If you’re looking for a Castlemilk Moorit, a Derbyshire Gritstone, a Dexter Bull, or an Indian Runner, you might well be among the thousands of visitors to the Borderway Auction Mart, in Carlisle, this Saturday for its 20th Annual Show and Sale of Rare and Minority Breeds.  

The event is thought to be the largest rare breed animal and poultry sale in the UK, with 615 sheep, cattle and goats to be shown and sold alongside 1,130 lots of poultry and waterfowl.

Highlights include one of the largest sales of Dexter cattle, at 80 lots, and native sheep breeds representing practically every corner of the UK, from Shetlands and Kerryhills to Hebrideans, Soays, Rylands, Leicester Longwools, Wensleydales and Derbyshire Gritstones.

A strong wider sheep market has increased the chances of records being set, as Harrison and Hetherington’s Heather Pritchard explained, “Last year, the sale set a new breed record price when a Ryeland Shearling Gimmer bred by Messrs Parry of Bryn Hendre, Llangaffo sold for £1000. The bar is already set high for 2011 with prices for prime lambs already running at 15% higher than last year so we will just have to see if this will once again be a record-breaking sale.”

The burgeoning smallholding community is expected to prompt strong interest in the goat and pig classes too, with unusual varieties on offer including Pigmy Goats and British Saanens and five Oxford Sandy Black Pigs, as well as Gloucesters, a Saddleback and Kune Kune.

Heather added: “Over the past 20 years we’ve seen this sale go from strength to strength and I am absolutely delighted because it demonstrates that our native breeds have a much more secure future.”