– Garth Ruff, OCA Replacement Female Sale Manager, Beef Cattle and Livestock Marketing Field Specialist, OSU Extension
Strong demand for quality breds led to a record sale!
The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) held their 13th annual Replacement Female Sale on November 28th at the Muskingum Livestock Auction Company in Zanesville, Ohio. A near standing room only crowd was on hand and online to bid on 73 high quality females in the sale. The sale represented an excellent opportunity for cow-calf producers to add quality females with documented breeding and health records to their herds.
Buyers evaluated 73 lots of bred heifers, bred cows, and cow-calf pairs at the auction. The sale included 59 lots of bred heifers that averaged $4,115, 3 cow-calf pairs sold for $4,533, and 11 lots of bred cows that averaged $4,372. The 73 total lots grossed a record $317,00 for an overall average of $4,342. The females sold to buyers from Ohio, and Michigan. Col. Ron Kreis served as the auctioneer.
Sales prices were significantly higher year over year driven by current cattle prices and the quality of the females offered, as the 2025 sale represented a $1,437 per head price increase over the 2024 sale. Demand was very strong for quality females as 60 lots brought over $4,000, and 11 of those sold for $5,000 or greater. Prices remained steady throughout the auction with many buyers sweeping the ring at two or three head at a time.
Atterholt Farms of Jeromesville consigned the top selling cows. The Lots 9,10,11,12 registered Angus females all sold for $4,600. Buyers of the Atterholt cows were Jay Writsel of Orient, Zackery Jones of Freeport, and David Uhl of Dundee, Michigan.
Crum Cattle Company of Wooster, OH sold the high selling pair, Lot 29 to Goshen Run Farms of Stockport, OH for $4,600.
Three bred heifers topped the sale at $5,200. Nobleland Farms of Caldwell, sold the Lots 54 and 56 registered Angus females to Matthew Vollmar of Kingston, OH. Dillion Simmentals of Newark sold the Lot 30 purebred Simmental heifer to Clay Carpenter of Barnesville.
As in past years, the sale truly was an excellent opportunity for both buyers and sellers. Buyers were able to improve their herds by adding high quality females with known genetic and health backgrounds. Sellers were able to capitalize on historic high prices for breeding cattle, driven by record highs in the cattle market throughout the past year. The overall sentiment is that there is some optimism that feeder cattle prices will remain strong as cow herd inventory remains at 60+ year low.
2026 Replacement Female Sale Consignments will be due October 1, 2026. The sale remains a great service to OCA members looking to market quality females.
If you have any questions about the sale, contact Garth Ruff, OCA Replacement Female Sale Manager at (740) 651-7140, or by e-mail at ruff.72@osu.edu. More information can be obtained by contacting the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association at (614) 873-6736 or at their web site located at www.ohiocattle.org.