The Heritage Angora auction on 28 January was, as usual, a celebration of the mohair industry and the men and women on whom this industry relies.

By Fredalette Uys

“We are very grateful for the loyal support and our buyers who trust our breeding stock. It is an honour to be able to share what we do with the wider industry,” said Sean Hobson of the breeders’ group. According to him, there were many buyers and they were incredibly proud of their ram offering.

The auction was held on David Short and Kirsten Short’s Wheatlands farm near Graaff-Reinet. The Heritage Angora breeders’ group has been marketing their breeding stock under one banner since 2023. The members of the group are Hobson of Martyrsford Angoras, Lloyd Short of Borden Angoras, David Short of Wheatlands as well as Ray Hobson and Donna Hobson of Thorn Park.

These breeders all strive to breed Angoras whose fibre has good length, firmness, plenty of hair oil and a good shine.

House of Fibre, with Jakkie Nel as auctioneer, presented the auction.

Two members of the group, brothers Lloyd and David Short, paid the highest price of R40 000 for a ram (lot 22) from Donna and Ray Hobson of Steytlerville.

“They insisted that this ram’s breeding material be retained in the group. It shows the confidence we have in each other’s breeding material.”

According to Hobson, the ram has an exceptional growth factor and is a physical outlier. “The ram has an exceptionally beautiful head, strong muscular features and stylish mohair with a very even fleece.”

He adds that the ram has the characteristics of a stud ram within a commercial herd.

Andries Botha of the Kareekrans farm near Somerset East paid the highest price of R3 000 for a group of ewes (lot 101) from Sean Hobson.

The average price of the 77 rams was R12 500, while that of the stud rams was R27 400, that of selected flock rams was R17 000 and that of flock rams was R10 300.

A total of 95 flock ewes were sold at an average price of R1 930. “We looked after our clients who were looking for stud rams and there was a large number of selected flock rams.”

According to him, the flock buyers were very happy with the rams they were able to buy. “That’s what we want to achieve: we want to look after all our buyers and not just our top buyers.”

Celebrating businesswomen

The auction is also usually accompanied by a talk at which several leading businesswomen address more than 200 women on various topics related to their businesses. This was followed by a food and wine festival in the style of the well-known Kamers event.

Sean’s wife, Julie Hobson, started these events to support women farmers in the business world as they take the next step towards making their businesses more viable.

“This is a major event that encompasses the entire farming business with goats and not just for men. Women are part of the business and we want to help them expand it and inspire them.”

Several sponsors were also involved.

For more information about the host organisation, visit House of Fibre.