A COUNTY Durham livestock producer re-stocking after foot-and-mouth returned home with the champion Charolais from the Perth bull sales.

Frank Johnson, of West Shipley, Hamsterley, paid 8,000gns for Lochend Royalflush, which will play a major role in getting the farm back on its feet.

Royalflush was bred by Mr and Mrs Iain Millar of Stirling, and is by the noted Brigadoon Ulsterman, out of the Millar's foundation cow, Beeford Angelina, the top rated cow within the Charolais breed with a Beef Value of CH45.

A full brother to Royalflush secured the junior championship and made 11,000gns in Perth exactly 12 months ago.

"We're pleased to be back in business again, and we're delighted with our new stock bull - he caught my eye as soon as he came into the judging ring," said Mr Johnson, whose beef and sheep unit was culled out after foot-and-mouth was confirmed last March.

"So far, we've rebuilt our suckler herd with 100 cows and now we've found a top quality Charolais bull to run among them. We've used Charolais as a terminal sire at West Shipley for more than 30 years because the breed consistently leaves progeny with superior weight for age and quality conformation over any other Continental crossbreds and subsequently our Charolais crosses end up within the top 10pc of store ring prices."

Overall, Charolais met a flying trade, selling to 25,000gns, the top price of the entire multi-breed event at Perth, for Maerdy Rudman, a 14-month-old from Welsh vet, Esmor Evans from Clwyd. Rudman was bought by four of Northern Ireland's leading breeders who between them run 300 cows.

A couple more Charolais records were smashed with a total of 226 lots coming under the hammer to sell for £4,144,52, the highest-ever all breed average at Perth. Those bulls, together with the Charolais female takings, grossed more than £1.1m, another breed record at Perth.

"Trade was rock solid throughout the day with averages up £715 on the year and 33 lots more sold, a trend that reflected beef producers' confidence in Charolais as the market leader," said Mr David Benson, society chief executive.

"Apart from breed stalwarts at the ringside, there were a number of newcomers and several seeking to restock post-foot-and-mouth.

"Their commitment was driven by the fact that Charolais crossbreds continue to command higher average prices over any other crossbred in the suckled calf ring because of the Charolais' unbeatable weight for age and quality conformation preferred by finishers."

Among successful Northern breeders were the Campbell family, of Alnwick, who sold a total of eight lots to average £4,515. Their top lot, Thrunton Rumpus, a 17-month-old Maerdy Nero son out of the Maerdy Director-sired Thrunton Jamboree, sold for 7,500gns to Sandy Lee, Fraserburgh.