YORK AUCTION SATURDAY 8TH OCTOBER

[LISA]

Just a reminder that entries for York Rare Breeds Auction close THIS THURSDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER AT 5PM.

The Auction is on Saturday 8th October, the show the day before.

Cattle do not have to be halter trained for this sale. Steers can also be entered.

Entry fees are £10 bulls, £7 females, £2 calves at foot.

It is also a really good day out with sheep , pigs ,poultry, and lots of Rare breeds of cattle, lots of tradestands.

I have entered 7 females (subject to all being incalf)

Best Wishes
Lisa Bell

[helen salmon]

We'd like to come and watch.

What time does the show start?

Helen

[Louisa Gidney]

Blatant publicity!
I have entered a red non-short horned heifer by Knotting Leo, in calf with second calf (current steer calf is about to be weaned as I have a home for him) and a black non-short horned maiden heifer who is full sister to the 2010 York Dexter Breed Champion, shown once and placed.

[helen salmon]

Can you tell me what time the show starts?

[Louisa Gidney]

Showing commences at about 2pm on the Friday but no idea yet when the Dexters will be in the ring as have not yet got the catalogue.

[helen salmon]

Thanks Lousia x

[SteveM]

The catalogue for york rare breeds sale is now available on the auctioneers website.

You need to be registered to view it online, but the following link should take you to it direct.

http://www.ylc.co.uk/library/catalogues ... 111008.pdf

[SteveM]

Dexter entries seem to be up on recent york sales, including several steers this year.

Sale starts at 11am saturday morning

Show starts at 2pm friday afternoon, no indication in the catalogue of how many cattle will be at the show.

Hope to see some of you at the saturday sale.

[Louisa Gidney]

There's an error in the catalogue as my dry heifer Zanfara Cassiopeia is listed twice! Both my heifers will be shown. Since they'll be in the ring at the same time, a volunteer to lead the baby heifer would be welcomed.

[ann]

York rare Breeds sale Oct 2011
Lisa Bell got the top prices in the registered stock and of course hers where well presented. If people would only put a bit more effort into presenting their cattle I'm sure they would get better prices. I had already sold my cow & calf and withdrew my heifer before the sale.
Cows with calf at foot 10 forward top price £375
Average £270
Cows 8 forward top price £700
Average £223 several had no details to say if they had run with a bull
Heifers
Heifers who had run with a bull 8 forward top price £480
Average £271
Clean Heifers 5 forward Top price £290 Average £216
Cows not registered 2 forward run with Hereford bull £230 & £255
Heifers not registered 8 forward top price £255 average £185
Steers born 2010 14 forward top price £290 average £218
Steers born 2011 8 forward top price £195 average £136

Several of the cows had horns but that did not seem to make much difference to the prices and some where not in the best of condition, but overall most of the stock was in reasonable condition.
Its was interesting to see that the unregistered ones where making nearly as much as some of the registered ones. There certainly seemed to be a trade for the steers.

[SteveM]

Hammer prices in guineas, so add 5% to the prices Ann gave.

In the 17th century a guinea was worth 20 shillings, but due to increases in the price of gold it was later revalued to 21 shillings, and its named after the west african area most of the gold came from.

[ann]

Thanks Steve I realized I had put pounds after i had switched the computer off
at least that extra old shilling helps easy the pain a bit.

[Louisa Gidney]

I agree with Ann that presentation of many entries left much to be desired. One chap I talked to had been head cowman at the Cirencester Agricultural College in the 1950's and he was not impressed by the way the cattle were turned out.
What also distressed me at both the Carlisle and York sales were cows with very young calves at foot being left overnight with no food and, especially, no water. No one in attendance either on the Friday night or Saturday morning. One vendor actually seemed quite proud that his horned heifers were straight off the hill and had never been handled!
For the past few years I have thoroughly enjoyed the York sale, met the people who bought my cattle and known they have gone to good homes. This year I have no idea who bought them or where they have gone. While prices for mine were possibly at the better end of the scale on the day, in absolute terms they were dire. Were I not being made redundant, I would have brought them home again. The incalf heifer would have sold for roughly the same price 2 years ago as a weaned stirk. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
To balance it out a bit, the sheep trade was very good with a record price achieved for my flock. Still not enough to compensate for the shortfall on the cattle.

[Rob R]

Hi Louisa - we could have come home with your stock; my wife was impressed with them, but we didn't have a budget for cows this time. I put the prices down to the Spring we had, certainly down here, we've culled out some poor performers and don't want to carry too many cows over this winter, not knowing if it's going to be another harsh one.

The steer price was certainly suprising after the cows being so low and I think the unregistered stock fetching similar prices is a sign that non-pedigree 'commercial' farmers are buying into Dexters now, and what a cow is like makes more difference to them than it's pedigree. I know of quite a few farmers in North Yorks now keeping Dexters just for beef, but they're off the radar because they don't breed pedigree. There were at least two bidding at York that I know of.