PGG Wrightson auctioneer Ross McKee at work at the 64th annual Gore Dog Sale in 2021. Photo / Shawn McAvinue
A lack of entries forced the cancellation of the 66th annual Gore Dog Sale yesterday, an auctioneer says.
PGG Wrightson auctioneer Ross McKee, of Riversdale, said if entries did not increase for the dog sale next year, it could spell the end of the event.
“If there’s not enough dogs stumped up next year, it will be canned ... I’d say that will be the last nail in the coffin.”
A “bare minimum” of more than 45 dogs needed to be entered to warrant the annual sale being held at Charlton Saleyards.
Fewer than 30 dogs had been entered when the decision was made to cancel the sale.
“Jokers don’t train them now like they used to.”
More than 50 dogs were featured at the sale last year.
Entries to the sale had been “dwindling over the years”.
He recalled a time when the sale featured about 100 dogs.
“Forty years ago it was a two-day sale - heading dogs one day and huntaways the next.”
He recalled the event being cancelled once before, more than a decade ago, also because of a lack of entries.
Entry numbers increased the following year to warrant holding the sale again.
He doubted changing the date or location of the sale would increase entries.
“It’s not the time of year, it’s the lack of numbers - they’re not out there.”
Dogs were being traded on social media which reduced the number of dogs available to be entered in the sale.
Farmer George Broughton (60), of Scotts Gap in Western Southland, said he usually presented dogs at the sale.
“One or two every year for a few years.”
He planned to present a huntaway and a heading dog at the sale this year but word of them spread and he had sold them both privately.
Social media had changed the game but he had never used the technology to sell a dog.
“Occasionally, I’ll advertise in a newspaper.”
The sale was held at a good time of the year because farmers were wanting dogs before lambing.
He would enter dogs in the sale next year if he had any available.
“You don’t always have one. I’ve got other young ones but they’re not at that level where you can walk out in front of a crowd and expect a result - you just make the dog and yourself look bad.”
If the sale stopped for good it would be a shame for the wider farming community in the South.
“The dog sale is a social gathering, where you catch up with a lot of people and that would be lost. People came from far and wide for a yarn.”
An ambitious project to rid Southland of pests has been put on hold amid financial issues.