Good genetics drive record-breaking stud prices

The cost-price squeeze is driving prices for stud animals higher, as producers seek to boost production through improved genetics.

- Lindi Botha

Over the past year, multiple records were broken at livestock auctions despite the low prices paid for slaughter animals, which has reduced farmers’ margins. For example, a Boran bull was sold for a record-breaking price of R8 million at the Hurwitz Farming auction in August last year, setting a new record for the highest price paid for a bull in South Africa.

Also in 2024, a Boer goat stud ram sold for R1,05 million, the highest price ever paid in South Africa for a stud goat. In May this year, a 3-in-1 Droughtmaster cow achieved a price of R1,5 million, a new record for the breed in South Africa.

The highest price on record for a Savanna goat was achieved in June this year, with the ram fetching R400 000.

Desmond Annandale, agricultural economist at the Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy, told