University of Tennessee hosts junior bull test sale in March

Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center Director Kevin Thompson (pictured far right) inspects some of the Junior Test bulls upon their arrival last fall.  After completing the 84-day performance test, the bulls will be sold at public auction on Thursday, March 7.

Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center Director Kevin Thompson (pictured far right) inspects some of the Junior Test bulls upon their arrival last fall. After completing the 84-day performance test, the bulls will be sold at public auction on Thursday, March 7.

The auctioneer’s gavel will soon fall again at the University of Tennessee’s Middle Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center. The center will host the Junior Bull Test Sale on Thursday, March 7, 2013. More than 60 bulls will be sold at the public auction, which begins at noon.

The bulls featured in the sale come from some of the top breeding programs in the region. All have recently passed UT’s performance test, which measures the bulls’ weight gain, frame score and reproductive soundness.

The high-gaining bull in the Junior test was a consignment of L. A. Farms in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, who finished the test with an average daily gain of 6.20 pounds with an adjusted yearling weight of 1472 and a frame score of 6.4. Second place honors went to a University of Tennessee – Knoxville consignment that gained 6.07 pounds per day with an adjusted yearling weight of 1535 and a frame score of 6.7.

Complete test reports and sale catalogs can be found at UT Extension offices located in every county in the state or online at http://middle.tennessee.edu.

The Junior Bull Test Sale begins at noon. Prospective buyers from East Tennessee who can’t make it to the auction site can enjoy the convenience of bidding on these bulls at the two TeleVideo centers located at the Knoxville Livestock Center and the 4-H Camp in Greeneville.

The purpose of the Bull Testing Station is to provide a standard, impartial post-weaning gain test that will furnish records that will be useful in breeding programs. The Station also provides a market for completely performance-tested bulls and serves as an educational tool for beef cattle improvement.

The Middle Tennessee AgResearch 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.

Source: University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture