The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Sheep => Topic started by: Mallows Flock on August 20, 2012, 10:09:08 pm
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At the show yesterday I was back to back with a guy who spent the day moaning to his son about his lack of winning anything. It seems none of his sheep got placed at all. I felt a bit for him, getting his disappointment, UNTIL when a lady asked him about his ewes that he was showing/had a For Sale sign up for as she was interested in buying them as she was a beginner, and he got a blue rosette out and showed it to her and said they won it. After she left his son said "Oh we did win dad?" and he said, laughing..."nah, that was the old one from a few years back".
None of my business, I agree, but it left a bad taste in my mouth!
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>:(
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AND they were Ryelands Rosemary. Coloured ones!!! >:( >:( >:( >:( >:( >:(
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If you have to be a breed society member to show your sheep, wouldn't it be a shame if the secretary of that breed society happened to find out about mis-advertising :innocent:
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Yes, indeed... I would just feel crappy about doing it... but I totally get where you are coming from there!!! :innocent:
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And this is another reason why I think the show ring is a terrible place to source stock.
I can see the appeal of showing and fair play to those who do it - I imagine its fun, but anyone who buys stock of the strength of a coulored whassname in a show ring is asking for trouble.
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It should be easy to check the show schedules and results surely. It also depends on the show, you can be a champion on paper but when the schedule is read there was only one entry! The seller was obviously planning a con or to mislead but unfortunately there will always be folk that fall for it.
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It should be easy to check the show schedules and results surely. It also depends on the show, you can be a champion on paper but when the schedule is read there was only one entry! The seller was obviously planning a con or to mislead but unfortunately there will always be folk that fall for it.
But if you are a novice, you might not know how to check. The whole thing leaves a nasty taste - I know the old "caveat emptor" but folk should behave better than that. :(
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The showground is a great place to get a feel for the breed of sheep you want to keep but for so many reasons a lousy place to actually buy sheep. And that kind of behaviour is appalling.
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You get this all the time. Years ago i went to visit a stud to buy a piebald filly foal. They knew I wanted a standard. the foals I was shown apart from one were small but they kept saying that they would make the height. One filly was standard bred but she was not a good type. Turned out the sire was a miniature Shetland and the foals were taking his height not the dams. Add on a price of £600 and they were trying to make a mug of me. I decided not to buy and wait until the right filly came along, 6 months later I had the start of my broken coloured ponies. Telling people porkies just gets you a bad name, I believe if you are up front and honest your reputation soon gets know by word of mouth and people will buy your stock.
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I hate this sort of thing with a vengeance! So many novices are ripped off esp with rare breeds....I see people advertising sheep of the breed I kepp for horrendous amounts of money just because they are unusual and rare! The fact that some have terrible conformation or have horns that are so close to their head you cannot even get a finger under them means nothing to them.....
My advice to novice sheep buyers is always to buy from the best flock you can find and buy older ewes that the breeder has already retained stock from.....the only young ewes/ewe lambs sold are the ones the breeder does not want to retain whilst the older ones have already made their mark within the flock and are being sold on as broken mouth or just old so their younger daughters can take their place. Old sheep like this with a couple more lambings in them can make the foundation of a top flock!
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if you are a total greenhorn yes you can get shafted by unscrupulous people but if you are experienced with stock the show ring is a good place to look for that sire or dam to get a new line going we once got a pedigree jersey bull that had his tail chewed short by heifers he was no use as a show animal but boy did he leave great offspring
the pig world is laced with characters that try it on but there are genuine ones out there it is just a mater of finding them and we have to deal with the aftermath of pepole selling pedigree stock when it is not and never will be
some times the breeder is selling young ones as they don't want to change the sire line they have running and some times the old ones are going as the young ones are better and they don't want the old ones dying with them :farmer:
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This is one of the reasons why when someone comes up to me at a show enquiring about stock i always ask them to come and look at them at home and see the whole flock. It's a bit more effort but i think a buyer should see the stock in their own enviroment.
We always show people the good the bad and the ugly and back it up with reasons why we kept them. If somebody bought my stock and wasn't happy i would want them to come back to me, and if they are happy then i also want them to come back.
So often a breed is bought and it doesn't perform to that person's expectations, this puts them off that breed for life when it could simply be a case of buying the wrong ram or stock from the wrong breeder.
The show ring is a just what it says; a show and animals are dolled up for it. I have campained within my society for a long time to show lambs shorn off at the later shows but get shouted down every time, they know they can't hide the faults with trimming then.
The Ryeland breeder may well sell his stock and they may be good stock, just not to the judges taste but to sell them as show winners is appalling and because he reflects on other breeders by possibly denying them a sale he should be reported to his society.
I really can't stand dishonest people sorry but it's a personal thing of mine, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see people duped and taken for a ride :rant:
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Well Ryeland owners.... I understand he is going to the Liskard sale to buy and sell....so be warned! LOL!
Before I had sheep I used to go to the shows to see what I liked and chat to sheep keepers.. I would have probably been duped pretty easily.
The good part about this is that out of hundreds of us Competitors, everyone else seemed really nice and helpful and honest.... just one bad apple!
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>:( I hope he gets his come-uppance :knit: (me, at the gallows again)