In the Feb/ March 2018 Auction NAFA will be offering the few wild fur species that are in demand ( except Lynx ) at the end of a long day of ranch mink offerings.

Feb 27 Coyote
Feb 28 Lynx
March 1 Lynx Cat
March 2 Sable (followed by 12,500 ranch fox)
March 3 Fisher

Any guesses as to why NAFA is offering this way? Thanks!

That has pretty much been the NAFA pattern for the past several seasons. Spread out the wild fur over the entire sale. Always at the end of the sale.

At the May sale, there will be one day dedicated to just wild fur - mostly odds and ends. What they call "the zoo".

Not sure why they do this but it isn't anything new.

Honestly, when they put these items at the start of the day they still didn't do any better.
When they do just wild fur by itself it doesn't do any better. Seems that anyone interested in fur will show up whenever what they want is offered. The only ones that sometimes MAY buy that weren't planning on buying is speculators. And speculators surely aren't a trappers friend. Because they are the ones buying cheap. Sooo
lol

So, in your opinion this does not benefit wild fur?

I didn't say that

I am stating that it matters not

If a person Is wanting to buy wild fur he's going to be buying It no matter what day It's being offered.
I'm sure some of these buyers are buying both wild fur and ranch fur.

So Beav do you put the bait in front or behind the trap?

BTW this started in 2015.

It was to expose as many buyers to wild fur as possible. And keep the playing field even for both ranch and wild.

Beav, that's not entirely true. Let's say a Chinese buyer is there in order to buy mink (that's almost exclusively what Chinese buyers are after). As soon as the mink sale is over he's going to pack his bags and leave.
An effort is being made to introduce the Chinese to wild fur, by having them stick around while wild fur is being offered is more likely to get them to purchase a couple lots of some particular item. They're probably not going to stick around at the end of the mink sale and sit through the wild fur for just a coupe of lots.

So, why wasn't NAFA doing this for wild fur before 2015? This exposing stuff works both ways does it not?

Because they didn’t think of it. Always adapting.

Weird, most of the struggling wild fur species that could use some exposure will be sold the day before the ranch mink sale begins.

The buyers will still be there the day before the ranch mink sale starts. Last minute inspection, etc. they will have time to check out the wild fur.

I would guess they got plenty of exposure. Dirt, did you look at NAFA’s wild fur promotion video that shows what they did throughout 2017 to promote wild. Even have one for ranch fur.

Even NAFA’s calendar features as much wild fur as it does ranch fur. NAFA wants all the fur they can get.

Does anyone truly believe that it matters when wild fur sells?
IMO it comes down to them inspecting the fur and the effort put forth at the workshops, fur fairs and runways.
If they aren't comfortable with the article what makes them decide to buy it?

NAFA does.

Get the useless stuff out of the way before the real auction starts.

When you attend an estate or total farm type auction look at how that is setup and run. You will see some similarities. I have helped establish line ups of cattle for a dairy auction and how the line up is established makes a difference.

Lining up an auction that features ranch and wild fur is all about trying to capture an audience as even 100K of rats is not going to dent the accounts of those who are bidding on 3 to 4 times that many ranch mink or other furs.

Bryce