Reporting from a very special poultry sale

Grant Brereton meets a respected breeder

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Have you ever heard the name ‘Richard Bett’ when it comes to pure breeds? You might not have,  but in a nutshell he is undeniably one of the biggest names in exhibition poultry today. What sets him apart is his ability to keep, breed and show a variety of different pure breeds to an exceptionally high standard. He’s been doing this for decades and when the classic shows were on, he’d always take a team of 120 birds. As you can imagine, he was often in the honours list come awards time.

Richard was mentored by poultry author and judge, the late Ian Kay, who many in our world regard as one of the leading authorities on pure breeds. For a number of different reasons, including logistics and not getting any younger, Richard decided that he would drastically reduce his stock of poultry and waterfowl. A ‘one-off’ sale was proposed for November of last year, including enlisting a proper auctioneer and professional penning company.