The well-known Rathnashan Pedigree Herd is set to hold an auction of Simmental animals emerging from its “best group of calves bred to date” this weekend.
The herd – which has won four out of five national titles in Simmental pedigree circles this year and last year – will put 13 animals under the hammer this Saturday (November 14).
The sale will be hosted on the Pedigree Sales Online website, under the Rathnashan Pedigree Herd heading.
Kicking off at 1:00pm, each animal will be up for sale for 10 minutes with 20-minute intervals between lots. If a bid is placed in the final minute of the sale, an extra 30 seconds will be added to give other bidders a chance to place more bids.
For online bidders, proxy bids or autobids can be added, while maximum bid limits can also be set. Registration is required for the auction, with prospective bidders recommended to register beforehand to ensure approval before bidding.
Commenting ahead of the sale, Mel Hogan of Rathnashan Pedigree Herd said: “There will be 13 animals up for sale on the day, 11 heifers and two bulls.
They’re definitely the best group of females we’ve ever produced, and two very good bulls.
“This is our first production sale; we only keep a small number of pedigree cows and we do embryo transfer work on those.”
Commenting on the Simmental breed in general, Hogan said:
“The Simmentals have a strong maternal and terminal line so you’ve a bit of both. You have very docile, milky cows as well; and you’re still up there with the best of beef breeds for finishing animals.
“Last year we won four of the five national Simmental titles in Strokestown – and they are maternal brothers and sisters in this sale, related to all those title winners [pictured below].
“We’re having the sale this year mainly because we had such a good crop of calves and we thought with such a good crop, this was the best time to have a sale.
We get as much of a drive out of selling animals and seeing them doing well for others as we do from getting on well with them ourselves. There’s an opportunity to buy heifers for everyone with this.
“The minimum bid on the animals is set at either €2,800 or €3,000. Every bid that sticks after that €3,000 is a winning bid. You register online and you’ll be approved fairly quickly.
“The actual bidding screen doesn’t appear until the auction starts. There will be a bidding history as the auction goes along,” Hogan said.