A stud bull went for R120 000 at the Frontier Bonsmara Sale in Grahamstown on Wednesday 19 August. In the current business climate, the prices achieved for the bulls at this week's sale are nothing short of remarkable, reckons director of Hobson & Co auctioneers, Paul Hobson.
A stud bull went for R120 000 at the Frontier Bonsmara Sale in Grahamstown on Wednesday 19 August. In the current business climate, the prices achieved for the bulls at this week's sale are nothing short of remarkable, reckons director of Hobson & Co auctioneers, Paul Hobson.
Regulars at the auction yard in the Grahamstown Industrial Area remarked that they'd never seen so many people, and so many cars.
About 600 people outside in the stock yard and at the food tents and in the sale ring made for a festive atmosphere.
Buyers came from as far afield as Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State for the 62 bulls sold on Wednesday at an average price of R39 161 – all from the Grahamstown district.
"These bulls came from Southwell, Fort Beaufort, Bathurst and Bedford," Hobson said.
The reason for good prices in the face of economic pressure?
"Just a good quality bull," Hobson said. "In the 10 years of the Frontier Bonsmara Sale, with 503 bulls sold, we've had 100% clearance. We've never had an unsold bull."
Buyers of the bulls at this week's sale were local commercial farmers and upcountry stud breeders.
Bonsmaras are a proudly South African brand – bred over 30 years in a programme started in the late 1930s at the Mara and Messina research stations. Good genetics and adaptability are what make them so popular.
"Strict selection for economic factors such as fertility, milk production, growth and adaptability are still applied," according to Bonsmara SA, which says there are 120 000 of the breed registered on their books.
Providing the hard stats was administrator Jeremy Maclachlan, who says the Frontier Bonsmara Sale is "the biggest stud sale in the Grahamstown region – if not the Eastern Cape", with 108 registered buyers The top price was for a stud bull, Lot 14, sold by JJ Park from Bedford, of Kingspark Bonsmaras, and bought by a stud breeder in Limpopo.
The bull sold for R120 000. The second-highest price at Wednesday's sale was for another bull from Kingspark.
A Free State breeder paid R105 000 for another of JJ Park's bulls.
Also sold this week were 157 commercial females at an average price of R8 500. They all came from commercial farmers in the district, Maclachlan said.
A special feature of the event was the donation of a bull to be auctioned with the proceeds going to the Sunshine Coast Hospice.
It was paid for pro rata by the five members of the Frontier Bonsmara Group – Justin Stirk, JJ Park, Brett and Peter Knott, Craig Hanley and Darryl Fetting.
The bull, Lot 28, went for R34 000. "It's been 10 years that the Frontier Bonsmara Group has been selling bulls," Stirk said. "We felt we needed to give back to the community – to thank our clients and supporters.
Many people's lives have been affected in some way by the excellent work of Hospice and so we decided to donate some of the proceeds to them."
Auctioneer Brandon Leer also donated his commission to Hospice.
Stirk said while the group had achieved higher averages before, this week's sale was very good in the current economic climate. "Electricity, fuel and labour costs are hitting everyone," Stirk said.
* Additional information from www.bonsmara.co.za (Bonsmara SA).
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