Sable

The marks

• Gold circle: the sire, or the bull she is bred to, is in the top horn group for this species.
• Silver circle: the next horn group.
• Star: his own horn reaches that group (males).
• Bronze P: pedigreed (named sire, named or measured bred-to bull, or his own measured horn), but below the top two groups or horn not listed.
• Gray horn alone: the notes name no sire, no bred-to bull and no horn we can read.

The table

• Each row is a horn group.
• Typical price: the middle price paid for animals in that group.
• Sales: how many sales it is based on. Fewer sales, less sure.
• The last row holds everything below the groups or with no sire horn listed.

Young animals

• Horns keep growing for years, to about: 4 blackbuck, gazelles, impala · 5 nyala · 6 kudu, eland, buffalo · 7 sheep and goats. Deer antlers grow until about 5½ (red stag 8).
• Sable, roan and oryx grow fast to about 4, then keep adding about 1″ every 18 months for life, so every bull is compared at 6: a younger bull is projected up to 6, an older one (age written with the tape) down to 6.
• If the notes give his age, we work out his full length: measured length ÷ how much he has grown so far.
• It never goes past the longest horn sold for that species, and the steps are shown so you can check them.
• A young animal is priced by the longer of that and his sire's horn.

Price estimate

• We find the animals most like this one that sold at auction: same species and sex, similar horn or sire, age, and bred or not.
• The estimate is the middle of what they brought.
• Recent sales count most: a sale a year old counts half.
• For an auction lot we only use sales made before it.
• Prices vary a lot: 8 in 10 animals sell inside the range shown, and more than half within 25% of the estimate.
• Premium catalog sales often bring more; charity lots include a donation.
• Tap "See the sales used" to check them.