The second annual national Ankole auction, hosted by the Ankole Society of SA, failed to draw record-breaking bids for the bulls and female animals offered for sale.
The auction drew wide public interest due to of the involvement of President Cyril Ramaphosa and the unfolding controversy surrounding his farming interests.
The auction was held on Saturday at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm near Bela-Bela in Limpopo. This is the same farm where, according to former spy boss Arthur Fraser, a burglary occurred in 2020 in which a large amount of cash in US dollars earned from the sale of game and cattle was allegedly stolen.
Ramaphosa owns the largest registered stud herd of Ankole cattle in the world and he was the main driver behind a project that started in 2004 to import the cattle breed from Uganda, from where they originate.
At the national auction there were six lots on offer from Ramaphosa’s Ntaba Nyoni Ankole stud including three female animals, one bull and two lots of embryos. The top price earned by Ramaphosa on the day was for the heifer Pata Pata that sold for R675 000.
The sale of his lots earning the president a total of R2.37m, so it was a good payday for president, but the winning bids fell short of the record-prices achieved at his own auction held in March this year. At that auction he earned about R10m from sale of animals from his Ntaba Nyoni Ankole, Boran and Bonsmara studs.
In March Ramaphosa’s brother-in-law, mining mogul Patrice Motsepe, who is also an enthusiastic cattleman, paid a new SA record price of R2.1m for a Ankole female.
The top price paid for a female at the national auction on Saturday was for the heifer Akani sold by Dr Morné de la Rey, a reproductive veterinary specialist and director of Embryo Plus for R950 000.
A new SA record for an Ankole bull also remained elusive at Saturday’s auction. The current record was achieved at the first national Ankole auction in 2021 for the bull Sebastiaan, sold for R3m by Johan Visagie, MD of Twin City Game Breeders to Pieter Ernst Sr of Bona Bona Gamebreeders.
The highest price achieved for a bull at this year’s national auction was for Cumulus, sold by Benella Ankole for R1.65m.
There was one new record set the auction — this was for the highest price paid in SA for an embryo (already implanted) which sold for R340 000. The live auction netted more than R21m in sales.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.