Yesterday’s (Wednesday, December 28) Jalex select breeding heifer and bull sale saw 140 animals make a total of £413,000 in the ring. Bidding was brisk throughout.
The event took approximately 2.5 hours to complete. This works out a ‘turnover’ figure of around £2,750 per minute.
The sale was held on the Jalex farm, near Randalstown in Co. Antrim.
Jalex sale
According to James Alexander, the man in charge of the Jalex operation, 136 in-calf heifers averaged £2,983; the four breeding bulls on offer averaged £3,280.
A top price of £6,800 was paid twice for two elite in-calf heifers; one was previously purchased by the Jalex team last spring in Aberdeen.
The other was bought in Stranorlar mart earlier last year and was bred on a Co. Donegal farm.
James Alexander commented to Agriland: “I am delighted with the outcomes of the sale. A number of the animals were purchased by buyers in the Republic of Ireland with many others now heading for farms in other parts of the UK.
“All the heifers entered for the sale had been specifically purchased and subsequently put in-calf here at Jalex.
“I have worked very hard over recent years to develop a market for elite breeding stock, capable of winning top fat stock classes throughout Ireland and the UK. It’s very satisfying to see the investment made in the business now coming to fruition.”
Beef heifers
So why would anyone want to invest £6,800 in a commercial beef heifer?
“It has all to do with their breeding potential,” stressed Alexander.
“These top animals will produce calves with the quality to win top fat stock prizes anywhere. The potential to produce embryos from top breeding females is also immense.
“Farmers buying Jalex stock obviously want to have high quality animals on their farms. But they also see their purchase as an investment.”
The on-farm sale concluded a very successful year for James Alexander and his Jalex team.
In the pedigree show rings, the connections had a tremendous 12 months with a group of top quality pedigree Limousin heifers.
A case in point was Alexander’s winning of the supreme beef interbreed championship at the 2022 Castlewellan Show with a young heifer: Jalex Riri.
James Little, from Carlisle, judged the champion of champions class at the event. He described the winning heifer as having tremendous length, great legs and exceptional hindquarters.