Kudu Bull under the hammer

LEPHALALE – There was a palpable sense of excitement in Ellisras (Lephalale) on Saturday 22 August 2009 at the Renken Game Pens when auctioneer, Corne du Plessis from CDP Auctioneering Services achieved the highest price yet for a 63” Kudu bull. The kudu sold for a record price of R96,000.  Game farming is big business, it is estimated that more than $1.5-billion dollars has been invested by private landowners in game farms occupying over 11-million hectares. A range of specialist services including; game capture units, auctioneering, specialist breeders, helicopter services and wildlife consultants have been established to support the industry and together these services are rumoured to generate an annual turnover exceeding $100-million.
Keeping the crowd entertained while urging the audience to place their bids is all in a day’s work for auctioneer, Corne Du Plessis. Corne’s gregarious and engaging personality has made him well known among Lephalale residents. He always has time to “kuier ‘n bietjie” with the locals. He started off using his auctioneering skills at auctions held by churches, businesses and other institutions and in 2007 he developed his own auctioneering company, CDP Auctioneers.
Corne brings to the auction his great sense of humour and honour, making the auction an enjoyable and successful event.  “I love the interaction and the excitement as the bids build,” says Corne. “Being an auctioneer requires resourcefulness as well as motivation. You need to have excellent people skills in order to monitor the crowd’s feelings and simultaneously be able to entertain an audience while trying to extract bids from serious buyers.”