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Post by specialized on Dec 21, 2012 18:10:32 GMT 1
There was a thread a few weeks ago about the price foals were fetching in the marts and somebody was asking how much our neighbours were getting when they sold theirs in the October Llanybydder sale. I spoke to them today and they sold all their foals this year and the average through the mart was £58 per foal for unpassported decently-bred stock (I think he sold around 60).
However we then spoke about Brecon last weekend and the auctioneer was having to sell them in groups to find buyers and the cheaper groups were selling at 42p per foal. This was the last sale to be able to sell unpassported foals before the end of December and he was aware of a number of dog 'breeders' who were buying them for dog food. He said it was the worst sale he had experienced in over 40 years.
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Post by diggydoggy on Dec 21, 2012 18:14:21 GMT 1
Yes, someone told me yesterday that she'd seen foals been sold for 20p in recent sales and the Auctioneer struggling to get any bids at all. Very upsetting.
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Post by jill on Dec 21, 2012 18:22:05 GMT 1
Hopefully the cost of entering them and getting them there will outweigh any possible gains so that breeders will stop producing these unwanted animals. Problem is the ones on the hills, running with colts, is it time the welfare organisations began lobbying for a stallion licensing scheme again?
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Post by K8 on Dec 21, 2012 18:35:52 GMT 1
Heart breaking. something needs to be done. Poor babies
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Post by specialized on Dec 21, 2012 18:48:26 GMT 1
Hopefully the cost of entering them and getting them there will outweigh any possible gains so that breeders will stop producing these unwanted animals. Problem is the ones on the hills, running with colts, is it time the welfare organisations began lobbying for a stallion licensing scheme again? Yes with Brecon these would be the last round-up of the mountain ponies.
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Post by bramblesmum on Dec 21, 2012 21:12:30 GMT 1
I dont think licensing is the problem its the gypsys and old farmers that breed constantly to too many mares rather than the decent breeders who only breed a couple
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Post by jill on Dec 21, 2012 21:17:51 GMT 1
I dont think licensing is the problem its the gypsys and old farmers that breed constantly to too many mares rather than the decent breeders who only breed a couple It's the gypsys and farmers who have uncut colts (aka young stallions) that need controlling, bramblesmum. A mare can only produce one foal a year but a colt or sallion can sire dozens, and when they are running lots of uncut colts that's where the "rubbish" foals come from.
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cuffey
Olympic Poster
Posts: 962
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Post by cuffey on Dec 21, 2012 23:45:09 GMT 1
What worries me most specialized from your post is if these foals are slaughtered humanely Sure someone (who? ) should be following up on these rumours/stories
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Post by highlanderpony2002 on Dec 22, 2012 0:11:02 GMT 1
It was rumoured that a dog breeder near me bought ponies from the mart and took them home and simply killed them in the kennel run for the dogs to eat. I certainly wouldnt want one of his dogs if that is the level of socialisation and feeding regime he employed. He went to jail for unrelated charges so dont think he does either breeding or buying ponies for the dogs anymore
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Post by bramblesmum on Dec 22, 2012 13:08:34 GMT 1
Yes Jill I understand that and it is pretty much what my post stated its the people with too many wild/ferral horses that are the problem not the decent breeders licensing will only cause more hardship for the decent breeders and the gypsys will continue to breed as with all things licensing is only good for those that respect the law
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Post by jill on Dec 22, 2012 15:32:40 GMT 1
What was the situation as regards semi feral colts in the days when here was a licensing system in placee? Does anyone know - was the licence enforced so that the colts had to be gelded or licensed? If I remember rightly it was only relevant to stallions available for visiting mares, if you had one just for your own mares you didn't need a licence - was that the case? Something needs to be done about the semi feral breeding herds IMO.
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Post by specialized on Dec 22, 2012 18:38:01 GMT 1
I think once again the problem of licensing stallions becomes one of policing, those that act sensibly now will continue to do so and those that breed indiscriminately will not change - especially those above the law. I know around here there are much less people breeding hill-type ponies than even 5 years ago as the beer money is no longer forthcoming, but there is a big increase in abandoned ponies on the mountains which are causing different problems.
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Post by lizpurlo on Dec 22, 2012 21:53:40 GMT 1
Blimey, spec., I wonder where all your neighbour's foals ended up? Miniature Shetlands, I think you said? They do seem to continue to hold their value, but a price of £58 doesn't exactly guarantee a capable home.
A frind of mine worked for a vet in Okehampton in the 1970's, and she told me that he'd buy two cheap Dartmoor foals at one of the autumn pony sales every year, slaughter and butcher them himself and put them in the freezer for his dogs. Horrible - but at least he'd know how to put them down properly.
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Post by specialized on Dec 22, 2012 22:28:34 GMT 1
The best quality shetland foals go through the specialist sales at Reading, these are registered, chipped and passported and currently sell at around £200 (against £400-450 2 years ago). The ones that go through Llanybydder will be the colt shetlands and the misc hill ponies and coloured cobs, at an average of £58 they are a long way above the sec A and others that last year were making less than £10 with a passport.
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varkie
Grand Prix Poster
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 4,913
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Post by varkie on Dec 23, 2012 0:38:32 GMT 1
The prices at Reading for shetlands varies widely. Some ponies (usually colts or entires) may fail to make a bid at all, but the highest priced shetland at the recent sales was around £2500! I suspect the average (due to those with no bid or low prices) is probably around £200, but in reality, I'd say there were more selling for around £400 - 500. As always, people get back the effort they put in! Well bred ponies, well presented, and with everything going for them (not babies, backed, vacc, chipped, etc) tend to make better money. But people do have to make the effort, and sadly some breeders just don't bother, and there are ponies there with average breeding, conformation & turnout, and they make poor money. Equallly no one wants colts these days. So people would do better to geld & sell privately than put a colt through the ring. A couple of years running we bought a couple of colts - amazingly bred, county standard colts, who ever won or placed in the pre-sale show, yet were selling for silly money - because they are entire.
At non breed specific auctions, the shetlands tend to be unregistered, less carefully bred, and make less money.
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