Melton Mowbray Breed Sale 2014

[Mark Bowles]

Main sale cattle are haltered and inspected, unforunately there are a large number of cattle in dispersal sales after the main sale,the spec for the entries has been somewhat stretch a little, "give an inch and take a mile" comes to mind!!

[Mark Bowles]

Show day today from 12 noon.

[LISA]

Congratulations to Lot 34 Fleet Alice (Mr and Mrs Wiltshire) on Breed Champion (Short Legged Heifer with calf at foot) and to Lot 34 Corkhill Bramley Apple (Mr and Mrs Simpson) on Reserve Breed Champion (Non Short Senior Heifer). Very nice non short bulls also forward in the show. Overall very nice quality cattle forward.

Auction begins at 11am tomorrow morning. The Dexters will be through early.

[LISA]

Haven't used smilies before in posts but !!!!!!!!!!

Tried ringing Samaritans but couldn't get through - apparently they are experiencing a high volume of Dexter Breeders tonight !!!!!!

[ann]

oh dear is it not good news ?

[Mark Bowles]

Please dont quote me but i think the best price was 900gns for a non short young bull and maybe £650 for a cow and calf sold outside the ring. Some usefull cows went for £250 to £300, tragic...uhaltered/uninspected cattle went for around 200/300 gns.
Worst melton sale by far!!

[Tim Watson]

Anyone know what the Woodmagics went for please?

[Rob R]

Anyone know what the Woodmagics went for please?

That makes me realise that I missed a whole section of the catalogue

[LISA]

Hello Tim/Rob
The Woodmagics made round £330 -£350 (Catalogue is in land rover still, will post exact price later if no one else has). I thought that there would be "a bidding war" for the Woodmagic, as obviously there will not be any more with this prefix, and as one was a Petrel daughter (highest linear score in the country). This dispersal herd were very nice confirmation with very good steers and a couple with stunning heifers at foot. There was about the same level of interest in these as the main catalogue - almost zero. I do not know who bought these. Perhaps you could contact the market Monday and trace the buyer (if you wanted the bloodlines), they could be going to the abattoir this week - or there already......

[monica a waltho]

Hi,
I bought Woodmagic Peregrine 4th for 310gns with heifer calf at foot and possible incalf again-didnt expect to be able to buy her so she will not be going to the abbatoir but the other older cow was bought by a dealer at 250gns so who knows.
On the whole all the cattle were good quality whether you wanted show or more commercial cattle just no buyers
Would have loved to have bought more but have enough of my own.
Monica
(Smallwood herd)

ps cost me £80 to get her home as unable to take trailer but she was worth it
hope to get round to having her linear scored as well as my 19 year old cow who gave me a big bull calf the day before who probably cost me the same 15 years ago incalf to her 2nd calf

[Rob R]

Maybe for the best that I didn't know, tbh, as I may have been tempted to go, if only to see. I was a bit gutted when I saw so many dun cows as I've got about equal numbers of red and blacks and the two dun ones just make the herd look uneven.

I suspect that the lack of interest is down to there being less money out there in the smallholding world. I'm in the same boat, I have the space for more cows but cashflow is tight so it's easier to sell the forage than wait a few years and put it through a cow first.

[Jac]

I suspect that the lack of interest is down to there being less money out there in the smallholding world.

Yes, retired doctors, solicitors, ex police inspectors they really are feeling the pinch.

[Louisa Gidney]

Jac - obviously there are regional differences as that is not the demographic of smallholders in this region. Here we are teetering on the fringes of alternative lifestyle with associated slight 1970's hangover (unlike the epic 1970's hangovers of my youth!). Mostly self (ie minimally) employed with interesting cash flow crises. Downsizing rather than upsizing and not in the market for female breeding cattle.
In fact it's one of my personal gripes that DCS seems to be losing touch with the older type of smallholder who actually needs stock that work as well as please the eye.

[Jac]

Jac - obviously there are regional differences as that is not the demographic of smallholders in this region. Here we are teetering on the fringes of alternative lifestyle with associated slight 1970's hangover (unlike the epic 1970's hangovers of my youth!). Mostly self (ie minimally) employed with interesting cash flow crises. Downsizing rather than upsizing and not in the market for female breeding cattle.
In fact it's one of my personal gripes that DCS seems to be losing touch with the older type of smallholder who actually needs stock that work as well as please the eye.

We have more than our fair share of those teetering on the fringes of alternative lifestyle here but also a reasonable proportion of people who have taken advantage of the property differential between Wales and London and retiring professionals from other areas who do not seem to have the usual concerns about the cost of living.

I agree that cattle should be fit for purpose and am most concerned with the move to beef that we will lose the dual-purpose aspect.

[Rob R]

I suspect that the lack of interest is down to there being less money out there in the smallholding world.

Yes, retired doctors, solicitors, ex police inspectors they really are feeling the pinch.

Everyone has a budget.