Dexter Cattle Auction The Farmers' Country Showdown

Across the country,

thousands of farming families work tirelessly around the clock.

Pick them up, Isabel!

Well done!

Here they come!

Shake it, baby, shake it!

But there's one day each year...

Come on, girl. Up we go.

..where they get to leave the daily routine behind.

These are show days...

-MC:

-Welcome to the Pembrokeshire County Show.

..where they come together as a community...

Salute!

..to showcase the fruits of their labour...

Had a quick look at the competition. I'm in with a chance.

..and try to win prizes for their breed champions...

Well done. Wahey!

It's show business, folks!

..and award-winning projects.

-I got first?!

-You got first!

I had the last two jars!

There will be highs...

SHE GIGGLES

-..and lows...

-No, no, no, no, no!

..for the dedicated farmers who give everything to walk away a champion.

No way!

For thousands of years, all sorts of livestock

has been found in southwest England's breathtaking landscape.

-Go on, then.

-One of them is the Dexter cow.

Once considered rare, it's now making its return.

Let's have a little scratch, eh?

Standing less than 50 inches high,

they're fast becoming a popular breed for beef and dairy.

We didn't realise that they're cattle with attitude.

Today, we're meeting two families

who have taken on this unique animal.

Jeff and Bev Munsey, and Kim Sharpe.

We enjoy it. There's not a day that goes by that we don't enjoy it.

Go on, off we go.

They're getting ready to attend the Sedgemoor Livestock Auction...

Up we come.

..for its once-a-year special rare-breed sale day.

Sorry, I'm a total novice!

-I don't know what I'm doing!

-210, 220!

220!

Auctions are a familiar stomping ground for Kim.

480, 500! Thank you!

-500...

-But this will be a first for Jeff and Bev.

240! 240! Out wide!

I think this could be quite addictive, you know, Jeff?

Aye, could well be.

Nestled in the heart of Exmoor's National Park

is the home of Jeff and Bev Munsey.

A beautiful day, isn't it?

Here, on their 63-acre farm, they keep a small herd of Dexter cattle,

and a flock of sheep.

Along with pigs, a dozen or so goats, geese, ducks and chickens,

there are even ten alpacas.

And a few pets, as well.

Jeff and Bev...

OK, Bev, should we go check on the sheep?

..both in their 60s, are relatively new farmers.

They moved to Knighton Farm six years ago.

Before then, they both ran a successful manufacturing company.

I've been in factories all my life. I've always been in engineering.

So, this was something completely different.

We had a sheet-metal company, making all sorts of products.

And it was good fun building the company, and it gave us a good life.

But having built it, just running it day to day was a bit mundane

and would get more difficult.

So, we thought we'd try something different.

Come on, then!

Breakfast time!

It was Bev that came up with the idea for a new life.

I've always had a hankering for farming.

And then we got together, I sort of...

-Talked me into it.

-Talked you into it, yes!

It was never... I don't think it was ever in my radar, but...

Once I got into it, I thought, "Yeah, this is really good."

And despite the hard work, they haven't looked back.

I'm going to be doing some fencing down at the bottom next.

-Well, maybe even this week. So, it's time I fixed this, really.

-Yeah.

There are downsides but, overall, it's great.

Look at where we work. Look at it.

-It's fantastic!

-Better than your average factory.

For Jeff, the transition from engineering,

where everything is built on precision, to farming

has been the biggest challenge.

I think I love farming because...it's the freedom.

I plan my days, and every day it goes wrong.

-Well, it goes differently.

-That's for sure!

Yeah, that's a better way of putting it.

You cannot plan 100% in what we're doing.

It's just nice, you just go with the flow.

It's frustrating at times, but a lot of the time, it's just brilliant.

Jeff and Bev now lead the idealistic lifestyle

the couple had always dreamt of.

Livestock farming was only part of the dream.

For Bev, it was the beginning of a new lease of life -

from spinning wool from their alpacas and sheep

to becoming an artisan baker.

This is for my market stand in Dulverton on Wednesdays.

There's my produce and...

..there's also home-made cakes

and preserves,

and various craft things.

