Eagle Pass Ranch Bull Sale
Date: March 19, 2014
Location: At the ranch near Highmore, S.D.
Auctioneer: Seth Weishaar
Reported by: Dan Piroutek & Chris Effling
117 Balancer Bulls ave. $3,849
26 SimAngus Bulls ave. $3,913
26 Angus Bulls ave. $3,567
169 total Bulls ave. $3,815
A big crowd was on hand March 19 for Eagle Pass Ranch’s 2014 Verified Feed Efficient Bull Sale. Nice weather greeted buyers from eight different states who attended the sale at the ranch near Highmore S.D.
The day began with a tribute to Rodney Martin, a ranch employee who was killed in an accident on the ranch last fall. His step-father, Tom Eagle Staff, presented a star quilt honoring the memory of Rodney, offering it on behalf of the family to the buyer of the highest selling SimAngus bull. At the end of the sale, the quilt was presented to the Farlee Ranch, Dupree, S.D., who selected Lot 162, a 3C Pasque Y1539 SimAngus son for $7,250. His EPDs included BW 2.4, WW 82 and YW 131.
At Eagle Pass, they are identifying those cattle lines that are “Verified Feed Efficient.” They actively selecting for feed-efficient cattle by measuring the feed consumed by each animal. They use the Grow Safe feed intake system to measure the RFI or Residual Feed Intake on each animal. Eagle Pass Ranch has seen a whole herd reduction in pounds of feed fed to pounds of weight gained from 5.75:1 to 5.10:1; a whopping 15% cost reduction in just one generation of feed intake selection.
The top-selling black Balancer bull, Lot 70, was purchased by Allan Steward, Chelsea, S.D., for $7,250. This impressive EGL Northern Dancer son was one of the top indexing feed efficiency bulls in the sale, gaining over 4.5 lbs/day on test with an RFI of -3.87.
Not to be outdone, the top-selling red Balancer bull also sold for $7,250. Arden Hanson, Booten, Minn., purchased Lot 80, a Boxed Beef son out of the National Champion Gelbvieh donor dam EGL Farah.
The high-selling bull overall for the day was Lot 174, a powerhouse purebred Angus son out of Eagle Pass’ resident Angus herdsire, Connealy Protégé. This much-talked-about bull led off the Angus portion of the sale, and when the bidding finished, Hartley Angus Ranch, Stephenville, Tex., had the top bid at $10,000. This outstanding Angus herdsire prospect scanned an impressive 5.54 percent IMF, while gaining nearly 4 lbs/day on test.
Top volume buyers on the day were Flying V Bar Ranch, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Mound Valley Cattle Co., Thatcher, Idaho; Hamilton Farms, Hitchcock, S.D.; and F5 Genetics, Kimball, Minn.
