NZSBA

Brodie, Thanks for your reply. Keep doing you because the world (and these forums )would be a boring place without your input. Would love some tips in writing, plenty of us are yet to be restricted by the TAB Having sold a yearling myself it's not as simple as breeding a mare to a commercial stallion and getting a result. Got $30k for a Muscle Hill colt and lost money in 2018. It will never be all rainbows and lollipops for every vendor. Nobody is under any illusions that the yearling sales is tough for any breeder to be a sustainable stream of revenue with all factors considered. You have to be realistic when there are on the surface a likely three and maybe four (Captain T this year's anomaly) commercial pacing stallions, are you better off spending the extra 5 or 6 k to go to Art Major and Captain T instead of rolling the dice at the sales with a Sportswriter or an unproven He's Watching. I have no doubt those sires can leave horses that can run, but there are other markets better suited to getting those breeder/owners returns. American Ideal has proven he can leave a freak and the buyers for the most part leave him alone. Same said with Rock N Roll Heaven, Shadow Play etc. You can get a solid return for the right type (look at Roll With Joe prices), but again a lot of mitigating factors at play over 2.5 years of an investment. It makes my job slightly easier when vendors can see a sales company prepared to do things outside the box and utilise the resources available to get the most out of our product for all stakeholders involved. What is encouraging is to get feedback from many who have sat on the fence the last few years in respect to breeding mares come to me and say they are prepared to roll the dice and invest in an industry they love when there is some renewed reason for optimism. The only sustainable means in which we can increase breeding numbers is to raise stake money, and we all know that is driven by turnover. Land prices, vet bills, stud fees etc have all risen dramatically, yet stake money has remained stagnant. This is outside the hands of NZ Bloodtsock and the NZSBA, particularly with our limited funding and resources. What we are able to do is advocate and facilitate on behalf of those still involved, and try to engage them as well as HRNZ with practical information, research and support to aid in the improvement of our product. Better utilisation, less wastage etc. While we are trying to attract new investors to the industry, it's imperative we retain our current breeders in the interim. The age demographics are truly scary with only 7% of breeders under the age of 40. We have a big few years ahead of us to dissect and respond to many of the challenges we are faced with. Believe you me it won't be for lack of trying and it's far easier to do this when everyone in the waka is paddling in the same direction! Cheers Brad

One minor error is the 25-35k lots. Should be 24 for 2019 and 10 for 2018

Don't let the truth get in the way of a good yarn Brodie. Bettor's advertised Service Fee when these yearlings were in Utero was $16,000 + GST. Nearly every commercial breeder (which let's face it, most at that price are) gets a 20% discount for simply using a preferred semen base. That gets us to a service fee of $14,720 GST inclusive. A far cry from your $30k figure. Yes, yearlings coming through next year will be at the $25k advertised fee, but after 20% and including GST that's 23K. Still way off $30k. Looking at the analysis given by another user, the majority would be comfortable at this year's prices and averages. NZB will be providing some very useful buyer indexes as well as sires by average information. And don't forget the clearance rate is still climbing and will be over 80% in AKL and likely north of 90% in CHCH which is tidy by anyone's math. "Oh, but there were 60 fewer horses catalogued in Christchurch." Not true. Last year there was a supplementary sale which had its own name and its own set of averages. Here's a snippet of same basic analysis from last years Premiere Sale in CHCH compared with this year run by NZB. Every indicator is up. Top lots, middle lots and fewer poor sales. There were only 5 more horses sold last year, so the numbers are practically identical. Quit with the narrative it was a failure, because it was far from it. Yes, there were still vendors who copped a blood nose, but that is market forces for you and the same at any sale. Those who missed out will have an opportunity to sell in April, and still, have their yearlings Sale Series eligible. And given time, the yearlings will potentially be improved from where they were in February, particularly the late foals. Cheers Brad NZSBA