How much luck?
- Thread starter liammogs
- Start date
- Location
- Warwickshire
I don't mind giving a bit of luck if people give a good price but what really annoys me is when people come up to me and ask for some luck for "running it up for you mate"
I don't mind giving a bit of luck if people give a good price but what really annoys me is when people come up to me and ask for some luck for "running it up for you mate"
That anoys me big time!! To the answer they get is make sure your the winning bid next time!
Lot of dealers make there 'bonus' from luck, think of the big buyers, nothing for them to buy 20/30 bunches of cattle soon tots up, 4 marts a week......not to be snubbed at......and all cash haha
- Location
- West Somerset
Never needed to bribe someone to buy my stock luckily
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
I bet if you were buying store cattle you wouldn't mind being bribed a bit thoughNever needed to bribe someone to buy my stock luckily
- Location
- West Somerset
Well of course!I bet if you were buying store cattle you wouldn't mind being bribed a bit though
but I am a hypocrite
.
Penmoel
Member
There was always one dealer in Cardigan who would come and say I was the underbidder!
I bought in a dispersal last December, there was a fiver with the passport on every animal .
Bought 14 cows off one guy up north who put £50 in an envelope as luck.
Bought £33,000 worth of cattle at home with one guy near llechryd, not a penny!
When selling we do generaly give on breeding or young stock, just a nice gesture hoping they go on and do well for someone else. I would hesitate to buy from the llechryd man again
After all we all need a bit of luck in this world
I bought in a dispersal last December, there was a fiver with the passport on every animal .
Bought 14 cows off one guy up north who put £50 in an envelope as luck.
Bought £33,000 worth of cattle at home with one guy near llechryd, not a penny!
When selling we do generaly give on breeding or young stock, just a nice gesture hoping they go on and do well for someone else. I would hesitate to buy from the llechryd man again
After all we all need a bit of luck in this world
Northeastfarmer
Member
- Location
- Cleveland
No way should the underbidder get luck money, I know he's as good as the man who bought it but you can't spoil everyone....it's very rare up here if you don't get luck money on store cattle, no one ever asks for it but they trip over themselves to dish it outThere was always one dealer in Cardigan who would come and say I was the underbidder!
I bought in a dispersal last December, there was a fiver with the passport on every animal .
Bought 14 cows off one guy up north who put £50 in an envelope as luck.
Bought £33,000 worth of cattle at home with one guy near llechryd, not a penny!
When selling we do generaly give on breeding or young stock, just a nice gesture hoping they go on and do well for someone else. I would hesitate to buy from the llechryd man again
After all we all need a bit of luck in this world
sheepwise
Member
- Location
- SW Scotland
Local farmer here who sells top drawer scotch mule lambs went to blue faced tup sale in north of England to buy a stock tup.He buys quality and ended up with a tup at £4000 but he couldn't believe when seller gave him £1000 back in luck!
He genuinely thought he was paying 4 grand but maybe underbidder knew differently.
He genuinely thought he was paying 4 grand but maybe underbidder knew differently.
CharcoalWally
Member
- Location
- West of Scotland
And these are the kind of stories that give the old luck tradition a bad name. That's very different to giving somebody a couple of quid for buying a store bullock, ;instead you're manipulating the market to promote yourself.
What kind of vain , ego driven moron would you have to be to give back 25% of a four figure animal just to make yourself look more successful than other people.
Invariably the story gets out and before you know it everything you are seen to sell is sneered at by the ringside "well, you know why he's getting that trade, don't you? "
I've never given a huge amount of luck out, and I've never so far been offered it to buy an animal. I'd be mortified to be involved in such delude jiggery-pokery.
- Location
- Bedfordshire
Plenty. It's tradition
YorkshireAndrew
Member
- Location
- West / North Yorks border
Years ago we used to give £2 on a calf , £5 on a stirk & around £20 on a dairy cow or newly calved heifer . A Yorkshire man giving money away - who'd have thought it . [emoji849]
harperfarmer
Member
Often do it quietly without a fuss when selling fat lambs. Very often you think it makes no difference until you end up on a sticky trade and then I'm convinced those few fivers here and there make all the difference. There's no need to stand and wave it about in front of everyone. If you're doing that you're doing it for the wrong reasons.
It's a gesture of thanks and goodwill to the buyer of your livestock. A couple of quid a head is not bribery.
The term up here in Scotland is "luckspenny". It is traditional for the buyer to spit on the coin to signify it's now theirs.
It's also a nice way of getting a blether with the new owner. They, like yourself, will be back at the market another day, and a couple of bids from a satisfied customer is easier than finding new buyers every year.
Of course is not always luck money that's given. The old "joke" is that Bluefaced Leicester tups come with a luckspenny spade to bury the soft buggers
The term up here in Scotland is "luckspenny". It is traditional for the buyer to spit on the coin to signify it's now theirs.
It's also a nice way of getting a blether with the new owner. They, like yourself, will be back at the market another day, and a couple of bids from a satisfied customer is easier than finding new buyers every year.
Of course is not always luck money that's given. The old "joke" is that Bluefaced Leicester tups come with a luckspenny spade to bury the soft buggers
Red Fred
Member
- Location
- Hants/Dorset border
Our neighbour liked to work on a luck money basis of 1% of what he sold being given as cash back to his customers. Unfortunately he wasn't a farmer, he was selling rolling stock for the new Vienna transit system. I think he's out now as I saw him in town last week
5 quid on store cattle under a grand and 10 on anything over a grand.. most of the chaps buying ours are regular buyers,, and regular bidders at our cattle...
If I buy cattle there is always luck money left in office.. I never complain at the amount or the luck money system, it's always gone on for many many years.
It keeps people friendly with each other, helps keep it a people business..
If I buy cattle there is always luck money left in office.. I never complain at the amount or the luck money system, it's always gone on for many many years.
It keeps people friendly with each other, helps keep it a people business..
Dad gives a couple.of quid on a pen of lambs if they sell well up ti a fiver if its a big bunch. He always gives me some money to give as luck if i go and sell as he knows i wouldnt give any of my own money. He doesnt know i keep it myself
Why the hell should the buyers benefit from my hard work. They will make their money killing them or sellig them on or whatever.
One really cheeky sh*t buyer asked for some quite rudely (apparently he had told somw farmwrs they werent giving enougg luck too)claiming to have bought all my old ewes and he hadnt. We caused quite a scene when i started telling him what i thought of him and he started demanding louder. He still bought my old ewes next time
Why the hell should the buyers benefit from my hard work. They will make their money killing them or sellig them on or whatever.
One really cheeky sh*t buyer asked for some quite rudely (apparently he had told somw farmwrs they werent giving enougg luck too
)claiming to have bought all my old ewes and he hadnt. We caused quite a scene when i started telling him what i thought of him and he started demanding louder. He still bought my old ewes next time 
- Location
- Fife
Never heard of corporate hospitality?
My haulage customers are always getting cakes and donuts (Everytime I visit their office).
My sheep customers get a bottle of whiskey every year and my landowners get an amount of butchered lamb (from a pack of chops to a whole animal depending on how much lamb I get from them). My vets get a box of chocolates and my mechanics get a crate of beer.
I doubt the above win me any contracts if I an clearly second best, but it may well tip the balance of me and a competitor are neck and neck.
Some businesses will also give a discount of up to 5% for invoices settled in advance of agreed trading terms. Luck money appears to be an informal tradition in the same vein...