Bank-breaking bulls and rams: buyers say why top genetics are worth the price

Logic seems to dictate that some livestock producers must suffer buyer’s remorse after purchasing an animal for an eye-watering price. Glenneis Kriel asked a few farmers whether their record-breaking acquisitions have paid off, and found the answer to be

In 2014, a Dorper ram, Bolt, made history when Mickey Phillips sold it to Martin Compion, who farms at Lonziekvlei in the Northern Cape’s Bushmanland, for R600 000.

The purchase, which took place at the Upington National Dorper Sale, represents the highest price ever fetched by a Dorper, and one of the highest prices paid at a public auction for any sheep breed.

Compion remembers the auction as if it were yesterday.

“It was a tough purchase. Two Namibian consortiums were the main contenders, chasing the price up to R400 000 before I joined in the bidding.”

the two rams have hugely benefitted his stud, and the entire industry

The purchase, however, did not work out the way Compion had envisaged.

“Buying Bolt for such a high price made sense, because I managed to negotiate a deal to sell embryos to a Brazilian consortium. The consortium, however, went behind my back and decided to rather buy embryos from the original owner, who still had a reasonable supply of Bolt’s semen.”

The Brazilian deal fell through, and Compion ended up selling Bolt back to the original owner a month later at the same price he had bought the animal for! But during that month, Compion used Bolt for the laparoscopic

insemination of some of his stud ewes and also collected a thousand semen straws, of which he still has some left.

Dorper rams have never again fetched such a high price. This, says Compion, is primarily because of movement restrictions preventing Namibians from buying live animals in South Africa.

But despite the enormous sum he paid for Bolt, he is convinced that the animal has been worth every cent.

Bringing Balance

Compion’s father, Martin Snr, played a major role in establishing the Dorper industry in Namibia, each year selling an average of 150 sheep at three auctions, of which two were hosted in Namibia.

In 2002, Compion bought 30 ewes from his father after his father downscaled production for health reasons, and three years later he launched his Compion Dorper stud with 50 ewe offspring of the World Champion Dorper ram of 1996, Chips.

In 2010, Compion bought the ram Bakgat for the then record price of R300 000, and this animal went on to play a major role in his stud.

“Chips built a solid foundation for the stud, whereas Bakgat helped improve fertility and reproduction,” he explains.

Bolt, he adds, brought balance by siring larger-framed sheep with more body fat that enabled them to thrive under very dry extensive conditions, as found in the Kalahari and Boesmanland.

Hantam and Namaqualand, by contrast, are winter rainfall regions with higher precipitation and hence better grazing. Farmers here prefer an animal with less body fat that does not get overfat on the plentiful grazing in winter.

While admitting that Bolt is a remarkable ram, Compion says that he has never been as fertile as Bakgat.

“Bakgat could be left with 80 ewes, and 79 of them would

“This is one of the great qualities of Boran cattle; they’re extremely easy to manage.”

After the bull had produced more than 700 offspring, Werner wanted to give it a royal retirement in a camp near his house, but sadly, stock thieves struck last year and maimed the animal before being disturbed and fleeing. Mr Million had to be put down as a result.

Group buying

One of the highest prices ever fetched for a bull in South Africa was R1,8 million, paid for a Bonsmara bull in 2018. The animal, LAR 14 173, was bought by a consortium of Bonsmara stud breeders at a private production auction of Derek and Tutu Ralfe of Up George Bonsmaras, who farm near Dundee in KwaZulu-Natal.

Benjamin Bosch of Benansa Bonsmaras near Bothaville and Paul Maré of Paul Maré Bonsmaras near Viljoenskroon heard rumours of Up George’s outstanding bull and decided to inspect for themselves three weeks before the auction.

“The bull was exceptional,” says Bosch. “It had achieved five stars in its performance evaluation and nine points out of nine for its visual evaluation, both of which were way above the breed averages. It also came from a remarkable lineage of animals on both the maternal and paternal sides, and had already produced impressive calves.”

The two farmers saw the bull as a ‘curve bender’, as it was early maturing, but with breeding values that compared well with those of larger, later-maturing bulls.

They soon heard, however, that other players were also interested in buying the animal and realised that they would be unable to afford it on their own.

“Paul and I host our production auctions together and have bought animals together in the past, so creating a larger consortium to buy the bull was not a big shift to make,” says

Bosch. “Consortium buying isn’t new. For the past 10 years or so, farmers have used it to make highvalue animals more affordable for the individual buyer, while driving up prices, resulting in better rewards for breeders.”

The two started looking for more partners in their network, and the final consortium comprised seven members: Bosch; Maré; Surina Smal of Inhoek Bonsmaras near Leeudoringstad; Andries Kruger of Kameeldoring Bonsmaras near Vaalwater; Christoff Smit of Sebadja Bonsmaras near Groblersdal; André van der Heyde of Boschoek Bonsmaras near Bela-Bela; and Nico Pieterse of Syferfontein Bonmaras near Standerton.

‘ I’ve sold some shares of his first offspring; my investment is already reaping a profit’

Initially, the group committed to pay R1 million for the bull, but they revised this upwards based on the maximum that each member was prepared to contribute. On the day of the auction, LAR 14 173 was sold in less than 10 minutes.

“It was like a beehive in there. We could only get our first bid in at R1,5 million,” Bosch recalls.

Since then, shares in semen have also been sold to Martiens Aveling and Chris Krugel, and the animal has been registered as an artificial insemination bull. Semen has not yet been made available on the market, however, as the owners want to take full advantage of the genetics first.

“I’ve sold some shares of the bull’s first offspring, resulting in my investment already starting to reap a profit,” says Bosch.

The group only uses the bull for artificial insemination and not live covering to prevent injury and reduce disease risk.