2017 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale Report

APLX Pharaoh 2D – our high selling bull

2017 Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale Report

March 23^rd was another great day to hold the Red Deer Simmental Bull Sale at the Westerner Grounds, Red Deer Alberta.  A little bit of fog cover started the day, but the sun soon poked through and combined with mild temperatures to create beautiful travelling weather to see a great group of bulls sell.  Customers had the opportunity to have a hot beef lunch and inspect a high quality group of bulls presented by a number of great consignors, before watching them strut their stuff in the sales ring.

In all, five bulls ended up topping the $10,000 threshold at this years’ event with the high-sellers being a pair of Fleckvieh bulls.  Lot 18: Starwest Density is Manitoba bound after this dark red meat machine was selected by Triple T Diamond of Lundar for $15,000.  ‘Density’ was closely followed by Lot 65: Keato Pld Directors Cut, a moderate birth weight rascal selected by Swantewitt Simmentals for $14,000.  Overall 49 lots sold for an average of $6,100.

The highlight of the day for Applecross Cattle was the return of one of our commercial clients, Barney Beechinor.  Barney had selected APLX Edge from us at the 2013 Red Deer Bull Sale, so it was pretty special to watch him pick up two more bulls from us this year.  First Barney selected Lot 49: APLX Pharaoh 2D from the opening group of fullbloods, and then later on in the sale, Barney also selected Lot 51: APLX Wagner 10D.  It is always a great feeling when, after having success with their previous purchases, clients return for a replacement (or in this case two).  We look forward to watching Pharaoh and Wagner’s genetics contribute to the really strong Beechinor commercial herd.

It was also fantastic to see Lot 52: APLX Raider 22D head south to Glen Ball at Millarville.  Glen was looking for a new heifer bull to walk the foothills south-east of Calgary, so we are quite happy he found the traits he was looking for in ‘Raider’.

Once again we need to recognize the team at Transcon for doing a tremendous job working the phones and managing the sale.  Jay Good and his team are always a quality, sales management group – constantly on the phone while inspecting cattle for prospective buyers.  We look forward to working with them again later in the year at Fleckvieh Equation!

With both the bull sale and calving now behind us, our thoughts move directly to breeding season.  We have some recips this year, a couple of new options for AI and a brand new walking bull to test out.  It is an exciting time for Applecross Cattle to continue in our quest to provide new, better, and different genetics to share with the industry.