Wednesday, September 30, 1998

Donnell Cattle and Wehrmann Angus bring bull sale to Expo Center Nov. 11

By J.T. Smith / Farm Editor

Angus breeders Tommy Donnell of Graham and Nick Wehrmann and Richard McClung, Jr., of New Market, Va., will hold their second joint bull sale at 1 p.m. Nov. 11 at the Taylor County Expo Center in Abilene.

But you don't have to wait until then to see these exceptional bulls.

All the bulls, with complete data, will be available for previewing at Donnell Cattle Co. in Baird from Oct. 8 right up until the November sale day.

Donnell says the offering will include about 150 "Efficiency Brand" registered Angus bulls. Selling will be many herd sire prospects and several groups of full brothers.

Of the offering, 95 percent of the sale bulls come from the Donnell and Wehrmann Embryo Transfer programs by using proven sires through artificial insemination and proven donor cows.

Since last April, all the sale bulls have been running together in Texas and were performance tested under commercial conditions for 120 days on a high roughage ration.

The Donnell and Wehrmann breeding programs are designed to produce cattle for optimum performance with maximum efficiency and predictability through the use of AI, embryo transfer, ultrasonic evaluation of carcass traits, performance testing, progeny testing of young bulls and stacking pedigrees with superior sires and dams, as well as expected progeny differences.

On the eve of the sale, these ranchers will host fellow cattlemen for dinner at the Expo Center.

"On Tuesday, November 10 at 6:30 p.m., Nick, Richard and I would like ranchers and any interested parties to be our guests at a dinner and seminar that also will be held at the Expo Center," Donnell said. "Topics to be discussed will include EPDs, ultrasound data and bull selection. Quite a few ranchers have requested that we hold a seminar of this nature to enable them to use our data to select the bulls that fit their needs best," Donnell said.

Donnell, Wehrmann and McClung are nationally recognized for producing the best genetics for commercial cattlemen and purebred breeders through careful and methodical planning.

Certainly, this is an exciting event in the cattle world that is coming to Abilene and the Expo Center. The bulls offered at the Wehrmann-Donnell Joint Bull Sale should be a good testimony to their effort.

<B>Red Angus sale slated for Producers Livestock Auction<B>

Speaking of outstanding cattle sales coming up, the Texas Red Angus Association is sponsoring its special Red Angus Feeder Calf Sale at 9 a.m. Monday at Producers Livestock Auction in San Angelo.

The goal of the feeder calf sale is to provide Texas Red Angus bull buyers with a marketplace for their Red Angus crossbred calves.

Runnels County cattleman Glen Halfmann of Miles said this sale is one of 15 Red Angus feeder calf sales that are regionally sponsored for this fall.

This sale is open to all Red Angus-influenced cattle that are certified in the Red Angus Association's "Feeder Calf Certification Program." The FCCP is the oldest USDA-audited, genotypic and source-identification feeder calf program in the industry.

The Red Angus Association has certified more than 110,000 Red Angus cattle in this program.

Halfmann said Certified Red Angus cattle purchased at the San Angelo sale are eligible to sell through a Red Angus Association-authorized packing plant program.

These programs include the "Red Angus Grid" at Excel Corporation in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, as well as programs with Moyer Packing, Souderton, Penn.; American Foods Group, Green Bay, Wis.; and Coleman Natural Products, Limon, Colo.

To be eligible for certification, calves must be the offspring of a registered Red Angus bull or cow, and the source of the calf must be known. Once certified, the calves are tagged with an official Red Angus certification ear tag, which costs $1.25 per tag. All certifications and tag sales are overseen by the Red Angus Association of America (940) 387-3502.

Calves should be certified and tagged at the ranch before arriving at the sale barn.

The Texas Red Angus Association, the Red Angus Association of America and Producers Livestock Auction are working with feedyards and order buyers who are specifically looking to purchase Certified Red Angus calves at this special sale.

Halfmann said no additional costs are associated with selling Red Angus calves in this special sale. Standard sale barn costs do apply.

For more information, contact Monte Williams at (409) 234-3679, or (817) 368-0596; Charlie Christensen at Producers Livestock Auction, (915) 653-3371; or Halfmann at (915) 468-5391.