So, I have all my alpaca stuff there, as well.

Farming means you can grow and rear your own ingredients,

and Bev's savoury pastries are an excellent example.

Yes, definitely our own pork.

I started with sausage rolls because they're always fairly popular,

aren't they? I'd like to come up

with a real range of different pasties, you know?

Beef and Stilton, that kind of thing. That would be nice.

This kind of life has been something I've really always wanted to do.

But I guess it, in many ways, seems like a dream.

Jeff's more a city... or he was more a city person,

but soon realised the advantages of it

and I think he's adapted to it even better than I have now, really.

Keen to put his engineering know-how to use,

Jeff pooled his knowledge into making their farm

as self-sufficient as possible.

We run a biomass boiler,

and that heats the farmhouse and the cottages.

It runs off logs,

so it has to be fed manually.

And you have to be there.

You can't just leave it all the time on its own.

We went that route because we can be self-sufficient on our own land.

And it just seems the right thing to do to it.

But it is difficult to keep up with.

Farm life is... it's on its own, I think.

It's a completely different way of life.

It's very physical

and it's 24 hours a day.

So you have to, I think, be the right frame-of-mind person to do it.

And like everything in life, you can only find out by doing it.

I'm envious of the guys that have done it since being kids,

because they've got all the experience,

they've got everything sorted out.

Whereas I'm years behind them.

But we'll catch up.

Still in Somerset, 16 miles up the road, is the town of Minehead.

This is home to 23-year-old Kim.

Kim is also new to farming,

and rents 120 acres of scattered farmland with her parents,

Nikki and Kevin.

This means they have to spend a lot of time

travelling between the various rented sites.

The dream is to eventually buy their own farm.

So, our main holding up here is about 80 acres.

We've got another three acres, half a mile.

We've got 40 acres out at Timberscombe,

which is about four miles, five miles.

It's just a case of grabbing what we can,

because we haven't got a farm that's got it all.

It's quite a challenge, having all the animals in different places,

because it takes up a lot of time.

With land scattered around the area,

a rented barn is the closest thing to their farming headquarters.

It may not be theirs,

but the views over the Bristol Channel make up for a lot.

Like most farmers, work for Kim begins early.

Daily routine - come to the farm, check the turkeys first,

because they're the easiest ones to do, really.

We can just make sure that everything is happy.

We give them mirrors to look at each other.

They spend ages just pecking the mirrors

and looking at themselves, looking at their reflection.

Anything they can peck at, scratch at,

enables them to stop pecking and scratching each other, really.

We started with turkeys just because it was another animal I could have,

and something else I could try.

And then we literally just do them now to give them away to landlords,

family and friends. And it's just a bit of fun, really,

and something we produce at Christmas.

And we know that we've produced it so it tastes good on Christmas Day.

Kim was just 16 when she realised she wanted to become a farmer.

So, I started seven years ago.

Sweet-talked the parents around to it.

Purchased my first cow and calf, called Cornflower,

and since then I've got the bug.

That Christmas, my parents bought me my first show cow on Christmas Day.

You came up with the idea,

I think you put a tinsel collar on this cow, didn't you?

Yeah, we left her in the field.

And just left her in the field for Kim to discover.

There was snow on the ground, it was lovely.

She just spotted this extra cow and she thought, "That's not mine.

"What's going on with our cattle?" And so, "Well, go and have a look."

And she just went over and she just started crying.

Now 23, Kim has had to overcome many hurdles by learning on the job.

It's been quite a challenge, being a young woman

trying to get into farming.

A lot of people laughed and thought, "Oh, yeah,

"she's just a girl with a small cow and she's not going to go very far."

Especially through the teenage years of people kind of

taking the mick because you're not out partying all the time,

you're on the farm.

Actually, looking back, it's just pushed me even harder.

With that fearless and determined attitude,

Kim and her parents have built up a herd of 50 cattle.

And to make owning a farm a reality,

they are working twice as hard to get there.

Kim trained as a veterinary nurse.

She now works in a livestock identification company.

They supply the farming industry with monitored numbered tags.

