ONCE again, an insatiable demand for Charolais from commercial beef producers led the breed to round off the official spring multi-beef breed sales at Perth with the leading average price of £4,057 for 186 bulls, the highest number of lots of any breed to be sold.

No less than 60pc of the bulls sold were in the breed's top 25pc for Beef Value and averaged £4,339, up £1,356 on bulls with a Beef Value below average.

Two 14,000gns bids topped the sale, both for 19-month-olds by Gretnahouse Noel and from Archie MacGregor's 40-cow Allanfauld herd, Kilsyth, Glasgow. Allanfauld Superscot CH18 went in a split share to Northern Ireland breeders, Edwin Bothwell, Enniskillen, and Gilbert Crawford, Maghera, and Allanfauld Superman CH23 went to breed newcomers, Wilson and Geraldine Strachan, of Banff.

The intermediate champion, Brailes Snowy, a 19-month-old from Robbie and Marion Jackson, of Silloth, Cumbria, made 7,500gns to G Mackie, Crieff. Snowy, sired by Seawell Offshore, was bought by the Jacksons from Oxfordshire breeder, Rachel Wyllie, in Carlisle last May for 3,000gns with his dam and female champion, Cotswold Naomi.

The top price was also reached twice at the British Limousin Cattle Society sale at Perth earlier this month.

One of the two top bids was for 23-month-old Bailey Seely from Brian Jones and his son, Matthew, of Brecon, Powys, which was secured in a telephone bid by Keith Simmers of Keith, Banffshire, who had seen the bull at the pre-sale show. Seely is by the French sire Martinet and out of Bailea Ipie.

Also at 10,000gns was the 21-month-old bull, Balnacraig Sidney, from Gordon and Douglas Cruickshank, of Banchory, Kincardineshire. Sidney sold to Orkney pedigree breeder Terry Coghill after being chosen as reserve intermediate champion by the judge, fellow Orkney cattleman, Michael Cursiter. He is by Ryedale Paragon, a son of Ronick Iceman.

The supreme champion Middledale Stringfellow, a 22-month-old son of Montgomery Nimo with a high beef value of LM25, made 8,500gns, for East Yorkshire father and son, Richard and Paul Byas of Driffield. The easy-calving bull out of Middledale Cassandra went to G Halliday, Lockerbie.

The sale averaged £3,142 for 108 bulls sold.

Auctioneers for both sales: United Auctions.