Dexter Cattle For Sale Discussion Board

Has anyone any experience of selling a large number of Dexters at the same time through their local auction mart no known as a special market for rare breeds? We are reducing our herd and thinking of using our local mart where we have some track record of selling individual fat stock Dexters.

Generally prices won't be great unless you advertise the sale widely (where Dexter folk will pick up on it eg here, preloved, farmers guardian, etc.) and selling many in one go will also depress the price even further, unless there are plenty of buyers present. If you achieve good prices with fatstock that's got to be a point in it's favour but for breeding stock you need to be reaching breeders who are in the market for stock.

What sort of numbers are we talking about here?

Rob R wrote: (where Dexter folk will pick up on it eg here, preloved, farmers guardian, etc.)

When did 'preloved' become the place to source breeding stock????

Jac wrote:

Rob R wrote: (where Dexter folk will pick up on it eg here, preloved, farmers guardian, etc.)

When did 'preloved' become the place to source breeding stock????

About 3 years ago.

Rob R wrote:

Jac wrote:

Rob R wrote: (where Dexter folk will pick up on it eg here, preloved, farmers guardian, etc.)

When did 'preloved' become the place to source breeding stock????

About 3 years ago.

Sorry off topic. 'Dexter Bull wanted must be cheap or free'.

Yes, perhaps best to start a new thread.

Don't get me started Rob!

Like any free advertising platform, it does attract the chancers (the likes of which tend to stay up for a long time), but McCartneys recently advertised the sale that is going on today on there and I put an ad up for York sale, which got 100 views over the course of four days. Whether or not that contributed to the improved prices at this years sale I will never know, but it certainly didn't harm them. The more exposure you can get for a sale, the better.

Jac wrote:What sort of numbers are we talking about here?

Anything up to 60.

Rob R wrote:Like any free advertising platform, it does attract the chancers (the likes of which tend to stay up for a long time), but McCartneys recently advertised the sale that is going on today on there and I put an ad up for York sale, which got 100 views over the course of four days. Whether or not that contributed to the improved prices at this years sale I will never know, but it certainly didn't harm them. The more exposure you can get for a sale, the better.

I had thought of the Oct York sale but have found prices to be low in the past. We might still try York especially if prices are improved, but we won't give them away.

The only issue with the Autumn sales is that prices tend to be lower due to fair weather Dexter keepers, but the averages for the Spring sale were as follows;

Pedigree
Cows with calves (6) 405
Cows (7) 271.43
Heifers (8) 290
Bulls (2) 435

Non-pedigree
Cows with calves (3) 330
Heifers (3) 230
Steers (13) 255.77

Maybe better to sell a few in smaller numbers privately over the summer or have a special summer sale at your mart and advertising it well, if you prefer the option of everything going at once and not having to mess about with time wasters. I would certainly like to see more specialist Dexter sales, which help but the breed on the farming map.

We had herd dispersal animals at the Melton sale last september, all unhaltered, around 70 seperate lots, it killed the sale totally. Having said that the prices were probably as good as York but we tend to be used to higher prices than that. This September we (Leicestershire Group) will be supporting the sale again but this year there will be NO unhalterd dexters at all, just quality haltered pedigree stock.
More info to follow later in the year.

Perhaps then we need just different types of sales.

One with haltered, inspected, breeding/potential breeding stock as Mark suggests but instead of putting through the ones that failed inspection separately don't put them through at all. This sends out a clear message that they shouldn't be bred from.

Then a completely separate store/fat stock sale with empty females and steers ready to take direct to slaughter or home for fattening. All to be weighed on the day with registration papers withdrawn so that buyers couldn't go on to breed pedigree stock from the females.

Speaking as a buyer; the Melton dispersals weren't advertised very well and as a result the target market didn't turn out. If you view dispersals or unhaltered stock as the dregs that aren't worthy of promoting then the buyers will also treat them as such and not bother coming.

Margins are tight these days and people dont have the time to travel around the country on the offchance that there might be something there which suits, especially if there aren't many to choose from, so vendors and markets both have a role to play in better promotion of their stock and sales.

We also need to dispell with any illusions that animals might be saved from slaughter if they have papers, a rope on and are groomed. Taking the papers away won't stop anyone breeding from them either - an awful lot of buyers aren't bothered about the pedigrees, as can be seen when pedigree stock are sold in the unregistered sections.

Melton average prices were £2.80 difference between the main sale and the dispersals last year.