Friday, November 14, 1997

Wehrmann-Donnell sale draws record crowd to Abilene auction

By J.T. SMITH / Abilene Reporter-News

The Wehrmann-Donnell Bull Sale attracted cattlemen from Pennsylvania to throughout Texas at Abilene Livestock Auction Thursday.

Ranchers overflowed the spacious sale auditorium and lined the stairways, aisles and lobby attempting feverishly to get top bid on the black Angus bulls.

"It was -- by far -- the largest crowd ever for any sale here at Abilene Livestock Auction," said Randy Carson, president of the auction.

Veteran auctioneer Stanley Stout of Linwood, Kan., had the podium almost smoking as he went on a roll and sold 140 bulls in two hours flat to gross $356,860.

That penciled out to an average of $2,549 per bull. All the bulls in the entire sale were just yearlings -- making the average even more impressive.

Graham rancher Tommy Donnell said it was likely the largest sale of yearling bulls ever assembled under one roof in West Texas.

Alan Vencil of Damon, Texas, bought the high-selling animal, a "Rito" bull, for $7,500. Vencil also got a "Donnell' bull for $5,000.

Arlington Cattle & Pecan Co. of Arlington paid $6,000 for another Donnell bull.

John Berry of Clyde kept one of the top bulls close to Abilene as he also managed top bid of $6,000 on another Donnell bull.

Angelo State University also was thick in the action as ASU took home a Donnell bull for $5,000.

Auctioneer Stout, also a seasoned rancher, observed that only two bulls out of the entire sale offering were not the result of embryo transplants. Stout, who had looked over the pens prior to the sale, noted that this produced an extremely uniform group of bulls.

Longtime Callahan County rancher James Snyder said it is clear to him that the cattle market is packer-driven at the moment. Beef packers are attempting to obtain as uniform a carcass as possible which, in turn, meets the beef demands of consumers. Black cattle -- especially with some ear like Brangus -- and black baldies are highly sought after in the market.

In addition to Texas and Pennsylvania, bulls left Abilene for Georgia, South Dakota, Oklahoma and New Mexico.

Hi-Pro Animal Health cooked a hamburger lunch and raised $550 in donations for the West Texas Rehabilitation Center.

Meanwhile, Donnell/Wehrmann made a $25 contribution in the buyer's name to the WTRC for every bull picked up at the sale site Thursday. Donnell said they figured -- on the average -- that is what it would have cost them to deliver each bull. Judging from a parking lot crammed with trailers, most folks hauled their own bull after the sale, so the WTRC also will get a big boost from that.