12th September

Post by **simon** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:02 am

I was wondering what the rough plans were for the 12th September show & sale?

wendy scu · Post by **wendy scu** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:12 pm

there's not much to tell yet but here it is -
i contacted Rugby farmers mart (nice and central) and booked the venue and an auctioneer so we could have a proper BKKPS pedigree show and sale afterwards. they didn't want money for booking but would take a cut of the money raised by the auctioneer who they would provide free of charge. thats when i got cold feet as i can imagine us turning up with two pigs for sale and nobody would bid .......

so we had a meeting and decided to hold it at someones place privately for the first year at least till we new people would attend. Dean is contacting some central people to find a member who is willing to host it for us - would love to but i'm too far south - ANY VOLUNTEERS??? -
We will show our kunes with a proper judge and all that, then any stock that anyone has for sale they can bring along and we will have a proper auction. what d'you reckon?
hopefully when word spreads it will be the place to go when you want to buy pedigree registered kunes.

Post by **simon** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 4:39 pm

Auction houses taking a cut is normal. Its up to the person selling to decide on a reserve. A good auctioneer should be able to whip the crowd to that level.
I certainly wouldn't dismiss it. I would have thought the event would be more likely to be a success at a proper auction house as they would advertise it to people outside of the BKKPS.
Worst case, everyone has a cup of tea and a nice chat.

I would happily host it. It depends where you think the centre of the country is I suppose!

wendy scu · Post by **wendy scu** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:13 pm

the problem is getting people with pigs there.
we have 400 members in this society and there are never more than 20 at an AGM,
we have shows in every area of the country and there are never more than 5 people showing their pigs.
three years ago i made the (4 hr) trip to cumbria for westmorland show and there was only one other person there. Yorkshire and Cumbria have the largest number of our members and at the time there were 23 in Cubria.
So i think the problem is getting pigs there,

We were thinking of midlands, east of birmingham as its accessible from all motorways. But thanks for the offer. perhaps we could call on you to host an AGM next time its due up north?

Tom Evans · Post by **Tom Evans** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 7:38 pm

hi wendy

It would have been great to have had it at Stoneleigh with Rugby Farmers Market - nice and handy for me. Great parking, facilities and easily accessible. Could you not come up with a deal to pay the autioneer , rather than a cut.

We may have some contacts at Rugby Farmers , if they need some persuasion or haggling for a lower price!

Post by **simon** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:02 pm

wendy scu wrote:we have shows in every area of the country and there are never more than 5 people showing their pigs.

I see what you are saying. A show/sale is different though. Ideally you want more people there buying, than showing. That would make the 5 people very happy. I would have thought the biggest danger is the opposite happening and the sale being knee deep in weaners and 6yr old sows who have been 'running with the boar'.

Surely its down to advertising in the smallholders magazine etc. to attract purchasers. No good leaving it to existing members to hold prices up by their bootlaces.

I did see an old kune at a pig auction recently,he went for ?60....but that was for meat.

wendy scu · Post by **wendy scu** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:13 pm

yes, i was talking to a bloke at the three counties who buys cull stock and he said he usually picks them up for a fiver and then gleefully told me that they are usually so fat that they go 'on the hook' for about 150lbs.
being a veggy the whole conversation was making me want to either weep or retch - not sure which

we have a similar bloke near monmouth who buys them for nothing at the sales, puts them in pig (god knows what to) and advertises them in our local paper, it drives me nuts.

yes, the farmers mart would be good, we best wait and see what Dean comes up with.....

Post by **simon** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 9:17 pm

Still, I would be keen to sell a pig and buy two.

Tom Evans · Post by **Tom Evans** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:44 pm

any more news?

wendy scu · Post by **wendy scu** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:59 pm

scrapped for this year i'm afraid