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Kelso
Ram Sales 2006
James Irvine
Teviot Scientific, Cultybraggan Farm, Comrie,
Perthshire
Filed 10 Sep 06
©www.kand-care.org.uk
As the farm policy last year was to reduce the
size of the flock from over 400 to 125, I had not been to the famous
Kelso Ram Sales (established in 1836) for a couple of years.
This year an option was to put all the sheep off
the farm, and just run cattle. But the 110 breeding ewes that the
farm still had looked very good indeed: and they had produced a
very good crop of lambs, of which 140 had been sold prime this year
so far. Although the price that good commercial lambs were achieving
this year may be a touch better than last year, it still does not
make a sheep enterprise economically sound, at least on a farm like
Cultybraggan in the face of dwindling subsidy that is no longer
production based.
But it is hard to let go of a flock that has achieved
quality, especially when the reduction in numbers has been much
more manageable with the very limited number of total staff hours
available, even if affordable.
As it happened weather wise, Friday the 8th of
September turned out to be a glorious day. The temptation to visit
Kelso - my favourite Border town - was just too much.
One of the 18 massive marquees at the Kelso Ram Sales 2006.
(to enlarge Click
Here)
Photo©Kimpton
Graphics
The layout of the Sale was the same as in previous
years, with 18 large marquees coping with the auction, singly, of
over 5000 tups (rams) of a wide range of breeds, and with a wide
range of auctioneers from a number of different companies rattling
through them at about 70 rams a minute.
The whole system, complete, with 32 "tup
taxis" to transfer tups from the sellers' pens to the buyers'
transport, worked like a well-oiled machine. Even the £millions
that changed hands that day was done with commendable efficiency
at the money office, thanks to modern computer technology and its
efficient application by the auction companies.
I needed three suffolk tups.
But even narrowing down my selection to one breed,
still left me with a bewildering choice of rams, all so carefully
coiffeured as to look their best, and thereby hide any considerable
flaws they might have. Also, without doing a bit of research, it
could be difficult to find out for sure what they had been fed on.
In some pens there were rather a lot of expensive cabbages about.
This would not be their diet if they came to the rolling hills of
Cultybraggan, when the flesh on such impressive looking, but possibly
soft, beasts might melt when introduced to a less pampered, but
more realist, lifestyle after their journey north.
The trouble is, that unless you know something
about a flock, what the flockmaster may tell you in his capacity
as a salesman may sometimes be difficult to believe. However, if
you have been a customer of a flockmaster over some years and liked
what you bought in the past, he is unlikely to knowingly advise
you badly. A good reputation is hard to gain, but bad news travels
with remarkable speed and may well be remembered.
So I went along to see what my trusty flockmaster
in the Borders had on offer this year. His "day" job is
as a GP in a Pathhead practice south of Edinburgh , while he lives
with his family (and tups) in a small farm on the south side of
the Soutra Hill. Just the right sort of terrain on which would-be
tups for Cultybraggan should be reared, and no cabbages in sight.
If his patients are as well cared for as his tups (as I am sure
they will be) , they will be a healthy lot.
What Sandy Sutherland had forward
from his New Channelkirk flock
from the Soutra Hills
(To enlarge Click
Here)
Photo©Kimpton Graphics
The Government (or its agencies) and private companies
have come up with a variety of Animal Health Schemes. But a notice
saying that the seller of tups belongs to one of these schemes does
not actually say if his flock are free of the disease in question,
but just that he is a member of such and such a scheme. Which is
hardly worth the paper it is written on. Some of these schemes are
expensive, and therefore perfectly healthy flocks may not be in
them.
Most suffolk flocks at the Kelso Ram Sale had
sheets of paper pinned up on boards, giving information about individual
beast's score for confirmation, for genetic resistance to scrapie
etc. Fortunately most suffolk tups forward at the sale would have
double RR genes for scrapie resistance. Simple inquiry of the stockmaster
of my choice revealed that 3 out of the 25 that were forward did
not. Unless the tups with QR genes had something special, perhaps
it would not be a good idea to buy them, although they might be
cheaper. Having said that, then one has to wonder how much it really
matters when the tups (as in my case) are to be used as terminal
sires for lambs going to slaughter when a few months old and are
not for breeding. However, other purchasers at the Sale would be
looking for tups to breed from. Interestingly, I never heard a word
from an auctioneer about genotype or health status. But then there
is not much he could do within the allotted 51 seconds. Also, to
be fair, potential purchasers may be expected to do their homework.
