The American buyers were well represented, and the popularity
of the vendor brought a great crowd of home buyers, so that the sale
went off with spirit. I chanced to sit next to the veterinary surgeon
who attended my own stock as well as the herd on offer, and it was
amusing to hear his confidential communications as the animals were
sold at huge prices. He knew their faults and weaknesses
professionally, and it was no breach of confidence, when a cow had
passed through the ring and extracted a big figure from an American
buyer, to whisper them in my ear. I noticed that the Americans, no
doubt with commissions to buy a particular strain of pedigree,
appeared to pay more attention to the catalogue than to the cattle
themselves, and I saw some sold at fancy prices, which I should really
have been sorry to see in my own non-pedigree herd. The sale was a
great success, from the vendor's point of view at any rate, and I
think the average exceeded seventy guineas all round, including calves
only a few months old.
Some years later I visited Shipston-on-Stour with two friends to
attend a shorthorn sale in that neighbourhood. Mr. Thornton, the
well-known pedigree salesman, was the auctioneer. He waited about for
a long time after the hour fixed for the sale, until it became evident
that something had gone wrong.
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