Hi Clive,
My God, they still sound like good prices!! Have to be honest, since all the markets have closed down around us, (I miss Bury St Edmunds!!) I have lost touch of prices! Only the local trade advertiser and word of mouth (which works quite well with Dexters) left?
Jean (very few cows left in West Suffolk!! Almost rare breeds!!))
MELTON SALE PRICES - Here they are!
we went yesterday some good lookin stock, the ones i was bidding for someone else was running the prices up,tut tut! This means i will never deal with her buying or selling dexters again! went to westmorland and hope shows and did quite well. Took my junior bull he was nearlly an angel. hoping to go to yorkrare breeds 3/4 oct with 2 heifers jean jordeth 
j.nuttall
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Broomcroft
- Posts: 3005
- Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 4:42 am
- Location: Shropshire, England
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I sent my last stock bull to the abattoir at 8 years of age for pies/sausages. He fetched over £700. He was slightly over the breed standard.
I sent a smaller bull, well within the breed standard at the same time (at 3 years of age) and he fetched over £600. No hassle, paperwork, training, just a 30 minute trip to the abattoir and no £100-200 registration fees either.
Being Dexters, they also didn't require any feed at all, just grass. A larger animals would fetch more obviously, but they have eaten some 13 kilos of grain for every kilo of beef it produced, I think that's the figures.
That is just the low end of the market for meat pies and sausages, i.e. approx 2/3rd of the price for beef within age going for normal consumption. It was just to a normal, local OTM abattoir that all farmers use. I've never sent a cow but they probably wouldn't be quite as good because there will be a penalty as the deadweight goes down below a certain level (can't remember the details). But you can't do this if you've got just a few cows because you'll probably need to be FABBL registered (£120 a year?) but you can only find that out by contacting the abattoir. They need to be assured you are working to a set of rules. There are buyers who will buy them as well but I like to know where they've gone.
Edited By Broomcroft on 1252912896
I sent a smaller bull, well within the breed standard at the same time (at 3 years of age) and he fetched over £600. No hassle, paperwork, training, just a 30 minute trip to the abattoir and no £100-200 registration fees either.
Being Dexters, they also didn't require any feed at all, just grass. A larger animals would fetch more obviously, but they have eaten some 13 kilos of grain for every kilo of beef it produced, I think that's the figures.
That is just the low end of the market for meat pies and sausages, i.e. approx 2/3rd of the price for beef within age going for normal consumption. It was just to a normal, local OTM abattoir that all farmers use. I've never sent a cow but they probably wouldn't be quite as good because there will be a penalty as the deadweight goes down below a certain level (can't remember the details). But you can't do this if you've got just a few cows because you'll probably need to be FABBL registered (£120 a year?) but you can only find that out by contacting the abattoir. They need to be assured you are working to a set of rules. There are buyers who will buy them as well but I like to know where they've gone.
Edited By Broomcroft on 1252912896
Clive
I am at the moment in the market for three Sussex heifers to go to the bull in April. I have already looked at some and the prices wanted for them was £1600 each. They where not the blood lines I was looking for so did not buy them, I have to look at some more next weekend. I will expect to pay between £1500 - £1800 for the right animals.
Steers for killing (18-24months) are fetching about £1000, so the price of the heifers is not unreasonable. At Society sales the upset price (minimum bid) is £1500 for bulls.
So Clive is correct in what he says, one of the reasons that I changed breeds was because I was having to kill good heifers as there was no realistic market for them alive. It isn't good to have good breeding animals worth more dead than alive. What the solution is, I don't know maybe there are now too many Dexters about!
Steers for killing (18-24months) are fetching about £1000, so the price of the heifers is not unreasonable. At Society sales the upset price (minimum bid) is £1500 for bulls.
So Clive is correct in what he says, one of the reasons that I changed breeds was because I was having to kill good heifers as there was no realistic market for them alive. It isn't good to have good breeding animals worth more dead than alive. What the solution is, I don't know maybe there are now too many Dexters about!
Martin.
Maidstone
Kent
Maidstone
Kent