[ukag0972]

Anyone going to buy some rare breeds or some poultry??

[ballingall]

Are they having poultry? I had been checking their website regularly, and it did not mention a poultry sale alongside the rare breed sale. I shall be annoyed if there is, because I have a couple of Cayuga and call duck drakes that could have gone.

Beth

[sheardale]

I have just had a look at the site, there is no mention of poultry.

[Fleecewife]

We will be there, hopefully buying a tup for ourselves and two more for friends.  There was always poultry when the sale was at Oban and there was poultry last year - Cally Marts are not very hot on their catalogues so there could still be a poultry sale even though they haven't told anyone 

[ukag0972]

There was Poultry last year ! It may be worth ringing them to clarify, I just assumed there was poultry!!
I'm selling some wee shetlanders and my friend is selling dome Jacobs!

[Rosemary]

I wouldn't count on there being poultry. They have to hire in the cages and they are expensive. Best check.

[ukag0972]

No poultry!!!

May rethink my visit now!

[Fleecewife]

It's worth phoning the mart to find out.  OH did today but forgot to ask about poultry    Heb sale starts at 1030, show pm the previous day, and the catalogue is on their website.  There will be 120 Shetlands forward, that catalogue will go up tonight or tomorrow.  www.caledonian-marts.com Don't know if that will be in a separate ring or after the Hebs.  Don't know what else is coming - Cally Marts are so frustrating 

[Fleecewife]

The main catalogue is just out, on the website.  About as uninformative as it could possibly be.  Cally Marts say they do want the Rare Breeds sale there, but their actions speak louder than words.  Still no mention of poultry.

[ukag0972]

I rang them....no poultry!!

Oh well!

[ukag0972]

Oh man!

Has anyone seen the catalogue??

Will definately rethink my visit there now as there's hardly anything in it!! Why did they not have the poultry sale too?
Caledonian marts are pants when it comes to the wee people!!!

[Fleecewife]

We need to get together to help the mart understand that rare breeds are different to commercial sheep sales.  For one thing, most rare breeds are pedigree registered, four legged ones at least.  There is no provision on their entry form for all the details required to produce a useful catalogue.  I have discovered that many/most of the shetland sheep entered are either registered or eligible for registration - their breeders informed the mart of this but the info has not come up in the catalogue.  There will be discussions at Stirling between the Hebridean Soc, the Shetland Soc and the mart.  Not represented will be the other rare breeds.  The RBST has strict criteria about catalogues and recording pedigrees before it will make any sale an official RBST one.  The official RBST rare breeds sale was at Perth for a while but seemed to dwindle into nothing.  Scotland needs a quality rare breeds sale.  England has several but as usual Scotland is left out in the cold, largely because of the logistical problems of the long distances involved.  Lanark sale is mainly shetlands now and also is very far south, whereas Stirling is possible to reach from many parts of the country.
As for there not being a poultry sale - whyever not?  It's the poultry part which brings in the buyers. Between that and the failure to decide on a date until recently, then failing to advertise adequately then not getting the totally inadequate catalogue on the website until 3 days before the sale, I have serious concerns that this sale will be a flop    .
Does anyone have any opinions to offer on a solution to this problem

[Croftgary]

How about, armed with the knowledge that you have gleaned as many people as possible attend and make it a good sale. Remember its not the place its the people that make an event.
By doing so this will help to encourage them to make more effort, otherwise it may well go the other way as it seems to be going.

[Fleecewife]

Just back from the sale.  The Hebridean sale, which is organised mostly by the Society, went well with some good prices - I think top price was about £250 for a tup from down south (always a risk up here as they shrink back down on Scottish ground and with Scottish weather).  Sadly, the rare breed entries looked a bit sad, or the animals in their pens did.  I didn't stay for the rest of the sale so I don't know the prices.  There were not great numbers of buyers.  Did anyone else see the rare breeds part of the sale?
Word was that they didn't hold the poultry sale this year as they got into some kind of muddle with it last year - don't know what happened.  Shame they didn't decide to sort out the problem rather than just ditching the sale.  Doesn't look good for next year.

[Fleecewife]

The problem was that Caley Marts couldn't decide on a date so this sale was not advertised until late on (they chose exactly the same date as last year).  For people needing to both buy and sell stock, the uncertainty meant that they bought and sold at earlier sales.  We thought the mart was on its toes after discussions last year, but not so. About the only other rare breed sale after Stirling is York, and not many people can go so far south.
You are absolutely right though that the more people who attend, the better the sale is likely to be.  The date needs to be decided in plenty of time, entries need to give as much information as possible - this is because many people will have to travel a fair distance, so popping by on the offchance is unlikely to happen. Finally, the sale needs to be advertised early both on the Mart website and in the farming press.  These are the ways to make sure that plenty of people attend, both as sellers and buyers.

How about, armed with the knowledge that you have gleaned as many people as possible attend and make it a good sale. Remember its not the place its the people that make an event.
By doing so this will help to encourage them to make more effort, otherwise it may well go the other way as it seems to be going.