By Johan Norval
Poor production conditions played a relatively depressing role in the sale of Dormers at the annual production auction of the Johanri stud farm of Johan Barnard from the farm Spioenkop near Lindley.
Barnard says there were no outstanding prices like in the past and that a good shower of rain before the auction would have encouraged the buyers. “The demand for the best animals remains high among stud breeders. My commercial animals sold well, but some guest sellers’ animals struggled.”
He says the ewe market is under pressure, and some breeders’ stud ewes didn’t even reach R3 000. “Despite relatively good meat prices, breeders are hesitant to expand their flocks due to uncertainty about grazing.”
Johanri Stud animals fetched the highest prices at the auction. The most expensive ram at R57 500, JB 230063, was sold to Johnny Forbes’s Vredesig stud farm from Darling. The second most expensive ram, JB 230162, was sold for R40 000 to Melissa van Wyk from Over Genes stud farm at Caledon. Roelf Blignaut from Bergsig Dormers at Ladybrand bought the most expensive ewe, JB 230163, for R22 000. The average price of Barnard’s stud rams was R26 366, that of the flock rams R14 800, stud ewes R13 750, and commercial ewes R4 600. The average price of the guest sellers’ pregnant commercial ewes was R3 033, and commercial ewes with lambs R3 180.
BKB Kroonstad presented the auction on 1 February at the Kroon Boma. The auctioneer was Jan Mostert.
