By Charl van Rooyen
An excellent price of R700 000 for a heifer and an average price of R326 000 for 23 animals on sale were highlights of the recent Fire Sky & Friends Ankole heifer auction held in Pretoria.
The five studs offering animals at the auction were the Benella, Bona Bona, Lumarie, Ntaba Nyoni, and Ubhejane Ankole. Daniel Naudé, owner of the Benella Ankole stud near Stellenbosch, sold the most expensive heifer, Shiraz DFN 24-044, to the Ernst family of the Bona Bona Ankoles stud and game farm, located between Klerksdorp and Wolmaransstad. Naudé says Shiraz is the first female animal from the cow Aura and bull Maximus to come to market. Both her parents have horns of 52 inches.
Bernard Swanepoel from Dendron achieved the second-highest price of R500 000 with his heifer, Vega SA 24-014. The buyer was a new breeder, Anton Taljaard.
Wildswinkel hosted the auction. The auctioneer was Brandon Leer, and 24 heifers were offered, but one was withdrawn.
Jacques Malan, chairman of the Ankole Society, told African Farming that prices had now returned to those before the recent national election that had suppressed prices. Good prices were paid for superior heifers that will make a mark in the Ankole industry.
“The breed is improving greatly. We currently have about 1 200 purebred Ankoles (with 100% Ankole genes) in South Africa, of which half are female animals. There are about 300 heifers that will make their mark in a year or two and, along with new breeding material from Uganda in the form of embryos, we will move the breed forward even further.”
He says Ankole also has excellent value for ecotourism. When tourists visit his farm at Bela-Bela to view wildlife, the Ankoles’ graceful horns attract more attention than buffaloes and zebras.
He expects the excellent prices seen at this auction to be repeated at the Ntaba Nyoni auction, to be held on 1 March at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s farm at Bela-Bela, as well as at the national auction, which will take place on 21 June at the Bona-Bona game farm. An information day will be held the day before.
