Valuable lectures on purebred animal breeding were held at the young bull auction

On Friday, April 4, the annual breeding bull auction took place at the Cattle Auction House, organized by the Latvian Beef Cattle Breeders' Association, the Beef Cattle Breeders' Society and the Farmers' Parliament in cooperation with the Cattle Auction House.

The event brought together more than 200 interested parties from all over Latvia, confirming the ever-growing interest in beef cattle breeding and breed improvement. At this year's auction, buyers had the opportunity to purchase 26 bulls from 16 farms, and the activity was significant – 32 buyers registered, of which 23 bulls were sold. The auction record price reached 5,650 euros, and it was won by a Charolais bull from the farm “Jaunkalni”. This year's auction was special with several significant innovations: For the first time, Aberdeen and Hereford breeding bulls were offered at a Latvian auction. The largest number of animals was offered at the auction so far, which indicates a high level of activity.

Brūzilas AV Ltd.'s Brūzilas cattle bulls, obtained as a result of embryo transplantation, also made their debut at the auction. This innovative breeding step brings completely new genetic lines to Latvia.

Kaspars Ādams, the head of the Cattle Auction House, praised the farms that brought their animals out on a leash – SIA “Brūzilas AV” and SIA “Agimos”. He expressed his hope that in the future every farmer will present their bull in the arena on their own.

In the first part of the auction day, bulls were judged by beef cattle experts – Kristīne Ādama, Ieva Freidenfelde and international cattle judging judge Andrew Hughes from Great Britain. Two lectures were held in the educational part of the event: Silvija Dreijere, LLKC livestock consultant, introduced the project “Development of an electronic farm management system”, emphasizing the possibilities of the “My Field” program specifically in the field of livestock farming. Andrew Hughes led the lecture “Purebred Animal Breeding”, where he shared his experience of breeding work and evaluation criteria in England.

The event was implemented within the framework of the project "BreedExpo2" (CB0100026) with the support of the Interreg Central Baltic program and European Union funding.

PRESENTATION – Andrew Hughes, Purebred Animal Breeding