Powys sheepdog breeder gets a top price at Skipton auction

The online only sheepdog auction at CCM Skipton Auction Mart saw top Welsh triallist Kevin Evans, of Llwynfedwen, Brecon take one of the top prices for an unbroken pup.

Mr Evans picked up a price of £2,700 for a 13-week-old red, tan and white bitch, Wyverne Winnie, from top Welsh breeder.

A representatvi of Skipton auction said Wyverne Winnie was a “class act, already showing great potential with focus and natural ability.”

“She is a son of his Open trials winner Middery Frank, out of fellow Welshman David Meek’s Wyverne Tango - he runs Wyverne Border Collies in Maesteg - with bloodlines to some famous trials dogs, among them Kevin’s own Tanhill Glen, a dual European Nursery and Royal Welsh Champion who has had such a major impact on selling prices at Skipton in recent years.”

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Another leading Mid Wales handler and triallist, Dewi Jenkins, of Tynygraig, Ceredigion, was ‘top dog on price’ when claiming £19,100 with his two-year-old Mirk, also going to the Shetland Isles with Monty Motto.

Mirk is a grandson of Jenkins’ prized dog, Jock, with whom he won the International Supreme Championship Sheep Dog Trials in 2022. Also in October, 2022, Mirk’s mother, Jill, sold for a record price of £26,000 at Bala Auction Mart’s field sale in Gwynedd.

The top price pup fell to David Murray, from North Roe, Shetland, who has been training sheepdogs for over 35 years, performing successfully in trials across the United Kingdom and becoming the only Shetland trainer to compete on the continent, as well as the only triallist from the archipelago to qualify twice for the Supreme International as a member of the Scottish team. He has both bought and sold dogs online at Skipton in the past, saying the system works well for one living so far away.

David and his wife, Isla, run Shetland Rural Experience Centre, whose remit includes working dog demonstrations and Winnie will form part of a team that continues to prove so popular among tourists. The couple run some 350 Shetland sheep.