Livestock sector buoyant at United Auctions after sale to

0 Comments | Sunday Herald, The, Mar 6, 2005 | by Valerie Darroch

HEARD the one about the bull and the china shop?

If you haven't, the man to ask is David Leggat, group marketing director of United Auctions.

One of the most respected livestock auctioneers in the country, Leggat has just brought the hammer down on the sale of about 1500 pedigree beasts at the 140th auction he has conducted. Improbable as it seems, Leggat, a walking encyclopedia of bull facts, really does have a china shop story.

He says the old Perth livestock mart used to be close to the railway station and one day a bull gave its herdsman the slip and wandered off down Perth High Street.

"An old lady threw her message bags on the ground walked up to him and calmly led him by the nose down the street.

She tied him up quietly and left him outside Watson's china shop, " he explains with a smile.

Leggat, who has been auctioning the country's finest pedigree bulls for three decades, is in good fettle after a brisk four days of business.

The sales, which attracted the highest number of entries in recent years, saw a rise in overseas buyers this year too, with moustachioed Mexicans and blond Swedish farmers rubbing broad shoulders with their Scottish counterparts.

"The Mexicans and the Swedes are not just here for fun, " says Leggat.

He is hopeful that by the end of 2005, there will be a resumption of live cattle exports from the UK for the first time since the BSE crisis, a development which would boost farmers' fortunes and enliven the bidding at next February's bull sales.

"There's a reservoir of stock these guys haven't had access to - We are selling genetically superior animals for people to try to improve their herd, " Leggat says.

He exudes enthusiasm for the animals, pointing out the best features of the whitecoated Charolais bulls, blowdried, shaved and chalked for the occasion.

"These animals are fantastic stock. It's a privilege to sell them - the equivalent of selling an Old Master at Sotheby's, " says Leggat.

"There is a fierce pride about winning prizes at the Perth sales. It's like winning the cup final."

The Queen Mother, the Saudi Royal Family and a welter of minor nobles have sold their stock at Perth. There are often several purchases by members of the aristocracy, underlining the mix of professional breeders, wealthy landowners and hobby farmers who flock to Perth each year.

There were several notable differences about this year's sales, however. They were the first to take place since privately-owned property group Elphinstone became the new owner of the 140-year-old United Auctions business in January following a pounds-52 million recommended deal.

Many of the farmers buying and selling stock were also individual shareholders in UA and pocketed a cheque for their shares at the end of January.

Elphinstone has given undertakings to retain the livestock auction business and has committed to building a new mart at Stirling. Chief executive Ken Ross attended the sales, enthusing about the skills of his newly-acquired UA team.

Doubts about the logic of uniting a property and livestock business may be dispelled by the knowledge that the farmers almost invariably own tracts of land. Leggat says chats around the enclosure are now as likely to be about prospects for a 28-acre parcel of land as they are a prize bull.

United Auctions had already astutely traded its land before the takeover and Elphinstone is well-placed to extract maximum value on this score.

Significantly, the sales also took place just after the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) came into effect, a development which has caused great uncertainty among the farming community.

In broad terms, the CAP reform simplifies the arrangements for subsidy payments to farmers, replacing 10 major CAP payment schemes with a single payment and decoupling subsidies from production.

Leggat says the level of bids at the bull sales, which saw chunky prices of more than pounds-30,000 guineas (the livestock mart retains a tradition of selling in guineas rather than sterling) for prized animals, indicated farmers' confidence in the future.

"CAP reform has been a huge cause of uncertainty but it is generally seen as positive.

We're comfortable with the future, " says Leggat.

Bidders sit on rows of hard benches, surrounded by silverhaired farmers in wax jackets and tweed caps. It comes as no surprise to learn the average age of a Scottish farmer is 58.

Leggat says there are real concerns about a loss of skills in this important sector of the economy. A sad reflection on a heritage which has seen animals from Scotland populate farms and ranches across the world for more than a century.

"All of the cattle which populated the Pampas in Argentina originated in Perth, " explains Leggat.

The mart's 20th century heyday was in the 1960s when overseas visitors filled a special gallery with their 10 gallon hats standing out among the tweed caps. In 1963, the mart achieved its record price of pounds-60,000 guineas for an Aberdeen Angus bull, which was shipped to New York State.

"At the time you could buy a Rolls Royce for pounds-5000 and a combine harvester for pounds-3000, " Leggat says.