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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Elite Performance Angus Bulls offered at IPT Bull Sale

Ninety-one Angus bulls are cataloged for the 2008 Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale scheduled for Thursday, February 21 at the Livestock Center on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. The different age divisions include nine long-aged Senior Division bulls calved between January and June 2006, fourteen Junior Division bulls calved between July and December 2006, and 68 Yearling Division bulls calved from January through March 2007.

The 2008 sale is the 40th Annual Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale. During the past 39 years there has been 4,066 bulls sold for just over $6.4 million or a $1,588 average. For the past eighteen years Angus have had the largest number of bulls in the sale averaging 70 head and have secured the highest average price per bull with a $2,044 average. Also, of bulls selling over $4,000 Angus has captured all but three of the top twenty-five bulls. However, most of the higher valued bulls went to purebred and AI studs. Buyers will find all priced bulls at the IPT Bull Sale as found in the 2007 sale with the following price breakdown: 15% - under $1,500; 29% - up to $2,000; another 34% up to $2,500, and 22% selling over $2,500.

The IPT Bull Sale determines sale order based on a Power Score for the EPD Percentile Ranking for the six traits of birth weight, weaning weight, yearling weight, maternal milk, marbling and ribeye-area. The Angus bulls offered in the 2008 sale have the highest ranking Power Scores ever offered. The breakdown of these Power Score rankings includes two Super Elite, thirty-six Elite, twenty Excellent, and eighteen Performance.

Since the Angus breed required all bulls in the sale to be scanned for percent Intramuscular Fat (IMF) and Ribeye-Area (REA) prior to the sale, there are fifteen bulls that need to be scanned and will have scan figures and Power Scores by sale day. Once yearling bulls are scanned the carcass EPDs might be adjusted, thus the following bulls are lined up according to pre-sale cataloging EPDs.

Producers interested in purchasing a bull to use on heifers will find a total of fifty head eligible for the Illinois Heifer Development Program (IHDP) in the 2008 sale. To be eligible bulls must have a Calving Ease Direct EPD of 7.0 or higher. Thus, 55 percent of the 91 Angus bulls cataloged are classified as IHDP sires. The IPT Bull Sale prides itself on being one of the few bull sales in the nation that have sold superior calving ease bulls that excel in performance and carcass traits.

Headlining the Angus offering are two "Super Elite Herd Sires." The top Power Score bull is Lot 14, SLF HA Pacific 626 from Springlake Farm that was bred and owned by the Dale Rhode Family of Kingston. This Junior Division September 2006 bull by Sitz New Design 349M is a phenomenal genetic package with a Power Score of 5.83. This bull has an adjusted birth weight of 83 pounds, adjusted weaning weight of 838 pounds, and adjusted yearling weight of 1,104 pounds. His exceptional EPDs place him in the top one percentile of the Angus breed for Calving Ease Direct, Yearling Weight, Maternal Milk, and Dollar Weaning. This is followed by either the top two or three percentile for Birth Weight, Weaning Weight, Ribeye-Area, and Dollar Beef. This bull will have a major impact on an elite purebred Angus herd of an outstanding commercial herd.

The second "Super Elite Herd Sire" is Lot 85, Prairie Creek Regulator 7075 from Prairie Creek Angus, bred and owned by the Stremsterfer Family of Pleasant Plains. This March 2007 Yearling Division bull has a 7.17 Power Score and is sired by Prairie Creek Angus own herd sire 4G Regulator 319. This future herd sire ranks in the top one percentile EPD of the Angus breed for Weaning Weight, Maternal Milk, and Dollar Weaning. The bull has an adjusted birth weight of 89 pounds and adjusted weaning weight of 809 pounds. Both of the top two bulls are eligible to be used on heifers in the Illinois Heifer Development Program (IHDP).

Following closely behind with a 12.5 Power Score is Lot 25 from Neubauer Farms near Shirley. This January 2006 Yearling Division bull out of TC Total 410 excels with EPDs in the top ten percentile in the traits of Weaning Weight, Yearling Weight, Maternal Milk, Ribeye-Area, Dollar Weaning, and Dollar Beef. Next is Lot 45 from Marvin Kramer of Farina who has a Power Score of 13.0 and is a January 2007 Yearling Division bull out of Mytty in Focus that excels in EPDS for Weaning Weight, Yearling Weight, Dollar Weaning.

The next high ranking bull is Lot 59 from Neubauer Farms with a 14.5 Power Score and is out of Rito 4L41 of Rita 2B41 208 that excels in Calving Ease Direct, Weaning Weight, Yearling Weight, Maternal Milk, and Dollar Weaning. Close behind in sale order will be Lot 35 our of SS Objective T510 0T26 from Callan Farms near Stonington with a Power Score of 14.8 that excels in Weaning Weight, Yearling Weight, Dollar Weaning and Dollar Beef.

Other Angus consignors with top Power Scoring bulls include: Callan Farms with five bulls; Hobbs Angus of Good Hope with four bulls; Eagle River Angus of Princeville with two bulls; Marvin Kramer with one bull; and the University of Illinois with one bull.

Buyers of Angus bulls will be provided with $ Value Indexes or Multi-Trait Economic Selection Indexes calculated by the American Angus Association. These indexes combine several traits and are expressed as Dollar ($'s) differences between bulls. Producers interested in purchasing bulls that generate the most dollars at weaning and combine the traits of birth weight, weaning weight, maternal milk, and mature cow size will want to use the $Wean Index. Those producers selecting genetics where post weaning performance and superior carcass traits are important will want to use the $Beef Index.

The average $Wean Value for Angus is $24.47. Any figure above this value is additional dollars per sire's progeny as compared to the average of the Angus breed. Several of the top $Wean indexing bulls include: $41 - Lot 39 from Can Am Cattle of Shelbyville; $39 - Lot 85 from Prairie Creek Angus; $35 - Lot 14 from Springlake Farm; $34 - Lot 51 from Blue Ston Farms of Blue Mound, and Lot 4 from U of I, and Lot 29 from Callan, and Lot 59 from Neubauer.

The average $Beef Value for Angus is $34.66. Any figure above this value is additional dollars per sire's progeny as compared to the average of the Angus breed. Several of the top $Beef indexing bulls include: $56 - Lot 23 from Callan; $54 - Lot 86 from Pasture View Farm of Dunlap; $53 - Lot 70 from Shilo Farms of Macomb; $52 - Lot 49 of Rock River Ranch of Mt. Morris, and Lot 22 and 40 from Callan, and Lot 48 from Neubauer Farms; and at $50 - Lot 73 from Hobbs Angus.

Interested bull buyers can obtain a copy of the sale catalog by contacting Dave Seibert, Sale Manager at 309-694-7501 Ext 224; or via E-mail at dseibert@uiuc.edu; or by mail at 727 Sabrina Drive, East Peoria, IL 61611 A copy of the sale catalog is also available on the web at www.IPTBullSale.com.
For any questions pertaining to the sale contact Dave Seibert at the phone number listed above.

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Source: Dave Seibert, University of Illinois Extension, East Peoria Extension Center - 309-694-7501.

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