By Alani Janeke
“I didn’t expect it, but I wasn’t entirely surprised that this bull did so well,” says the legendary Bonsmara farmer Nick Serfontein of the Sernick farm in the Edenville district of the Free State.
NFS22-71 is a two-year-old bull that has all the right breeding values and is outstanding for his meat value and phenotypes. “And he also comes from a very good maternal line. He is everything you want in a bull. If he did so well at two years old, I can’t even imagine how well he will do at three years old.”
Palmietfontein Bonsmaras, owned by Carl Gutter and Quinton Ferreira, is the new owner of this bull.
“This auction was emotionally very difficult for me. We literally buried Pieter Booysen, Sernick’s stud manager, two weeks before the auction after he passed away following a battle with cancer,” says Sernick.
Booysen was part of Sernick’s team for 30 years. “But I’m sure he was there with us during the auction.”
Serfontein says due to market pressure, he offered only 46 lots of stud bulls and 35 lots of stud cows for sale this year. The average price for the bulls was R152 000, and for the cows it was R54 100.
Regarding the cows, he offered 70 animals in the 35 lots. The cows were driven into the ring two by two, and buyers could choose the one they preferred.
“The other cow stays behind on the farm. I wanted to show the market that it doesn’t matter which animal they choose, both cows per lot are, in my opinion, good enough for my own stud.”
Serfontein says the prices he got for his commercial animals were 25% to 30% lower than a year ago. “It’s very clear in the market that the entire red meat industry is under pressure due to various factors.”
Here are some of the prices achieved at the auction:
- Stud bulls x 40: average price R157 000 (highest price R2,2 million)
- Stud cows x 35: average price R54 100 (highest price R75 000)
- Commercial 3-in-1 cows: average price R24 900 (highest price R27 000)
- Commercial cows with calves: average price R21 500 (highest price R23 000)
- Commercial pregnant heifers: average price R18 406 (highest price R20 000)
Commercial open heifers: average price R13 900 (highest price R14 000)
