OLDS, Alta. — It wasn’t so long ago when people couldn’t give a heifer away.
That was not the case recently in a sales barn at Olds, Alta., where the bidding was fast and furious for a select set of registered Simmental females.
The Friday Night Lights sale, held Dec. 19, offered 50 bred and open heifers that averaged $16,910. The heifer calves averaged $18,360 while the bred females averaged $13,200.
“Since the upturn in the cattle market, we are seeing an increased interest in purebreds,” said Scott Bohrson who managed the sale.
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Bohrson Marketing is a collection of partners who run purebred sales specializing in Simmental, Angus and Limousin bloodlines.
“All the breeds are seeing an increase in interest,” Bohrson said.
“There is excitement out there. Livestock producers have been waiting a long time since BSE.”
An international embargo on Canadian cattle led to rock bottom prices after the disease was found in Canada in 2003.
The night belonged to Garth and Ang Rancier of Killam, Alta. They offered four females, including the heifer calf that was part of the winning pair to win the Supreme championships at Farmfair International in Edmonton and Canadian Western Agribition in Regina.
The youngster, named RF Not Just a Flirt 404B, topped the sale at $44,000 and sold to Rust Mountain View Ranch of Mercer, North Dakota. This three generation ranch ended up buying seven females at the Olds sale.
The Ranciers also sold an open heifer for $26,000 and two other calves for $13,000 each.
The young family holds a March bull sale, which this year will offer half and three-quarter brothers to the Supreme heifer. They sell only a few select females each year and are always looking for new sires.
“This is the top sale of the year,” said Rancier.
However, good animals always earn more money, he added, even when the markets dip.
“The top end never changes. Quality always pays,” he said.
The Ranciers run 85 mostly black purebred Simmentals and are already making plans for 2015.
“We always have some we are excited about every year,” he said.
Other top females at the sale included a solid black, polled consignment from Erixon Simmentals of Clavet, Sask. The January 2014 calf sold for $34,000 to Rust Mountview.
A bred polled, full Fleckvieh female from Sunny Valley Simmentals of Hanley, Sask., sold for $32,000 to Hoegl Livestock of Lloydminster, Sask. and Y-Coulee Land and Cattle of Frenchman Butte, Sask.
Lundago Livestock and Gardner Livestock, of Olds consigned a former champion to earn $31,000. This young female was grand champion at the Olds Fall Fair held in October and was reserve champion Simmental at Farmfair in November. It sold to Rock Star Cattle and Lone Star Angus of Sylvan Lake, Alta.
