Chronicle Editor
On Friday I attended the annual Ruvale production sale, also known as the Pilossof sale.
This is an annual cattle breeding stock sale which needs no introduction to those with an interest in the livestock sector.
It is a premier event which always produces a lot of lessons for both emerging and established livestock farmers as well as just followers of the events within the livestock value chain.
The aim, like always, is to share nuggets of lessons that one distils after attending this prestigious livestock farming event.
The first issue is to acknowledge that the product on offer was top notch as always. You could not impeach the bulls nor the heifers on offer, even the cows.
The selection was immaculate and consequently bidding was furious, not for the faint hearted (read pocket)!
It was truly a hard hat area with lots of testosterone flexing from both the product and the buyers themselves!
The highest bull clocked US$9 000 and the lowest was something slightly above US$2 700. We will discuss the prices a bit more but first let’s look at the demographics of the participants to this premier event.
One important observation was that there was quite a big representation of young farmers as opposed to the usual scenario of the patronage of such an event being the old retired and retiring farmers.
In fact one can estimate that there are more young farmers than the traditional older generation of farmers.
We had farmers as young as probably late twenties, by my own estimation, bidding and buying big time.
Then a good number of farmers probably in the late thirties and early forties range. That’s my definition of young!
The importance of this development being the obvious longevity of the livestock industry. The clear infusion of younger blood and handing over of the button by the older generation of livestock farmers is obviously healthy for the continuity of the industry.
Then there was the amazing display of knowledge by the young farmers, clearly demonstrating that they have learnt a lot and are willing to learn a lot about the industry.
One participant, a young lawyer quite eager to learn about livestock production, asked this young farmer who had just bought an empty cow when he had an option to pick from cows with certified pregnancy, why he made that choice.
His response would make even respected breeders and geneticists green with envy.
He provided a detailed and meticulous thought process on how he wants to infuse right genetics into his herd, including the use of artificial insemination on this very cow which has a rich genetical and breeding history even though it was empty!
In simple terms, he knew exactly what he was doing!
I am an animal scientist by training and there is no more humbling feeling than meeting an animal scientist in practice.
Then there was the issue of bidding prices and their non-conformity to established trends. As they say, when in doubt watch the markets. What did this market communicate to the participants present?
The first observation was that the Beefmaster bulls which have always played second fiddle to the Brahman bulls in most production sales, put up a strong competition and all the bulls went away on very firm prices, with the highest going for something above $6 000 and most of them averaging around $4 500.
Could this be the beginning of the breed pluralism that we have previously clamoured for?
Only time will tell but this is definitely good news for the Beefmaster breeders as this means farmers are now prepared to break a limb in trying to get the breed genetics.
It can only be a positive upward trajectory from here. Then there was the mother of surprises, at least for me and many like-minded farmers.
The bidding saw some heifers going for prices way above the price of bulls, in fact one heifer went for $5 400. Remember I just told you that the lowest bull went for slightly over $2 700.
Why a heifer would cost more than a breeding bull, I have no explanation to this phenomenon, I wait for fellow farmers to enlighten me.
However, one thing for sure was that farmers are prepared to go all out and invest in good genetics even if it means breaking away from the established norms and trends.
Lastly, I would not go away without touching on the dichotomy of our economy.
The bidding at this sale clearly showed that participants were coming from two separate sectors of the economy, the deep pocketed ones who would bid anything to stratospheric levels and the lower tier farmers who genuinely need the genetics but the pockets are letting them down, but hey what a sale it was. Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
Mhlupheki Dube is a livestock specialist and farmer. He writes in his own capacity. Feedback [email protected] cell 0772851275.
Bongani Ndlovu