22 May 2024
A heifer upstaged her mother, who was supposed to be the star, at a Brahman auction – and achieved a South African record price.
The occasion was the Elite Red Hot auction of red Brahmans hosted by the Clive Gardner Auctioneers on May 3 at the Fire and Wine Arena in Pretoria.
James Prinsloo, owner of the Jamica Brahman Stud in Volksrust, took part in the auction to sell a cow, JHA 19-21. Her calf, JHA 22-9 Monica, an open heifer, was brought along to help market the mother. However, people at the auction requested that the heifer also be put under the hammer. James agreed, provided she fetched “the right price”.
The mother was sold for R100 000 to Dube Brahmans of Polokwane. When her daughter entered the ring, buyers drove bids up until the auctioneer, Steven Matthews, sold her for R250 000 to Chris Nel of the Koenuka Stud, Pretoria. This is a new South African record for a red Brahman heifer.
James is naturally pleased with the substantial amount he received – “the result of 44 years of breeding”. Monica is double line-bred.
One condition before she was auctioned was that if she was sold, he could first show her at the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg and the national Brahman championships at the BKB-ALE Show in Parys. She was the national champion heifer calf in Parys in 2023 and the reserve supreme champion female animal at the Royal Show.
Another condition was that they could first flush her eggs three times, and they would be divided between the Prinsloos and the buyer to breed embryos.
The auction was held thanks to the initiative of Dr Paul Pienaar of Pretoria, where 19 of the leading red Brahman breeders gathered.
James says he started the stud in 1980 with two white Brahmans and later acquired red Brahmans. His father, the late Koos Prinsloo, bought a share in the stud. James, a senior Brahman judge, oversees the farming operation.
In 2002, they also started a Simbra stud. His twin sons, Janco and Nicolai, joined the farming operation in 2012 after earning BAgric degrees at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein. Janco is involved with the Brahman and Simbra studs and Nicolai with the commercial Merinos and crops.