Top prices were achieved on 4 July at the 27th production auction of the Up George stud of Derek and Tutu Ralfe. This stud at Wasbank in KwaZulu-Natal is considered one of South Africa’s top studs for its Bonsmara breeding stock.
By Johan Norval
The bull LAR 210045 achieved R4 million after the 38th bid, with the present and online bidders competing strongly. Auctioneer Brandon Leer opened the bidding at a hefty R200 000. The buyers were Bertus Blignaut and his father, Fouché, of the farm Smallepad on the Springbok Plains.
Blignaut’s Sebadja stud is made up of breeding stock from Up George, Syferfontein and Arcadia Bonsmaras, both from Vrede, the Poggenpoel herd of Stella and Leon-Fritz Riekert from the Vlakte Study Group. The bull was officially welcomed on Sebadja’s Facebook page as an exceptional herd sire who is the grandson of LAR 170173 (Maestro) and comes from an excellent dam line.
An underbidder of LAR 210045, Pieter Hoogenboezem, of Blouberg Bonsmaras at Vivo, Limpopo, secured the purchase of lot 10, LAR 200385, with a bid of R2,6 million. Among the approximately 100 online bidders was the company Bella Alianza Agronegocios SA of Asuncion, Paraguay, which acquired the bull LAR 210284 for R900 000.
Ralfe’s stud farm began more than 35 years ago with a small herd purchased by Derek and his father, Lawrence. Initially, it started as Kenriet Bonsmaras at Kokstad, but later changed to Up George Bonsmaras when the farm moved to the Elandslaagte area in 1988. Derek and Tutu are involved in every aspect of the herd management. They not only make their knowledge available to young farmers, but also help practically with semen, young bulls and advice. Their success is due to strict selection for economic traits such as fertility, growth and adaptability.
The entire offer of 78 bulls and 59 females was sold. The average of the bulls was R224 487. Stud cows with a calf fetched an average of R90 385, and pregnant stud cows R54 318, while pregnant commercial cows fetched an average of R28 292. The most expensive female animal was purchased by Eloff Muller of Tamberaine Bonsmaras in Mossel Bay. He paid R170 000 for lot 93, a pregnant stud cow with a calf.
The chickens auctioned achieved a record turnover this year. Seven lots of three hens and a rooster fetched an average of R5 786 per lot.
Although Up George’s outlier prices are consistently high, more than half of the auction bulls are sold to commercial breeders looking to improve their herd’s breeding stock.
This year, 53% of the bull supply was sold at an average price of R66 341, which is an indication that commercial and stud breeders can afford Up George’s breeding material.
AAM presented the auction in collaboration with SwiftVee.
