Umsenge Nguni Sale 14 May 2015

The Umsenge Nguni Group held their autumn sale at the Hobson & Co Auction Yard in Grahamstown on Thursday 14 May.  Amidst all the unfair negative publicity surrounding the breed there was an air of trepidation as the day dawned. Fortunately quality always sells as this group of dedicated breeders surprised the pundits by once again having an outstanding sale. Buyers from as far afield as Natal, Mpumalanga and the North West Province registered at the auction with only 3 open heifers being declared not sold. It is encouraging to see that the bulls on the Umsenge Sale sell consistently, and this sale was no exception with all 13 once again being sold for an average of R19846.00. Qhina Ngunis sold the top priced bull, Lot 4, for R40000.00 to Mr James Nkosi from Delmas and the bulls sold in a range between R15000.00 and R40000.00. The quality of the female offering was outstanding and Vernon Sparks of Bushkloof Ngunis sold the 2 top priced pregnant heifers, Lots 44 and 55 for R14500.00 to Tim Baynes from Natal and James Nkosi respectively. Three in one cows and calves were very good value for money and Qhina Ngunis achieved the highest price with Lot 58 at R13500.00 which was knocked down to regular supporter of the sale, Cronje van Zyl from Paterson. Open heifers struggled to sell with limited demand.  Leopard Ridge Conservancy (Dale Cunningham) achieved the top price for this class of R6000.00 for 2 outstanding heifers. The group welcomed Pat Hobbs and Dale Cunningham as full members to Umsenge as from this sale and the genetics now offered by the group will be very hard to beat. Both Hobson & Co and auctioneer Brandon Leer were delighted with the outcome of the sale and are both of the opinion that the Nguni industry will now stabilize as only the best breeders will remain in an overtraded stud market.