View from the rostrum: Taking stock of the online benefits

Stephen Dodsworth on social challenges.

16 December 2022 • 3 min read

Stephen Dodsworth on social challenges.

At the time of writing, I am enjoying Facebook and viewing all the successes that our wonderful Christmas primestock sales bring us from all across the nation, these excellent events never fail to bring out the best in British farming.

So advanced now is technology that I can one minute watch my old mate all the way up in Caithness selling his winning lambs and then, with a tiny scroll of my thumb, be transported 700 miles south to catch updates from our counterparts in Exeter, or anywhere in between.

It has me pondering, is social media actually a healthy addition to our sale rings?

We livestream our cattle sales every week.

In the past couple of years we have had two, arguably three people genuinely thanking us for providing this service yet what feels like trillions of people complaining that the sound isn’t working.

Then they realise they have to click on the video to activate the sound and after they have done this they awaken to the fact they can’t understand the auctioneer anyway so, to complete their viewing experience, they then turn the sound off.

And then, we have our most frequent viewers. What say I about the vegan brigade which our woke society now holds in such high esteem?

Do I dare mention them in print or has free speech now reached a point where I cannot publicly disagree with this small percentage of people despite our obvious differences?

I know not why they torture themselves watching cattle auctions online. I am fond of the humble honeybee and thus do not choose to watch the great American almond harvest, it would be just too much for me to take.

They really do put themselves through the mill.

God bless our vegan viewers, saving the planet, one angry emoji at a time.

News travels fast, good or bad, therefore content placed online by a business such as ours must be accurate.

Unfortunately, the very generation which is most adept at using Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube have been let down so badly by the education system that they are largely incapable of using punctuation, capital letters or even basic spelling and arithmetic.

Expert buyer
If the Education Secretary is listening, might I suggest that to maintain a university place a candidate should read more books than they take selfies each term?

Everyone on social media has become an outstandingly brilliant auctioneer and valuer, not to mention an expert buyer, plus they all seem to have unlimited funds available.

Any video posted following a successful sale opens the floodgates for the keyboard warriors to come forth and do battle.

Too cheap, too dear or the sound is not working.

The most annoying however are always those who have better at home.

Believe me, when you see a successful sale of anything anywhere in the world some superhero pops up on Facebook who just happens to have something better at home.

The ‘better at home’ buffoons however rarely seem to show or sell a thing.

Lest we forget, there are good points here; advertising our forthcoming sales or stock to sell on farm is easier and more effective than ever before in this modern world of social media.

Thanks to social media, customers can ping us pictures and videos of their stock for sale which we can share instantly and machinery collective sales in particular seem to benefit from this.