By Johan Norval
A Bonsmara bull with a double polled gene (homozygotic) achieved the highest price at the 19th production auction of the Leehan stud at Douglas.
Colleen Jacobs, who owns the stud and is known in the beef cattle industry for her masterful instinct for cattle, says Jan Erasmus of Klerksdorp, who paid R110 000 for JG 220073 online, noticed this bull on Facebook and decided he was the right fit for his herd.
She says the demand for polled bulls was relatively good. The second most expensive bull, JG 210032, also a polled bull, was acquired by the FB Maree farm of Jan Kempdorp for R80 000. The average price of the 23 bulls was R57 174, which was somewhat lower than the usual R75 000. This may be due to the various bull auctions recently held.
Commercial pregnant cows achieved an average of R17 953, commercial pregnant heifers R16 000 and commercial cows with a calf R24 000. The turnover of the auction was R2 884 500.
Jacobs was previously part of the Northern Cape Bonsmara Group, but now hosts a production auction every six months at the Kimberley Livestock Market. Her next auction will be on 22 August.
In 2017 she was a runner-up in Voermol’s Cattle Farmer of the Year competition. She and her husband, Johan, farm on Lucky Valley (and others) at Douglas on livestock and irrigated land for cash crops.
Vleissentraal hosted the auction on 21 February 21, with Ian Grobbelaar as the auctioneer.
