Livestock auctions are essential for farmers looking to buy or sell animals, providing opportunities to improve the productivity and genetic potential of their herds. However, successfully navigating an auction requires a keen eye and a deep understanding of desirable traits for expanding your herd.
In this blog post, we'll guide you through the process of identifying high-quality livestock and offer practical tips to help you confidently navigate the auction floor.
Understand the Basics
It's important to familiarise yourself with breed standards. These standards outline the ideal characteristics, appearance, and performance traits of livestock, ensuring that the animals you buy or sell meet the expected quality for their breed and purpose, whether for breeding, production or show.
Each breed has its own unique traits and performance standards. Take the South African Hereford, for example—it's well-suited to a variety of climates in South Africa and its physical features play a key role in its efficiency. Its wide chest and long body contribute to a high carcass yield, while its compact build helps it thrive in tough terrain and different grazing environments.
With this in mind, whether you're bidding on a ram or a bull, understanding the specific characteristics of each breed is crucial before placing a bid.
Checklist for Spotting High-Quality Livestock
General Health
Assess the overall health of the livestock. Bright and clear eyes indicate alertness, while a shiny coat and active behaviour signal good nutrition and overall well-being. Healthy animals that are actively eating and drinking show signs of robust health. Avoid animals with visible injuries or scars, which may indicate past health issues or trauma. You also want to watch out for animals showing signs of illness, such as coughing, nasal discharge and abnormalities in body temperature.
Evaluate Body Conformation and Structural Soundness
An animal’s appearance and build are indicators of its potential lifetime production, making body conformation an important role when breeding. Ensure the animal’s body structure aligns with the breed standards (body length, chest width, etc.), and look for animals with well-developed muscling, a well-balanced frame, straight limbs, and proper skeletal alignment. When an animal has a sound structure, it contributes to its overall health and performance.
Evaluate Reproductive Health
If you’re heading to an auction to find livestock for breeding, it’s helpful to ask for records of reproductive history, including calving and lambing success rates. If these records are available, you can review their genetic background, which will help determine the animal’s pedigree and performance. Consider animals with proven bloodlines that align with your breeding goals.
Ask for Documentation
There are a range of benefits to ensuring you have the right documentation. It helps you design better breeding plans to check inbreeding, helps with progeny testing of bulls and helps detect abnormalities and diseases. Therefore, you want to review the necessary documentation before the auction, which can be done during auction previews or by contacting the auctioneer directly (however, this is dependent on the auctioneer).
Here is a few documents you may need to review before auction:
1. Health Certificates
Veterinary Health Certificate: Confirms that the animal has been recently inspected and is free of major diseases.
Vaccination Records: Ensure the animal is up-to-date with vaccines for common diseases like foot-and-mouth, brucellosis, and other region-specific illnesses.
Deworming and Parasite Treatment: Ask for a history of deworming and other treatments to ensure the livestock has been properly maintained.
2. Pedigree Information Breed Registration Papers
Breed Registration Papers: For purebred animals, especially for breeding purposes, request pedigree documentation that verifies the animal’s lineage.
Genetic Testing Results: Some sellers provide genetic test results to verify certain traits, such as disease resistance, fertility, or superior meat production characteristics.
3. Performance and Production Records
Growth and Weight Gain Records: Ask for records showing the animal’s growth history, especially for beef cattle. Consistent growth rates are a key indicator of quality.
Find Reliable Auction Houses
Finding high-quality livestock can be a daunting task, particularly due to the significant financial investment involved in purchasing livestock. Therefore, you want to ensure you’re buying from reputable auctioneers. Auction Calendar simplifies this process by connecting you with trusted auction houses across South Africa.
Whether you're looking for cattle, sheep, or other livestock, Auction Calendar provides a user-friendly platform that helps you find high-quality animals from reliable sources, giving you peace of mind when finding your next investment.
