Going once, going twice…
THE HEAT IS ON, STAKES ARE HIGH. SHEEP ARE ON SHOW AND BIDDERS ARE CIRCLING. IT’S A RAM AUCTION (AND MORE BESIDES) IN THE KAROO HEARTLAND
A ram auction, and fabulous farm living in the Karoo
‘DONT BLIKSEM THAT FLY,’ a friendly warning comes from one row back. ‘YOU MIGHT END UP WITH A PRIZE RAM TODAY’
We are under strict orders: do not move a muscle when the deal goes down. So we sit, immobile as sundown dassies, quiet as our very own kitchen mice.
But thereʼs a farmyard fly in the mix, and heʼs making still life difficult for us. He darts from Chrisʼ nose to my ear and back again. Clearly, we are his mission for the morning.
ʻDonʼt bliksem that fly,ʼ a friendly warning comes from one row back. ʻYou might end up with a prize ram today.ʼ
Despite the late summer Karoo heat in the marquee, no one in the crowd is using the supplied catalogues to ward off pesky flies. At perhaps 25 grand a pop, the Hobson & Steynberg 12th Dohne Merino auction on Ganora Farm outside Nieu-Bethesda is not the place for careless whispers or sudden movements.
Jakkie Nel, the auctioneer, hits his straps in full-on Graaffrikaans, that priceless Karoo patter that blends English, Afrikaans and the occasional Xhosa word into one sentence:
ʻLekker sterk, manlike kop. One of a twin. Besonderse goeie bouvorm. Thank you Fransie, jy kry jou ram. Alle voorspoed. Now here is a lovely ram, all his figures are there, hy hanteer sag and he has his whole life in front of him. Nine thousand rand. All done, all through, Iʼm lifting my hammer. Thank you madam, you get your ram, and can take it all the way to Aberdeen!
ʻWat sê jy, Kobus my ou maat? Mr Bailey, what about you? This one has length, this one has quality, I will knock it down to six thousand, itʼs your lucky day. Oh, itʼs a fly! I take that bid back.ʼ
A good Karoo auctioneer is a magical mix of televangelist, toastmaster and down-home familiar. He knows all the backroads, he knows all the beasts and he knows all the blokes.
We can listen to Jakkie Nel all day long. Heʼsa bit like that guy from the Gunston ad in the days of the old Rhodesian tobacco auctions.
IT’S A RAM’S LIFE
By early 2021, the Covid-19 pandemic and many years of drought and economic depression have sent the wool price down and the meat price rocketing. Itʼs been such a difficult time for farmers that Jan Peet Steynberg of Ganora has absolutely
no idea what to expect at his annual Dohne Merino ram auction in February.
If a farmer is seeking to build his flocks, it is the sire that makes the biggest difference in the long term. Money spent buying rams is a clear indication of hope and confidence in the future.
From the day it is born, every aspect of a top ramʼs life is scrutinised and recorded. It is weighed at 100 days when itʼs weaned. Then it goes out in the veld and toughens up. After 12 months, it is brought in, weighed again, and shorn for the first time. Samples of its fleece are sent to the fleece test centre in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), which will pronounce on its length, fineness, the yield and the weight of its clean wool.
At the age of 18 months, a promising ramʼs life turns distinctly weird for a month or two. Every January on Ganora, vet Roland Larson comes to do the fertility tests on the males likely to be sold at auction. He sits in a shed on a square box with a winder, wires and a copper rod. The rams are led in one by one, held immobile and anally probed while Dr Larson winds up the device to generate a quick electrical charge. This brief but mildly shocking procedure gives him enough semen to examine later under the microscope. To add to the indignity, the size of the ramʼs testicles are measured before it is released into a pen, eyes glazed and chest heaving.
The ramʼs fertility is, of course, paramount. It forms part of a dizzyingly complex formula of traits cryptically described on the auction catalogue. These include whether the ram was one of a twin or triplet (highly desirable), how many lambs its mother and father had (and how many were multiple births), its weight after weaning and after being on the veld, as well as the weight and fineness of its fleece.
Once the sheep are sold or shorn it’s time to dip into
THE UTTER KAROO MAGIC
of Ganora, beginning with
THAT SPIKEY MOUNTAIN
that seems to loom from every angle