sheep breeder
Member
anybody going to the sale, are you buying or selling.
I've got 3 entered, but got a silly cr*p draw and struggling to summon up much enthusiasm at the moment. My first lamb certainly won't be given away, and with my place in the sale, I'll likely be using him myself instead.
I'll definitely be there on Saturday though, whether my sheep are or not.
Id watch buying a tup at that sale, I bought lamb there that was infertile last year due to his liver being ruined after being feed to much protein when he was young lamb. And I wouldn't believe the front of the catalogue either there not fully fertility guaranteed.
wrong mentality of many sellers at worcester , doubt many have been off ad lib pellet since christmas ,no doubt they all look the part , The last place i would buy a ram , im afraid .But i hope they have a good day .
Agreed (but they've certainly not all been on ad-lib since Christmas). However, it is the only place to pull together most flocks 'first draw' of ram lambs. They certainly need a 'gentle descent' to normal management IME, but as long as you bear that in mind (not that you should have to).... Unfortunately, I know of nowhere else where I could select from such a wide variety of genetics (& assess what different flocks are up to), good or bad.
It never ceases to amaze me how lambs that never get a bid at Worcester, can generate such excitement when dropped into Builth, given that same hard feeding regime, but for an extra 3 months.
Totally agree a lot of good sheep end up selling at pretty poor commercial prices at all the early breed sales.It is always difficult to get commercial buyers to buy tups before they actually need them to be working.However, there are a few astute buyers who do attend these sales and pick up an odd sheep which could cost a lot more money at a sale nearer the breeding season.In most cases a buyer is getting the choice of what the vendors genuinely believe to be the pick of their lamb crop (or at least their early born lambs).The breeders sales always need to be early enough to allow the pedigree buyers to be able to use their new purchases at the start of the breeding season.Personally I think the Charollais society made a mistake in allowing flocks to lamb from 1st December.A properly policed 1st of January date would have meant a breed sale a month later possibly with more commercial interest.Have bought many there over the years. Plenty of choice and once breeders have had their pick there will be plenty at commercial prices . Its an early sale so plenty of time to get them home and acclimatise them - I do accept all that is said about feeding but I have several now coming up to their sixth year of use.
If any ram is proven infertile after being given a fair go (not over artificially induced ewes, out of season), then there is recourse through the society, should the vendor choose to be a tw*t.
I've been told by the society that they don't want to get involved with infertile issues, and its to me and the breeder to sort it out, and since he wont speak to me or reply to my letters, theres nothing I can do he thinks I over worked him turning him out with 15 ewes!!. I also found out that I'm not the only one in the last few years to have a tup of this man bought at this sale that's infertile due to overfeeding. And the society know about it and still allow him to sell every year.
Well what do you expect, turning him out with so many ewes?
I presume you have a vet certificate to back you up on his fertility? If so, if you can't get anywhere by other means, perhaps a solicitors letter might kick his arse enough to sort it out? You shouldn't have to though, and sheep sold under Society rules will be covered by the fertility guarantee in the member's handbook. http://www.charollaissheep.com/members/handbook/
The complaint does need to have been lodged in a set timescale, not that there should be any need if the breeder was sensible.
I expect the answer is 'how long is a piece of string' but as a ball park figure, what price would a decent ram fetch - not a prize-winner but a good, nothing-fancy, commercial-stock type ram? I'm very impressed with the lambs produced from the 2 Charollais rams I put to our mules (3/4 of the first lambs to market are from these guys) and plan to ditch the Suffolk rams from our flock and replace with Charollais.
We bought a Tup Lamb in Builth , we thought we had got the pick of the sale in our humble opinion , he turned out a miserable bugger when he was without his cake, we never used him and sold him at a hefty loss, we done a bit of homework and realised he was unsold at Worcester so I second what Neilo said.It never ceases to amaze me how lambs that never get a bid at Worcester, can generate such excitement when dropped into Builth, given that same hard feeding regime, but for an extra 3 months
I just can't understand why a regular tup vendor would walk away from an infertility issue like thisits to me and the breeder to sort it out, and since he wont speak to me or reply to my letters, theres nothing I can do