REED POINT— A nine-month-old bull raised in Reed Point sold for $900,000 Saturday through a Basin Angus Ranch production auction at the Billings Livestock Commission.
Basin Angus Ranch owner Doug Stevenson told MTN he had high hopes for the bull, named Basin Legacy, but was still shocked when bids reached close to $1 million.
Meet the record-breaking bull:
“It was really hard to just comprehend that we were looking at that kind of a price,” said Stevenson.
Stevenson held the state record for the highest-priced bull sale in 2022, when he sold a bull for $600,000, his personal best.
Saturday’s sale broke Stevenson’s record and the state record by $300,000.
“The sale on Saturday was certainly a once in a lifetime event,” said Stevenson. “We had our eyes on this bull for quite some time.”
According to the auctioneer, Roger Jacobs, this is the highest bid he has seen in his 43 years of selling livestock.
“I never really dreamt we'd get close to a million dollars,” said Jacobs. “It got real exciting real fast.”
He said most bulls never come close to prices that high.
“The average price breed-wise right now is probably ten to twelve thousand, but these elite herd bulls— they can bring any amount of money,” said Jacobs.
A group of 10 ranchers bought the bull. The ranchers plan to collect semen from the bull to populate their herds across the country, in states such as Idaho, Ohio, Nebraska and Texas.
According to Stevenson, Basin Legacy’s genetics are the reason for the high bid.
“Basin Legacy is a very, very unique individual,” said Stevenson. “He has the perfect phenotype, the structure, good feet, good legs, heavy muscle, long-bodied.”
The bull is the result of years of breeding and strategic decisions.
“We use all the technology that we can to sort through the genetics and find the right cattle,” said Stevenson, who has been breeding and raising cattle his entire life. “It's not an easy process.”
He told MTN that Basin Legacy will breed with cattle herds across the state, where ranchers hope the bull will spread genetics for healthy cattle and high-quality beef.
“What we aim to make is something that is very high marbled, very, very high in intermuscular fat,” said Stevenson.
Basin Legacy will spend his first few years in Montana at the ORIgen facility near Billings, where his semen will be collected and sent to buyers to inseminate their cattle.
Stevenson is retaining 50% ownership of the bull but will eventually send the bull to the buyers’ ranches for natural breeding.
“It will probably be a long time before he goes out for natural service use with a group of cows,” said Stevenson.