So, this is my day job.

I changed jobs about 18 months ago,

took it on so it was more 8 till 5,

so I had time to focus on the farm, really flexible hours,

and it kind of suits, it's still in the farming sector.

It's quite nice in the day to work in the office

when it's raining, because you are inside

and you know you're kind of earning your money without getting wet.

Kim's dad Kevin also splits his time between his full-time job

as an engineer at the water board and helping to run the farm.

This is a family that never has a weekend off.

Seems like a lot of work some days.

Everyone has days when they are feeling really energetic

and up with it, and other days...

Like, there was a day last week when we went home

and had a cup of tea first and sat down

and we sat down and we sat down!

But we enjoy it.

There is not a day that goes by where we don't enjoy it.

It is also dictated by the workload, isn't it?

If you've got hay on the ground and the weather's turning,

-you've got to work the clock round.

-You have got to crack on.

But it is hard work between all the different places we've got to go.

You spend most of your time running around just travelling to different

fields here, there and everywhere, even though they're...

a couple of acres here, a couple of acres there, but...

Yeah, it enables us to survive as we are,

but we can't sustain this lifestyle going forward

unless we can pull all the land together.

-Pull it together...

-It has to be in one block.

-Expand and go further.

Make it a proper business.

But despite their plans for the future,

they've found farming to be a tricky and unpredictable industry.

Last year, disaster struck when the family were dealt a serious blow.

25% of Kim's cattle were struck by tuberculosis

and had to be destroyed,

including some of her champion stock.

With bills to pay, Kim was forced to come up with a plan

and that plan was to buy sheep.

There's always a market for lamb,

so we went out and bought a load more

and we have built them up from there.

I enjoy lambing, as well, so it is quite nice to have that.

Come on, girls!

Come on!

Come here!

So, we've got about 150 sheep in total, and these are the 100 ewes

that are in here that are ready to go to the ram

in a couple of weeks' time.

It's just their lambs that are left over, which are retainers.

The ewe lambs of last year will stay on

and the others will get fattened and go to market.

With extra livestock to care for,

Kim and Kevin increased their workload but saved the farm.

I would say it is a little bit tough

having to come out in all weathers, but it's not too bad.

When it is driving rain and you have just got home from work and you have

a quick cup of tea and you have to go out in it, it's not so nice.

Just down the road, Jeff and Bev are busy with their Dexter cows.

A breed native to Ireland,

they were originally introduced to England in 1882.

The tallest Dexters reach the dizzy height of 50 inches

and produce excellent, flavoursome beef. They are commonly known

as the smallholder's favourite across the world.

He knows, don't you?

We went into Dexters because,

not being experienced farmers,

we thought, well, small cows, nice and easy to handle.

-Wrong.

-Wrong.

They are a bit like deer, really.

They jump fences and kick their heels up quite a lot.

COW MOOS

Getting the Dexters was definitely Jeff's idea.

Yes, I thought the cows would be a good idea because I like beef.

So, we started looking at them at shows and thought,

"Oh, these are a nice, manageable size."

But we didn't realise that they're cattle with attitude.

Absolutely right, yes.

If you ask a Dexter to turn left, he will turn right,

without any doubt at all.

From a simple dream six years ago of rearing cattle...

..their farm has grown into so much more.

We started with two cows. They have since gone on,

but we have bred from their offspring, as well,

and here we are with our new bull and his new harem.

There it is, there it is, there it is.

Clearly, when we started, we knew absolutely nothing about cattle,

or any of the animals, to be fair, and you learn some by mistake,

some by asking and some just by observation, really,

spend time with them,

watch them, try and understand their behaviour.

All right, Titus? You all right there, mate?

Let's have a little scratch, eh?

You get to know what to do and what not to do

because it would be quite painful if you didn't, to be honest.

Their current herd of Dexters has reached its limit

because too many of the animals share the same bloodline.

These five will be going to market

because they are related to our bull, so obviously,

we can't breed from them, and five is too many

to keep on the farm over winter, so we are hoping they will sell.

They are all good pedigree, they are all good specimens,

so they should, in theory, do well.

