South Dakota State University’s annual bull sale set a record this year.
The sale grossed $175,700 averaging $5167.65 per bull. This is the highest average in the history of the event according to SDSU professor Cody Wright.
The 32nd annual sale took place last Friday at the Cow-Calf Education and Research Facility north of campus. The beef seedstock and merchandising class operates the sale. This includes designing the catalog and producing sale videos.
“[The class] walks through the steps of running a bull sale,” Annie Reinke, an agriculture communications senior, said. “It’s a great class for agriculture communications and for other majors.”
“I have attended many [bull sales] but never got the behind the scenes look to it all,” animal science senior Grace Britton, said. “I have always had an interest in media and livestock photography, so this was a great way to, kind of, get my feet wet.”
The sale consisted of 38 12 to 14-month-old angus and simmental angus crosses that are homozygous black and polled. Each bull is tested for Johne’s Disease (Yonies), Bovine Viral Diarrhea (BVD) and other genomic testing for performance data so the bulls can be free of disease and be registered by the American Simmental Association and the American Angus Association.
Several of the bulls were also seen and shown at Little International, a student ran livestock show earlier a week prior.
The highest selling bull was a simmental angus cross named S D S Stone Cold 3123L, which sold for $8,500 to a buyer from South Dakota.
Wright said if a bull is purchased they provide free delivery up to 200 miles. They have sold bulls to buyers all over the United States. This year, the sale saw 41 bidders from four states and 17 buyers were successful in getting a bull.
Kevin Vanderwall, the Livestock Unit manager, said a group effort is required to put on the event on sale day students are an important part of making it a success.