SHM Auctioneers reported that the 17 Droughtmaster bulls on sale averaged R66 460. The top-priced bull was sold to Linde du Plessis of Brandwater Boerdery near Fouriesburg for R140 000.
Du Plessis also bought the top-priced Droughtmaster cow with calf at foot, spending R280 000 on the two.
According to SHM, the average price for the 20 cows with calf at foot was R68 700, while the average for three Droughtmaster cows with no calves was R53 667.
The seven Droughtmaster heifers offered by Considerata SA sold for an average of R70 000. Johann Pistorius of Standerton, Mpumalanga, paid the top price of the day for a heifer: R100 000.
Johan van der Nest, of the Africa Droughtmaster Cattle Breeders’ Society, told Farmer’s Weekly that the all-time record price for the breed was R520 000 paid for a bull in 2014. During the same year, a Droughtmaster cow sold for R280 000.
The record price paid for a Droughtmaster heifer was R320 000.