This is the first time Jeff and Bev

will be selling cattle at an auction,

so with no experience they are hitting the internet

to do a bit of research.

We are just looking through a website with some Dexters on

to see if we can get an idea of prices.

It's difficult to know what to expect, isn't it?

We have never done it before so, yeah.

It varies by year, but prices can run between £200

and £2,000 for a Dexter cow.

You know, anything can happen on the day, really.

I suppose, like any auction,

if two people want it, the price will go up.

-If nobody wants it, well...

-Aww.

We bring it home.

Oh, dear. No, that is not going to happen.

-No.

-We'll come home with an empty trailer.

And a full wallet.

Come on, then.

Kim and Kevin have poured all their efforts into growing their herd

of Dexters so are hoping for a good price on auction day.

They now have the difficult task of deciding

which cows they think will fetch the best price.

This heifer here will go up.

Then there's the red heifer, 46.

-Yeah.

-And the black heifer, 45.

-Oh, right, you're taking three?

-Yeah, three, and then the bull.

-Yeah?

-Yeah, that's fine.

Take them up. This one here, 47.

All registered livestock in the UK are numbered

but pedigree breeds are also given individual names.

So, we've got Midnight Montana,

we've got Malibu, Sambuca,

Tequila, Archers...

..Blossom Hill. I forget them all now.

The list goes on.

The auction sales are the source of Kim's success,

and her father just can't help having a moment of pride.

In seven years, you've gone from one cow to 45 plus.

-Mm.

-Two years later, we brought a couple of sheep on

and you're up to nearly 200 sheep.

That sort of stuff just doesn't happen on its own,

it isn't an accident. The problem I've got with this,

if I tell you how proud I am of you

and how much you've achieved in such a short time,

then you're just going to hold me to ransom with it.

And next time we want to have a debate and a fall-out

and we're working hard together, I can't tell you.

I can't put into words how much it means to see you

follow my passion.

Oh, my God!

It is an amazingly powerful feeling of pride.

It's finally time to get ready for the auction.

I'm pretty nervous about the auction, I think.

I'd like to think whoever buys them will do right by them,

but, obviously, that's out of your control at that point.

I'm still a bit on the nail-biting side,

but I'm hoping I'll calm down by the time I get there.

As long as there's lots of bidders there, we'll be fine.

As well as the three heifers,

Kim will also be entering her young bull.

HE MOOS

Yes, I know.

So, hopefully, at Sedgemoor, we'll get the reserve price,

-or a bit more would be lovely.

-A bit more would be a bonus.

He certainly deserves it.

He's got to be worth 600, hasn't he?

Yeah. I don't know if we can show people he's this quiet.

It's a desirable feature, isn't it, being a nice, quiet boy.

And that's it. He's just a baby, isn't he?

-You've got to grow.

-Lovely boy.

No, I think that's something to be proud of.

Kim's bull is halter trained, and so loading is a fairly simple affair.

Up we come.

Good lad.

However, Jeff has not trained his, so he's come up with a plan.

I'm just going to walk through their pen into the trailer,

out of the passenger door, with the bucket of feed,

and, hopefully, they'll follow me.

Sounds good in theory.

Come on, then.

Perhaps it's time for plan B -

the old waving-your-arms trick.

In we go. Come on, girl.

Go on, off we go.

Up we go.

Good lad.

That's it. That was no problem, was it?

Both our farming families have worked hard to build their herds.

They are hoping to get the best prices they can at the auction,

if they are to continue growing.

It's 6.30am on Thursday

and the first of the sellers have just started to arrive.

Sedgemoor Auction in Somerset is one of the largest auction houses

in the country. By the end of today,

just under 2,000 animals will have changed hands.

Today's rare-breed auction only happens once a year,

so buyers and sellers travel from far and wide to be part of it.

Today, we've got a lot of Dexters, excellent turnout, excellent entry.

It's lovely, because it's a different audience,

it's a different clientele.

You know, we see the rare-breed smallholders once a year

and they come out and it's their day and they have a great day.

