Dexter prices

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 10:02 pm

I have just added a few more cattle to the sales list, which seem to be getting longer, so i thought i would count up what was for sale. Rough total:- 124 animals including 43 black heifers for sale.
What do people think the breed will do this year with all the new restrictions put on cattle movements (TB) and the 24 month regs for hanging the carcass ( is this rule implemented yet? i hear the talk but have received no instruction from DEFRA or whoever).
You do wonder sometimes who would bother to start with cattle with all the hasle it involves.
Sale prices were reasonable last year but prices on the for sale list seemed low, why should that be.
What do you think!
Mark

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:10 am

Maybe Dexters are reaching their pinacle as far as population is concerned.
Its a case of supply and demand, are we keeping the best for breeding or are we not critical enough when it comes to keeping heifers. I think that not enough heifers are being killed and too many are being kept and sold for breeding, meaning that too many are on the market and the price drops.
How many commercial herds are there ? Can Dexters be kept commercially ? Could you in this age make a living out of Dexters ? These are all relevent to the popularity of the breed. there are very few herds of substance, you can see that from the herd book. Most people have a small herd and are not into expansion. New people come to Dexters because they buy their place in the country with a few acres and Dexters do look nice at grass, I'm not knocking them, because this is my hobby too, but as these people come in others leave and although there may be more Dexters being kept and more members of the society, demand for stock is not being generated quicker than the stock availability, therfore too much stock for sale, not enough customers. Defra of course are doing their bit and putting people off as much as possible.
The market will find a level that the people involved want, if they don't like the prices that they can get for their animals alive maybe a few more will be killed and the price of the better ones that aren't killed will go up.
I for one will go for the option that gives me most return, if a heifer at 24 months is only worth £200 alive she will go for meat and make considerably more.
Martin.

John C · Post by **John C** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:53 am

In most walks of life only practical things survive,unless of course you are subsidised by the government . The other way in which things survive is if they are a non profit making hobby which for a lot of people is the situation with dexters !
As a hobbyist , I can afford to take a few knocks ,but I would hate to be in the position of the members who are dependant on them for any sizable proportion of their income .
The goal posts are forever being moved and this has been the situation virtually since we joined the EEC .
Talking of knocks my one fairly close slaughter house (caernarfon ) went down the pan yesterday and sent 60 to 80 workers home .Farmers have been left with money owed . Not the same company but the same slaughterhouse did just the same only 12 months or so ago !
What is a fair price for aDexter ? I havent the time or the inclination to show.so the high priced specimens are not the ones for me . When looking to buy another Dexter,as long as its healthy and reasonably priced ( not missing a leg ) then that will do for me !

steve p · Post by **steve p** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 10:09 am

The feed mill I work at has just gone back to making cattle and sheep feed so we have just spent the best part of 2 months and tens if not hundred's of thousands of pounds cleaning every bit of kit in the mill, about 2 weeks ago I was speaking to a defra official who has been inspecting our cleaning about the 24 month rule he shrugged his shoulders and said don't know anything about that,as for T.B testing he said we can hardly cope with routine testing in 12-24 month area's so if we get that up and runing for any lenght of time it will be a miracle.

jdlheritage · Post by **jdlheritage** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 11:01 am

Counting the numbers on the Sale list can be a bit misleading.

Some of these animals are certainly already sold and therefore not available.

I know that's not your fault, since if the sellers don't tell you when they've sold, you can't keep the list up to date.

GRAEME · Post by **GRAEME** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 12:15 pm

What could secure the future for owners and the breed would be a co-operative that could develop the market for beef and provide a set up with an abbatoir/butcher so that everyone in the scheme would know the standard cost and return. The size of the national herd could be an opportunity rather than a threat if enough owners were willing to invest in setting this up.

monica waltho · Post by **monica waltho** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:22 pm

Do you think it will help when the export market is opened up?
I had heard at a local RBST meeting that there had been quite a few enquiries from Europe for Dexters.

Perhaps sales are slow due to the weather, everyone is waiting for the grass to grow!

Sylvia · Post by **Sylvia** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 8:23 am

Here we are, in April, and we just have the first hint of a green sheen on the fields. And this in an area which could be considered lush by anyone's standards usually. Has this been a particularly tricky winter or am I just getting old? :p

Inger · Post by **Inger** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 11:25 pm

We had one of those Springs two years ago Sylvia. The cows were really late cycling again after having their calves. We had a number of empty cows that year. Fortunately the following year was better and I think we may finally have all our cows back in synchronisation again. I try to have all the cows calving within a 2 month period. I hope things improve for you soon.