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Celebrating Over 50 Years of Performance The Manitoba Beef Cattle Performance Association has been in operation for over 50 years. The Manitoba Bull Test Station was know as the Sire Indexing Centre in its earlier years.
The Manitoba Bull Test Station began as a management tool for cattlemen, bringing bulls together under a controlled set of management conditions giving these cattlemen an opportunity to determine the rate of gain performance of their bulls and to select the top performers. They could evaluate the progress of their herd and their breeding program at the same time as they compared the performance of their cattle with those from other herds. To this day, evaluation of cattle remains the primary objective for the Manitoba Beef Cattle Performance Association.
The Station which has, almost from the beginning, been know as the Douglas Test Station opened its gates in 1964-1965 with four breeds of cattle involved. The Shorthorn, Angus and Hereford breeds were the standards of the industry at the time. A fourth breed - the Charolais - had recently been introduced to Canada.
The original four breeds have been involved every year since 1964. Since that time 13 other breeds have been tested at various times including: Simmental Maine-Anjou Gelbvieh Limousin Salers Blonde d'Aquitaine Brown Swiss Chianina Welsh Black Belted Galloway Tarentaise Pinzgauer Red Poll
The Association decided to sponsor a sale of performance tested bulls. They established the rules of eligibility to guarantee that only the best bulls in the test would go out for use as herd sires. Sealed bids were called for in the first year of the test; following that, an action has been held every year.
Fifty-five bulls sold in the 1965-66 bull test sale. Thirty Herefords sold for an average price of $515.00. Three Charolais attracted bids of $541.00. Eight Angus went for an average of $575.00 while the Shorthorns topped the sale with an average of $691.00 on 14 bulls. The high price that year was $1,600 paid for a Shorthorn bull.
In the 50+ years of operation the Manitoba Bull Test Station has shown a steady improvement in the average daily gain and weight per day of age figures for each breed. This improvement proves the wisdom of the cattlemen who worked to develop and promoted the Test Station and shows why the Manitoba Beef Cattle Performance Association is pleased with its contribution to the livestock industry. Click below to view 2021 Sale Results 2020 Sale Results - Bulls.pdf
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