Hundreds of people come through,

because not only are the rare breeds having their sale,

there's lots of poultry, there's a furniture sale,

all the other stalls are open

if you want to buy a cauliflower or a battery, everything's here.

The day will follow a strict timetable.

Before the auction begins, there's a red-rosette competition.

Our farmers will have to get a move on

if they want their Dexters to be in it.

-How exciting! Oh, that's sheep.

-It says cows.

For our auction newbies,

the first thing to do is to figure out how everything works.

Apparently, all the pens are marked with names,

but I haven't been able to find ours.

Oh, excuse me. Sorry.

Sorry, I'm a total novice, I don't know what I'm doing.

Um, these are ours.

Oh, right, in the Dexters? OK.

Finally, they've found their spot.

That's good!

-It's OK, girls.

-Oh, what a mess you've made.

You have, haven't you?

What a mess you've made!

We've brought five with us.

The oldest one's about 13 months

and the rest are down to about six months.

Come on, let's go. Come on, then.

Our main aim is for them all to go.

We need to have them away from the bull over winter

when we bring them all in, because they're his daughters.

It's more important for us to go home empty

than to get the maximum price, really.

Although that obviously would be very nice indeed.

Of course, yes. So, if we get the right bidders.

-Who knows?

-Who knows, yeah.

For Kim and Kevin, price is a little more important.

Good lad.

So, they've put a reserve of £600 on their bull.

The three heifers will go for less,

but Kim needs to get at least £250 on each.

The aim of today is obviously to sell the animals for a good price,

but it is also about reputation, and people see you out and about.

People know who I am from the shows anyway,

but it's all about advertising, knowing who we are,

knowing what we stand for.

The bull's down over there, the heifers are here.

They all seem quite happy at the moment.

So, yeah, we just preparing them now ready for the show and sale.

It's always quite a nervous time.

You have a look at other people's animals and, you know,

you worry that yours aren't enough.

But, no, I'm happy with them.

We know we've bred them ourselves,

it's what we want to breed, so hopefully...

Not wanting to get lost again,

Jeff and Bev head off for a bit of orientation

and to find the auction hall.

Shall we have a wander down and have a quick look at the pigs?

Yes, have a quick look at the pigs.

The Sedgemoor auction facility is the biggest in the southwest.

Open since 2008,

some 3 million animals have been traded here over the years.

Livestock auctions date back centuries

and are still an essential part of the rural economy today.

-Well, that's a magnificent pair of horns. Look at that.

-Yeah...

-Woo.

However, there are other distractions

to make it feel like more of a day out.

-If you stand this side, you'll avoid the temptation.

-OK.

We are just looking around, seeing if we can find the sale ring.

-See where we'll end up with the Dexters.

-Yeah...

I suppose if we go back through here...

Finally, they find that all-important auction room.

-All ready for the action.

-Yeah.

Is that good? Do you think they can get the cheque this far?

But first on the agenda is the cattle competition,

under Dexter expert Bernard Stamp's watchful eye.

A lovely selection of Dexters here today.

When I'm judging the Dexters, I'm looking for...

my main thing is walking.

Feet on the Dexters are very, very important.

We know the judge that's judging today and he's someone

who gives advice as well, so if we've got a good animal

and he doesn't think so, he'll always tell us what's wrong with it

or where we could go right or where we could go wrong.

I do enjoy the judging side of it

and I shall look forward to sorting them out

and find out who's the best. I hope!

A win could mean a higher price in today's auction.

For Jeff and Bev, a rosette or two would mean even more.

Because we don't show generally, or haven't done,

we're not well known on the circuit, if you like,

so we're not a name that people would automatically come to mind

if people were looking to buy stock.

So this could be the first step on that...on that ladder.

Can I see him walk now?

First up is Kim's bull.

A good result here could mean his price rockets.

OK, turn him round.

OK.

Just wait and see now and see after he's judged the rest

and see what happens. So...

-Just got to wait for the handshake, hopefully.

-Yep.

For Jeff, what he's seen so far has got him worried.

Just watching him now, I think we're going to struggle a little bit,

because our cows aren't halter trained,

so he'll have to judge them with them just running up and down,

so he won't be able to feel them and what have you.

