Getting into the Ankole market

The challenge: How do new entrants get into the Ankole Market?

“I just can’t see how I’ll ever get into the Ankole farming business” These were the words of a dejected looking attendee outside the Auction venue at the spectacularly successful Ntaba Nyoni auction which took place on 2 March 2024. This guy and his family had travelled an enormous distance to attend this auction in person. Like many, he’d fallen in love with these majestic creatures, but just could not see a way in as a new entrant.

This auction, with 31 lots on offer, was indeed where phenomenal demand played out with some exceptional prices being paid. However, the shortage of female animals in particular was noteworthy. Had there been 10 or even 20 more, there’s no doubt that they would have sold.

According to the auctioneer, Ntaba Nyoni’s top breeding cow (a 10 year old 43” mottled cow that fetched a whopping R1,8m as a 3 in 1 package) is now sadly lost to the South African Ankole market as it was bought by a Zimbabwean farmer.

Some key takeouts:

• Five lots of semen fetched on average R31 000 per straw. These were all unsexed.
• Three lots of open heifers fetched R405 000 on average. (Average age of 38 months with horn length of 24”)

Five lots of pregnant cows fetched R500 000 per cow. (Average age of 45 months with horn length of 29”)

• Some bulls on offer were left unsold.
• Two embryos sold for R110 000 each!!! They were unsexed.
• More realistically 7 others sold for an average of R21 000. These were all unsexed.
• Pregnant recipients were in 3 distinct categories of R100 000, R150 000 and R250 000. Again all these were unsexed.

Amazing prices, and still many potential buyers left without anything. Clearly there is phenomenal pepped up demand, especially for female animals.

The fact that 3 new imported embryos (as confirmed pregnancies in local quarantined heifers) achieved unbelievable prices of R450 000, R850 000 and R1m respectively, indicates that not even the prospect of a few hundred such animals becoming available over the next few years is slowing the trend of rising prices. These fantastic prices are great for current farmers who are able to sell, and they underpin a very strong investment case for both current and new investors. However, this makes it very hard for new entrants to get a quality core herd together.

This is exactly the same challenge we at Fire Sky Ankole faced more than two years ago, (although prices have probably doubled since then). After accumulating a core herd of top genetics from 6 of SA’s top farmers, we have spent the last year perfecting our ability to make and implant Ankole embryos at scale. We have had fantastic support from Ramsem (for sexed semen) and from both Absolute Genetics from Bloemfontein and Embrio Plus from Brits. With their help, we’ve successfully made a few hundred embryos, bought a lot more and managed to achieve just over a hundred confirmed pregnancies from many hundreds of attempts. School fees paid and experienced gained!

The great news for potential Ankole investors is that we can now replicate our top genetics at scale and cost effectively. For the current investors this offers a practical and affordable way to scale their current herd – something which we aimed to achieve as a result of our own tough experience as new entrants 2 years ago!

Our Fire Sky Ankole offering: cost effective and timeous using top genetic material

We offer investors a parcel of 5 confirmed pregnant recipients of their choice at affordable prices. We only work with sexed semen of our top bulls to make our embryos. This means that with sexed semen’s claimed success rate of 92%, buyers can immediately have a starter herd of up to 5 females from the bloodlines chosen. As importantly, with our assistance, the investor can achieve maximum genetic diversity, something which is quite difficult within the constraints of our current national herd. Depending on the bloodlines a buyer prefers, a starter parcel costs between R500 000 and R750 000.

Using the most recent auction prices as a benchmark, it would cost at least three times as much (that is over R1,5m) to end up with 5 females of this quality from the 10 pregnant recipients required, if using unsexed embryos…that is if one could find them! The 5 young bulls would also have to have been raised for at least 3 years before they may be of any value.

We have accumulated the pinnacle of genetic material at great expense over a 2 year period. This includes quality female bloodlines from Lumarie, Ntaba Nyoni, Ankole Genetics, Rydens, Full Blood Genetics and Benella, amongst others. We also have embryos or semen from Maximus, Jupiter, Uganda, Tshinakaho, Dyambo, Tshena, Google, A14-001, A15-009, and A14-003 to supplement our own exceptional young bulls.

Our sales model doesn’t yet fit into the National Auction framework, but we acknowledge the role and assistance of the Ankole Cattle Breeders Association and therefore plan to make a voluntary donation of 1% of sales proceeds to them in lieu of the services they render to us as members, whilst also assisting new entrants. We will double this to 2% in the case of a new entrant.

Despite our efforts to deliberately ensure that the current shortage of available top female genetic material is addressed by only using sexed semen, we nevertheless acknowledge that we will inevitably contribute to the ‘problem’ of producing too many bulls. This is where our Moletši Community Project comes in. It is designed to channel such surplus bulls to community farmers to enhance the genetic lines of their herds. In order to ensure this very important project’s sustainability and financial viability we pledge to contribute another 5% of sales proceeds towards it.

What now?

So, if you share our passion for Ankole’s, are interested in becoming an Ankole investor or are keen to expand your current herd, please contact Bernard (083 303 9922) to arrange a visit. If you want to invest in Ankole, now is the time to come and visit Fire Sky Ankole!

The business case for buying pregnant recipients with an embryo made with sexed semen

The business case for buying pregnant recipients with an embryo made with sexed semen
1. At Fire Sky Genetics we only make embryos with sexed semen from our top
bulls, despite the additional cost.
2. Ramsem (in Bloemfontein) claims a 92% success rate in achieving the sex of
choice.
3. As Fire Sky Ankole we guarantee the buyer of 5 or more pregnant recipients
an 80% success rate (that at least 4 out of 5 calves will be heifers)

Comparative numbers per 10 recipients:

Unsexed Embryos

Heifers born: 5
Bulls born:* 5

Sexed Embryos

Heifers born: 9
Bulls born:* 1

Let’s assume that bulls get sold at 5 years old for a price similar to the holding cost.
Therefor in order to get a heifer of a specific combination of genetics, a buyer could afford to pay or 1,8 times more, without the additional hassle of surplus bull calves.

There should be a 60-80% premium on recipients carrying sexed embryos!

Contact us

We welcome you to visit our farm and view the animals. If you require any more information of the animals available please do get in touch.