The Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association will hold its 18th Annual EPD Bull and Heifer Sale Friday, Feb. 9 at the Mid State Stockyards in Letohatchee.

Michelle Elmore, an animal scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Alabama BCIA’s field manager, says the sale is an excellent opportunity for a cattle producer to purchase both herd sires and replacement heifers.

“More than 90 bulls and 18 heifers will go through the sale ring that day,” says Elmore. “The bulls and heifers will be presented with all available performance data. This will help guide bull and heifer buyers in selecting the best animals to meet the goals for their cattle operation.”

There will be bulls for sale from the Angus, Charolais, Chiangus, Hereford, Simmental and SimAngus breeds. There will be Charolais heifers for sale as well as a group of performance documented heifers.

Elmore says bulls and heifers offered in this sale are raised on consignors’ farms where complete performance information is maintained. All bulls will have passed a breeding soundness exam, and each bull buyer will receive documentation of this exam upon purchase.

The sale will present the bulls as ranked by their production EPDs, or expected progeny differences, a concept conceived by E.J. Gibb, a longtime cattle producer from North Florida. Dave Maples, former Alabama BCIA Field Manager, and John Hough, former Auburn University professor, turned Gibb’s idea into reality when the first sale was held in 1990.

For more information, contact Michelle Elmore at (205) 646-0115.