New unofficial sale for pedigree Southdowns launched at Thrapston
28th June 2023
Farmers, breeders and smallholders in the East of England will have the opportunity to buy and sell pedigree Southdown sheep at a new early breeders sale taking place for the first time at Thrapston Livestock Market on Saturday 29th July.
Southdown sheep breeder Patrick Goldsworthy.
The idea for the sale came from Southdown breeder Patrick Goldsworthy, who wanted to encourage more farmers in the East of the country to participate by removing some of the costs and barriers to trade.
“Existing official sales take place at dates and locations that were not optimal for breeders and buyers in the East of England,” he explained.
“With this new unofficial sale we are testing a number of different approaches not currently allowed or available at official sales. We hope these will reduce costs for buyers and sellers.”
The Unofficial Eastern Region Early Breeders’ Sale of Pedigree Southdowns has been developed jointly by Mr Goldsworthy and Alastair Brown of auctioneers Bletsoes, which is handling the event.
There will be stocks from a number of well-established Southdown flocks going under the hammer, including All Saints, East Dean, Heritage, Holly Bar, Sheepcote and Webb Ellis. The Southdown is a traditional native breed renowned for its easy lambing, fast finishing and premium carcase, and is especially useful for ewe lambs and first-time lambers.
To make the sale more appealing to farmers, the organisers made various rule changes such as no vet inspection, no upset prices allowing breeders to choose their own reserves, and no minimum weights to open entry for later-born stock and reduce the risk of overfeeding.
Moreover, there are plans to alternate whether Maedi Visna (MV) sheep are sold first or second in future years to avoid putting non-MV breeders at a disadvantage. The total number of entries per breeder will also be capped at 12 with a maximum of four males allowed, in order to encourage more and smaller breeders to participate.
Further changes include lower entry fees, no society levy, entry for unregistered 2023 lambs (where both parents have been registered), a requirement for buyers to pay the Auctioneer’s commission and a reserve list of entries to ensure buyers have access to a reasonable selection of stock.
Mr Brown, head of Auctions at Bletsoes, welcomed the launch of the new sale: “We are in an excellent location to service the East of the country and also in easy reach into the Midlands. This pedigree sale is new venture for us and we hope to build on this for the future.”
Official Society Sales take place on 5 August at Worcester and 9 September at Melton Mowbray.
