Well I'll be honest, that was quite a daunting experience for a novice!
I started out by watching the show, and had some success in picking out which sheep would be the winners, so I must be starting to get my eye in (long wheelbase seems to be desirable, though I believe not as good off-road?
). However, I was heartened to find that the sheep we liked most didn't win anything, so maybe we might be able to afford them after all?
I'd made notes of the most likely pens before the auction and again during the show, but it was hard to find the sheep I wanted in all the melee and I must have walked round the mart at least ten times before I'd managed to check them all over and finalise my shortlist.
The most daunting part was getting into the pens with other people's sheep and trying not to make a total arse of myself when checking teeth etc, but I survived without any first aid injuries and also saved myself from bidding on a couple of disasters who had looked just fine from a distance.
We were originally looking for shearlings who could be tupped this year, but it turned out that all but one pen had *already* run with rams, so they were off the list as I really don't want to be lambing in the middle of winter. That left only one nice non-pregnant gimmer to bid on, but she fetched £400, which was over my limit (and even then failed to meet her reserve).
So, I switched attention to the ewe lambs, having picked out a shortlist of ten we fancied. Of course the ones
we liked were also the ones other folks liked too, so I ended up paying up to my limit for one and a bit over it for a second (Mrs Womble's favourite, so that's her birthday and Christmas sorted!
). They're both cracking sheep, so we're very happy with the result.
The things I've learned today then:- Don't be afraid to ask questions of the sellers
- To make the right decision, you have to get up close and personal with the animals in their pens. This is a bit like looking after somebody else's children when they are watching - it's WAY worse than doing anything with your own sheep, especially for a novice.
- If you think an animal is a wee bit special, so does everybody else, and the price will reflect that. The same goes for sheep with rosettes on their backs from the pre-sale show.
- The show is a great place to work out what you like. The sheep that don't get placed will still be the best that particular breeder had for sale, and today at least fetched better than average prices.
- It's really hard to tell how a sheep stands when on thick straw, so you may need to wait until it gets into the ring before you can really assess it (and even then, the experienced folks were spotting issues with sheep that looked just fine to me!)
- There may be big gaps in the running order for whatever reason, so you need to keep on your toes as the lot you're interested in may come round more quickly than you think.
- If you hand over your details after winning, the auction will only note your name, not the other details on the form. This will then lead to embarrasment when you come to pay and no longer have a copy of your CPH number to hand!
- As mentioned already, the price you pay is in Guineas, so the clerk will add 5% on to your winning bid when you come to pay.
- The actual collection was a total melee, and involved quite an intricate reversing manouver with the trailer. I'm not too bad at this now, but I'll be honest, two years ago I'd have undoubtably over-thought things and fluffed it, so it makes sense to get some practice in beforehand!
- Beltex breeders are utterly bemused by the popularity of Zwartbles. To quote a conversation overheard in the cafe queue "If I wanted a big wooly dug, I'd get mysel' an 'effing poodle!"
.
So thanks for all the tips folks
. I'm now really looking forward to the Stirling Rare Breed sale tomorrow (Mowhaugh - I don't think there's a catalogue published for anything other than Hebs).
I'm not buying this time, so it should be a much more chillled out affair (for me at least!!
).
