Jac?s Fall Production Sale Attracts Big Names, Buyers
by October 25, 2004 12:00 am 82 views
About 120 head of purebred Angus production cows were sold for $211,450 at the 16th Annual Family Tradition Sale at Jac’s Ranch in Bentonville. The Oct. 1-2 event brought in top ranchers from across America and three nationally prominent speakers in the beef/food industry.
The speakers included William Jurgenson, senior managing director of John Deer FoodOrigins in Boston, Mass.; Mary Meister, a feedlot manager for Timmerman & Son’s Feeding Co. in Springfield, Neb.; and Al Kober, director of retail sales for Certified Angus Beef in Wooster, Ohio.
FoodOrigins is developing new methods of food supply chain management. Timmerman & Son’s feeds more than 100,000 head of cattle daily from Montana to Texas, and Certified Angus brand products are sold in more than 8,000 restaurants and grocery stores worldwide.
Kober challenged the Angus growers to think of themselves as not just raising cattle, but as a link in the food supply chain charged with ensuring a delicious dining experience.
“Retailers’ success will be based on how well they’ve identified their consumer segment,” Kober said, “and that continues into beef production. The Angus brand is about quality for discriminating customers.”
Between 350 and 400 people attended the Friday night dinner and Saturday sale. Ranch manager Dan Shewmaker said there were 12 buyers of multiple sale lots (progeny groupings) including Yerington Farms of Neosho, Mo., which bought 19.
Rancher Jerry Bornemann of Durand, Minn., bought 13 lots and the top individual lot, a one-year-old cow named Jac’s Lucy, for $7,500.