SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The 55th Illinois Performance Tested (IPT) Bull Sale set an all-time record in average per-animal sale value on February 23 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. The multi-breed sale that connects seedstock breeders with farmers and ranchers averaged $4,400 on the 49 lots offered at auction, according to Travis Meteer, University of Illinois Extension commercial ag educator and IPT Sale manager. 

“There are probably several factors behind the higher values,” said Meteer, citing general inflation as an underlying driver. “Also, it’s one of those situations where the cattle market is trending upwards and there is a little more optimism for the value of the genetics that cattle producers are going to be able to breed and raise and sell here in the next couple of years. 

“We would like to think that for this sale that we set really high standards. We expected producers to find the analytics of these cattle to be good and to realize these genetics could improve their herds— and to pay a premium for these genetics so they could have them in their herds.” 

The buyers responded to the multi-breed sale, which includes older age-advantaged bulls and yearlings, by opening their checkbooks. A yearling Angus bull, Kramer Farms Patriarch 2145, consigned by Keith and Brady Kramer of Farina, topped the sale at $8,250. The buyer was Thomas Laue of Shumway. The high-selling senior Simmental bull consigned by Bob Fitzpatrick of Milan sold for $8,000 to Pleasant Street Farms of Ohio, Ill.

The high-selling senior Angus bull consigned by Seagraves Angus of Mulberry Grove sold for $7,500, while the high-selling yearling Simmental bull consigned by Fox Creek Cattle of Newton sold for $6,000.

Meteer, who has managed the IPT Bull Sale for the past 11 years, said the sale has seen $9.6 million in sales of nearly 5,000 bulls throughout its history. 

“The sale started with the idea that we needed to assist cattle producers in performance testing. We live in an analytical world now, but when the sale started we were just getting started in gathering data and performance information to build a dataset for cattle producers to base decisions on,” Meteer said. 

“That has continued though obviously the technologies have changed, and the inputs and data have expanded. The premise is still the same: to gather information and metrics to help better select the genetics of the beef cattle that are in the sale, and to assist the beef cattle producers who are buying these bulls.”

Meteer discussed some of the criteria that are analyzed to inform performance data. Most important are EPDs, an acronym for Expected Progeny Differences, which include expected birth weights, weaning weights and other metrics in comparison with breed averages. 

“A number is assigned that can be compared against the rest of the bulls in the same breed. There are more numbers than we publish, but we publish ten traits in our catalog and we also have a couple of indexes that encompass multiple traits,” Meteer explained. “We require that a lot of input data goes into those EPDs, so the bulls have to be at their weights and actual measurements so they can be submitted and incorporated. We also require the bulls to have a DNA sample taken, and there is a panel that helps identify certain traits based on their genetic profile that is incorporated into their EPDs as well.”

Seedstock breeders interested in consigning to the 2024 IPT Bull Sale should contact Meteer at 217-430-7030 or wmeteer2@illinois.edu to request a copy of the rules and regulation and nomination form. Nominations are required by Dec. 1, 2023 for the 2024 sale.

“Producers can nominate bulls for the sale, and we make sure they meet all our requirements that are predominantly based off of our EPDs and other metrics. We require them to be tested for various things such as fertility and herd health to make sure they are disease-free and a proven breeder. We also require physical measurements, and we screen the bulls for docility and muscle score,” Meteer said. 

Producers interested in viewing a breakdown of all the prices received for bulls in the 2023 IPT Bull Sale can visit IPTBullSale.com. Included on the website are the individual bull prices from the 2023 sale and the numbers and averages from previous sales.