AMES, Iowa — This year marks the 32nd annual Symbol of Excellence Sales and the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association is offering yet another set of superior cattle. Over the past few decades, ICA has built a strong foundation for the sale with cosigners, sellers and buyers that are invested in enhancing the cattle industry through genetics and breeding.
ICA will kick-off their annual Symbol of Excellence cattle sales on March 20th at the Bloomfield Livestock Market, March 31st at the Dunlap Livestock Auction and May 5th at the Tama Livestock Auction. These sales will offer an outstanding variety of bulls and heifers in many for customers to choose from.
Phil Schooley is the owner of Bloomfield Livestock Market and has been involved with the sales since their formation. Phil has seen the sales evolve into what they are today and sees how the Iowa cattle industry has benefited from the Symbol of Excellence cattle sales. He comments “The ICA Bull Performance Evaluation Program has raised the bar for ALL seedstock producers.”
The Symbol of Excellence sales are part of ICA’s Bull and Heifer Evaluation program, which is designed to serve the needs of commercial and seedstock producers. This program offers producers an array of performance data for comparison and benchmarking as well as superior genetics to bring back to their operations.
Clay county cow/calf producer Will Jones has a long standing family tradition of buying bulls at ICA sales and sees great value in incorporating ICA sale genetics into his herd. Will comments, “I am 30 years old and we don’t have a bull that isn’t from one of the ICA sales.”
Bulls and heifers sold at each sale go through stringent testing and must meet very specific guidelines in order to be sale eligible. All animals that are entered are put on trial for several months leading up to the sale and only those that are in the top 75% of the test will be sale eligible.
Iowa Cattlemen’s Association’s Seedstock Manager Carrie Horman oversees the program and is eager to show off the high quality animals that have been selected for this year’s sales. Carrie views the Bull and Heifer Evaluation Program as a valuable tool for producers. “Our sales are a useful way for producers to see how proven genetics can be of great benefit to their operations.”
Each sale presents its own unique set of breeds and genetics with the goal to offer producers quality animals to bring back to their herd in order to increase their bottom line. The first of the three sales begins in Bloomfield where a set of Angus yearling bulls as well as a group of 18-month senior yearling bulls will be offered.
At the next sale, an array of options will be available with Angus, Red Angus, Charolais, Hereford, Simmental and Simm Composite bulls at the Dunlap Livestock Market. To round out our sales for the spring in Tama, Elite Open Heifers along with Angus, Charolais, Red Angus, Simmental and Simmental Composite bulls will be on the sale order.
The Bull and Heifer Evaluation program and the Symbol of Excellence sales were designed to serve cattle farmers in Iowa while providing a competitive playing field for producers to market their own genetics. Buyers, sellers and consignors alike have ample opportunity to attain successful cattle businesses by being a part of the Symbol of Excellence Sales.
For more information about ICA Symbol of Excellence Sales or to request a catalog, please visit www.iacattlemen.org or contact Seedstock Manager Carrie Horman at 515-296-2266 or carrie@iabeef.org.
— Iowa Cattlemen’s Association
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