More than 70 performance-tested bulls will soon be sold in a public auction at the University of Tennessee Bull Evaluation Center. The sale is scheduled for January 19 and will begin at noon. All bulls in the sale have completed the Center’s 84-day test and met the strict qualifications for average daily gain, yearling weight, frame score and scrotal circumference. The bulls have also passed a breeding soundness examination.

Collectively, this class of bulls gained weight at an average of 4.5 pounds per day. The high-gain award goes to a Woodhill Mainline S 168-U25 sired bull consigned from Grass Valley farm in Greeneville. This bull finished the test with a gain rate of 5.44 pounds per day with an adjusted 365-day weight of 1357 and a frame score of 5.9. Second place honors went to Lawrenceburg, Kentucky’s JRS Angus consignment with an average daily gain weight of 5.35.

Angus bulls make up the majority of the class. However, a few Simmental and Simangus bulls will also be sold. David Kirkpatrick, UT Animal Science Professor and Director of the Bull Evaluation Center, says this group of bulls is the leanest on record. “Due to the change in the ration, in order to develop bulls with less condition, these are the leanest bulls to come off test that we have ever tested.”

The UT Bull Evaluation Center is located at the Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center on Highway 31 between Spring Hill and Columbia. Tele-video sites where bulls can be purchased over the telephone during the live auction will be available at the 4-H Camp in Greeneville and the Knoxville Livestock Center in Mascot.

Complete test reports and an online catalog are available here or at UT Extension offices across the state. A video copy of these reports will be available online after January 1, 2012.  You may also contact Kirkpatrick by phone at (865) 974-4294.

The Middle Tennessee Research and Education Center is one of 10 outdoor laboratories operated by UT AgResearch, a division of the UT Institute of Agriculture. In addition to its agricultural research programs, the UT Institute of Agriculture also provides instruction, research and public service through the UT College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine and UT Extension offices in every county in the state.