So, that probably won't work out too well for us.

Are you showing yours?

-Yeah.

-All heifers?

Yeah. All youngsters. They're not halter trained or anything, though.

-Oh, you haven't got them trained?

-No.

How can I judge them if they're not halter trained?

A man of your experience!

-Make them run up and down here, they'll be fine.

-Yeah.

All fingers crossed, as the untrained Dexters

take to the catwalk.

Keep going, keep going. Come on.

Good girl, well done.

Come on, then. Up, up, up.

That's one done.

Now for the next runner.

Come on, then.

Up, up, up!

This one doesn't want to go back into her pen again.

Jeff and Bev have a nervous wait

until Bernard finishes judging their group.

Kim's good news has arrived early.

Her bull has taken first prize.

Good result.

Yep, so now he can go into the ring with his rosette

and, hopefully, we'll get a good price for him.

So... And if not, we know he's got potential,

so we'll keep him on and sell him at another time.

Win-win all round.

Finally, Jeff and Bev can find out the results.

Here comes the judge.

-Well done.

-Thank you very much.

-Stand there, you've got some more to come yet.

-Oh, how exciting.

You've got second, third and fourth, so you've done very well.

Oh, wow, that's fantastic.

Despite no halter training, they've won their first rosettes ever,

an excellent way to show their cows off to potential buyers.

-Oh.

-Not a bad result, then.

-That's wonderful, isn't it?

I thought one rosette would be wonderful.

Well done, girls.

There's a space here for number one, though, isn't there?

Yes, next time, next time.

Staring with quiet pride.

I think this could be quite addictive, you know, Jeff.

Aye, could well be.

-You've got to be happy with that, haven't you?

-Yeah, really happy.

-You happy with the bull?

-Happy with the bull, yes.

Amongst the Dexters today, there are other rare breeds up for sale.

Shetland sheep were also once put on the rare-breed list

but now they're thriving. They even have their own farmers' society.

On the mainland, there are probably about 6,500 to 7,000 sheep.

On the islands, I really wouldn't like to guess

but I'll bet there are about 200,000 sheep, if not more.

Devil of a lot of sheep on the islands, I can tell you.

Shetland sheep's wool does not have guard hairs,

so you get less of that itchy feeling from your jumper.

It's this unique characteristic that has driven a surge

in the popularity of this sheep and helped the numbers to grow.

Shetland wool is the finest wool

that you will find on any breed of sheep,

possibly apart from merino,

who could possibly compete with it,

but Shetland has the advantage

that it's got 10 or 11 natural colours.

It's the ongoing commitment of these devoted farmers

and auction houses like Sedgemoor

that keep these rare breeds going.

BELL RINGS

The bell signals the start of the sale.

As with all livestock auctions,

the prices today will be in old-fashioned money.

When you buy pedigree animals, you pay in guineas.

And a guinea is £1 and 5p.

And the 5p goes to the auctioneer and the pound goes to the seller.

It is an historical thing that's happened for ever

and it's nice to keep those traditions going.

I'm feeling almost calm.

It is a bit nervous, I suppose, just not knowing what's going to happen,

but it will be interesting to see.

Yes, there's quite a bit of excitement about it, I think.

We really don't what to expect.

Auctioneer Robert Venner is taking today's sale

and at an average of 200 lots an hour,

things could get off to a speedy start.

An auction is very, very simple.

Somebody offers an animal,

somebody wants to buy it,

the auctioneer offers that animal,

the buyer indicates that they want to buy through bidding,

and that can be a wink or it can be a flick of the thumb

or just a glance even, and keep going, keep going

until everyone's stopped bidding

and then you seal the contract by knocking your gavel down.

So, at the point of sale, when that gavel goes down,

that's sealing the contract.

Right, then, welcome to Sedgemoor.

If you haven't been with us before,

we are, of course, today, selling in guineas.

First up are Kim's three heifers.

This is Kim's Malibu.

A pretty heifer, what a lovely deep colour about her.

She's hoping to get a minimum of 250 guineas for each.