In the case of some other breeds there was allegedly
a distinct shortage of performance data, which could be important
to the breeder, especially in relation to maternal traits.
What I needed was three tups as terminal sires
to cross with my Scotch Mule ewes (crosses between Blackfaced ewes
and Bluefaced Leicester ewes). They would need to have good confirmation
of carcass, a good coat which is suitable for the conditions of
the farm, a pair of plenty big testicles and good legs to help the
beasts do the job required of them. Otherwise the fashionable niceties
of the show ring were not of great interest.
Performance indexes are now widely used
in the sheep business: like Estimated Beef Values in the case of
cattle. But up until recently, if a stockmaster was not using Reference
Listed Sires he was never going to get a fair performance value
for his tups, however good they are as potential sires.
The auctioneer is looking for a
bidder while the handlers try
to present the tup to best advantage. all in rather less than
the minute that is available.
Some tups made a valiant effort to jump clean out of the ring
over the gate guarded by the steward in black.
Controlling a charging tup of this calibre takes some doing.
Could be good credentials for a night club bouncer.
Perhaps this tup is giving it a thought
(To enlarge
)
Photo©Kimpton Graphics
To help buyers select what they want, many flockmasters
hold open evenings just before the sale for those interested to
view and discuss what is on offer, and probably have something of
a social occasion at the same time. But then on the day, the price
achieved by the beasts you have so carefully picked may be beyond
the budget that you have allowed. Is it back to the drawing board?
Or do you take pot luck on some other superbly coiffeured beasts
presented by a breeder you know little about? Not easy.
While the livestock industry in the remoter parts
of Scotland continues to be under serious economic threat, it is
simply not wise to spend too much money on something that may not
have much of a future. To achieve high standards of animal welfare
it is necessary to have a profitable livestock industry. Trying
to achieve these high standards in the presence of a non-profitable
industry may perversely accelerate the demise of the flock, rather
than its improvement - leaving nothing but machinery to cut the
grass and a barren landscape.
I bought three tups - two at a price within my
budget, and one that was a bit too expensive. But better that, than
spending more time trying to find a replacement at some other sale.
The three coming to Cultybraggan should give a conformity among
the lambs that I trust they will sire.
I won't know the answer to that until scanning
time in late January or early February, and, if that is OK, this
time next year when the crop of lambs come to be sold.
The number of rams (tups) sold this year at Kelso
was down 400 on last year. The average prices paid were markedly
down for the Beltex, Border Leicester, North Country Cheviot, and
Vendeen breeds. But they were up for Suffolks and Texels. Overall
the trade was good, possibly helped by the reduction in supply.
Blackfaced sheep - so characteristic of the rougher
ground on Scottish hills - have their main sales elsewhere. It will
be interesting to know what happens there, as many large flocks
of these hardy beasts have been put off vast expanses of the Scottish
Highlands following changes in farm subsidy payments and the allegedly
inappropriate accusations of over-grazing by such bodies as Scottish
Natural Heritage (SNH). The situation is well described by D W Ross
of Kingussie, Invernessshire, in a letter published in the Scottish
Farmer, 9th September 2006, entitled "Hills are not fit for
birds or beast". To quote his words:
"SNH has infiltrated every conservation
and government body there is - Deer Commission, The Forestry Commission,
John Muir Trust, RSPB and just anybody they hope will help them
turn our hills into a wilderness, without people or animals"
There is a lot to be concerned about in terms
of the Government's policies that are so damaging to farming. But
at least in Scotland there is a general election coming up in May
2007. But unless those who actually do the work in looking after
the countryside get a better say, things could get even worse as
impractical ideological policies remain to the fore.
©www.land-care.org.uk
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