Angus Media President and regional manager discuss turnout in Oklahoma City.
“We recognize with this stock show, it really sets the tone for where we’re going to go this spring in terms of bull sales,” says Brett Spader, president of Angus Media.
Spader spoke with Jeff Mafi, regional manager for the American Angus Association, Jan. 7 at the conclusion of the 2022 National Angus Bull Sale hosted during the Cattlemen’s Congress in Oklahoma City, Okla.
In addition to the results of the sale, Spader and Mafi also discussed the quality of Angus genetics present in Oklahoma and the outlook for the upcoming spring sale season for the Angus bull industry.
To hear more from Spader and Mafi, listen in to the interview or read the full interview below:
BRETT SPADER: Well, this is Brett Spader with Angus Media. We’re very glad to have just concluded the National Angus Bull Sale here. We had a great day, and we’re joined here today by Jeff Mafi who is one of those regional managers in Oklahoma and Kansas and does a great job for the American Angus Association and Angus Media. He also served as one of the sale managers today. Welcome, Jeff. We wanted to catch up a little bit. We know you’re busy, and we appreciate you taking the time to do that, but we recognize with this stock show, it really sets the tone for where we’re going to go this spring in terms of bull sales. Tell us a little bit more about what you saw here today in the market for Angus genetics.
JEFF MAFI: So today we had 47 bulls average $13,450. Great day. There was a lot of breeder activity on the top end, and we had a great group of commercial producers here as well, in the seats here, in the central part of the United States bidding and buying on those bulls as well.
SPADER: Absolutely. It was great to see that. We had some excellent genetics top to bottom, and we see some bulls that they got picked up from bull studs, and we had great support there. But we also saw some bulls that are going to go straight to cows here at some point, and stayed not only here in Oklahoma, but some surrounding states to some great commercial herds.
MAFI: Right. Some of those bulls that were bought here on the seats and on the internet to commercial producers, they had certain things in mind. We had a lot of different genetics offered today. There’s bulls with calving ease and growth. There were bulls that were certainly suited for cows that had extra pounds, both phenotypically and when they look at the paperwork. And so, there was a little bit today for everything, and I think it was well represented from a buying standpoint.
SPADER: They really did track that growth and power today it seemed like. That was interesting to see. And it was great to see kind of a variety of bloodlines represented here. A lot of great different breeding programs, but a lot of added mating flexibility I feel like. We’ve watched this sale really, really grow in the last few years thanks to your hard work and a lot of others. What do we see next in store for this event and particularly for this sale as we move forward into 2022?
MAFI: I think with the event here, people are really happy with it. They like the location here in this area. We’re in a state where there’s 2.3 million cows, and so it’s a big cow-calf state. I anticipate our membership being very supportive of that. I think having that genetic diversity, having diversity in terms of pedigree and from an EPD (expected progeny difference) perspective, it fits a lot of different programs.
SPADER: You mentioned something there that I think is great to touch on. We saw a tremendous amount of online traffic through the sale book here for this sale. It’s always great to see that as people study their lesson and get prepared for the purchases that they’re going to make. Obviously now is about to be a huge time for angus.org as we start to see those sale books get posted. It’s a great resource for those that are buying or selling Angus genetics to keep in touch with what’s going on in the market. As you work with breeders in your territory, tell us a little bit, too, about how kind of things are shaping up for the spring for them and as you have a lot of conversations with bull buyers too.
MAFI: Yeah. A lot of our folks that we work with utilize Angus Media from a sale [book] standpoint and that technology that’s offered. We can use this sale as an example. You mentioned all the traffic. That traffic came from all 48 states — that traffic was huge. Of course there were videos featured alongside the sale book as well, and we had weekly updated EPDs. We had calls this morning. In fact, there was a new sire group of carcasses that got turned in two weeks ago. That data went into the evaluation. It updated this morning, and there was a lot of movement within that sale book that people found.
SPADER: Wow. That’s great. And we love that, that real-time look at the data. That’s the power of the Angus database that we love to create these tools, which ultimately really benefits both buyer and seller of Angus genetics. Well, thanks, Jeff. Really appreciate the hard work that you’ve put into this wonderful event as well as Alex Tolbert and David Gazda and so many others on the regional manager team. And again, this is Brett Spader with Angus Media. Thanks for joining us today.