Straight in there, a couple of hundred.

200. 20. 220.

40. 60. 80.

300. 300.

10, I will. 310.

310. You've got to do it again.

At 20. 320.

30. 330. 330. 340.

At 340, bid seated.

At 340, 340, 340.

340.

340, seated.

340 guineas is an excellent result for Kim,

above what she was hoping for.

At 200, 200, 10.

210, 20, 220, 30, 230.

A second heifer is struggling to make the 250 reserve price.

230, 230, 230.

40. 240. 240. 240.

Can I sell it? 240, out wide.

-240.

-Needing to make an instant decision, Kim lets her go for 240.

At 260, 70, 80,

280, 90, 290.

But the last one is doing better.

310, 320, fresh blood.

30. You're back in.

At 330. 330, 330.

That was Gillard, thank you very much.

That's all three of Kim's heifers sold,

making an impressive total of 955 guineas.

We like the look of them. The blacks are more common, aren't they,

than the reds and the duns?

So, we wanted to increase our reds and dun numbers.

But it was their age, as well, obviously.

Their age and their colour, and just what we're looking for.

We got a good price for the heifers at the sale.

We spoke with the people that have bought a couple of them

and I'm really happy they've gone there.

Right in there, a couple of hundred. A couple of hundred, who can?

100, where? Surely?

100 I've got, 100. 10.

Jeff and Bev's five young heifers are up next.

170. 80, 180.

With no reserves on price, they are counting on them all selling.

220. Lady's bid.

220.

Buyers will be keeping an eye on a variety of characteristics

that will affect their bid...

..140, 150.

..such as size, age, gender and bloodline.

140, 60.

Tick all the boxes, and you can expect a good price.

At 200, 200. 200.

Jeff and Bev's five heifers have reached a total of 1,000 guineas.

So, we've finished.

All ours have sold. Excellent.

Yeah, good results, and we're not taking any home.

Now it's Kim's last sale for today, her prize bull,

and she's hoping for a good price.

Good boy. To make sure everyone sees him at his best,

she's taking the lead,

and she will not accept under 600 guineas him.

220, 50, 250, 80, 300.

320, 50, 350, 80. 380, 400.

At 400, 20.

420, 50, 450, 80, 480. At 480? 500, thank you. 500.

At 500, 20, 520, 40, 540.

60, 560, 80, 580.

At 580, 580, 580.

At 580, 580, 580, 580, 580, 580, 580, 580, 580?

All done at 580? I'm sorry, we weren't quite there.

The bull hasn't quite met its reserve price,

so he will be going back to the farm with Kim.

The bull behaved well, even though he didn't sell.

There's obviously interest in him.

We know we're in the right kind of figure we want for him.

Another 20 quid and he'd have gone, wouldn't he?

But... If you don't have a figure to stick to...

It's the same when you're buying.

There's no point in underselling, there's no point in overbuying.

To see her hold her own in this environment is something special.

The cattle auction has finished and our farming families

can be pleased they are going home with lighter trailers.

It went really well.

Everything sold, the prices were reasonable.

Yeah, it was great. It was very quick.

I feel great.

I can't wait to come and do another one now.

Better get some cows breeding, hadn't we?

The Sedgemoor Livestock Auction has come to an end for another day.

Most of the special and rare-breed animals have found new homes.

It's been a challenging year.

Both of our families have come along leaps and bounds

in the short time they've been farming.

For Jeff and Bev, their first auction has been a success,

and perhaps the start of a new way to bring in an income.

My first experience of Sedgemoor has been really good, to be honest.

We've sold everything, it was easy,

the prices weren't too bad and we're going home with an empty truck,

so, yeah, a good day.

I think this is really quite a major step forward for us.

It's something we've never done before.

I'll definitely be back.

And maybe with some pigs or something else, as well.

When we looked around, we were thinking,

"Well, some of our animals would do really well here."

They're good quality stock, so, yes, we'll be back.

Come on, girls.

Kim's walked away with an even stronger reputation

and more determination than ever to keep building her farm.

I think today we've achieved a good reputation,

a good price and there's smiles all round.