280×2 B Staley. £270 £260 J Milbank & Sons. £255 £242 £230 Pear Tree Projects. £245 I&RA Watson. £240×2 JR Mann.
Emma Boocock Reserve Champion.
