February 17, 2007, Mitchell, SD
 

16 Breeder Herd Sires - $17,953
90 Commercial Herd Sires - $3,617

80 Open Maine Anjou & MaineTainer Heifers- $3,002

23 Angus & Angus Cross Bred Cows - $1,915

Auctioneer – Matt Sims

By Bill Angell for Jim Gies

       A beautiful winter day greeted the large enthusiastic crowd of cattlemen that packed the Mitchell Livestock Auction barn Saturday, February 17th.  Many repeat customers were on hand as Fred & Joan DeRouchey and family conducted their annual Optimum Bull & Female Sale. This year the offering featured maybe their best set of bulls as well as a tremendous offering of open females and bred cows.

       The DeRoucheys just came off of a very successful showing in Denver at the Annual National Western Stock Show.  They captured Grand Champion honors in the Yards with their Pen of Three Higher Percentage Maine Anjou Females.  They also exhibited the People’s Choice Grand Champion Pen of 3 Bulls.

       This year’s offering, which featured bulls from that Champion pen, represented some of the very top genetics in the Maine Anjou breed.  The DeRoucheys are committed to utilizing the DNA Gene Star testing for tenderness and color pattern.  Over 96% of the bulls in the offering tested 2 stars or more for the tenderness gene.  Every bull in the sale tested negative for PHA and TH and sold with updated EPD’s from the AMAA.  Also, many of the bulls are homozygous black and they were all semen tested.

Garnering top dollar was...

	Lot 1, DCC Premium Blend 47S, a 3/03/06 Homozygous Black, polled PB son of BPJV Hotline out of DC Playmate 183M, a MCG Heisman 44E daughter.  47S, who was a member of the People’s Choice Grand Champion Pen, has an adj. REA of 16.90 with an IMF score of 3.82.  Bushy Park Cattle Co., Highland, MD bought ½ interest in this outstanding prospect.  His EPD’s include +2.1 BW, +50.0 WW, +17.0 MM, +41.9 M&G and +88.2 YW.  His GeneStar Tenderness score was 4 stars.  Bushy Park Cattle Co. also purchased Lot 2, DCC Crown Jewel 55S, a 3-11-06 Homozygous Black, polled, PB son of CMAC Hard Core.  55S also had a 16.9 REA, an IMF score of 4.34, was +1.7 BW, +46.0 WW and +83.2 YW.  He also scored 2 stars on his GeneStar tenderness score.
OTHER TOP BULLS:
	Lot 9 - DCC Trend Changer 6S, a 1-03-06 Homozygous Black, polled, son of HAA New Level 322N to Greg Felder, Lima, MT.  GeneStar ****
	Lot 3 - DCC Mercy 66S, a 3-09-06 Black, polled, PB son of CMAC Hard Core to Greg Felder.  GeneStar ***
	Lot 5 - DCC Code Red 264S, a 4-22-06 Red, polled, PB son of CMAC Hard Core to Russ Harkema, New Sharon, IA.  GeneStar **
	Lot 10 - DCC Real World 11S, a 1/17/06 Homozygous Black, polled, son of HAA New Level 322N to John Booher Farms, Darlington, IN.  GeneStar ****
	Lot 15 - DCC Just R Luck 81S, a 3-02-06 Homozygous Black, polled, PB son of Cowan’s Ali 4M to Ryan Zwicke, Seguin, TX.  GeneStar **
	Lot 11 - DCC Big Ticket 20S, a 3-01-06 Homozygous Black, scurred, son of HAA New Level 322N to Robert Reich, Hamilton, TX.  GeneStar **
	Lot 4 - DCC Way Cool 199S, a 4-10-06 Homozygous Black, polled, PB son of Cowan’s Ali 4M to Russ Harkema.  GeneStar ****
	Lot 28 - DCC Crowd Pleaser 227S, a 3/15/06 Black, polled, PB son of NBH Polled Energizer to Greg Felder.  GeneStar ****
	Lot 19 - DCC Midnight Oil 197S, a 3/10/06 Homozygous Black, polled, PB son of CMAC Hard Core to James Davis, Waxahachie, TX.  GeneStar ****
No Photo Available	Lot 63 - DCC Playboy 171S, a 3-16-06 Black, horned, PB son of NBH Polled Energizer to Lazy HU Ranch, Alzeda, MT.  GeneStar ****

          DeRouchey offered an outstanding set of elite replacement quality heifers from their herd.  Topping the female portion of the auction was...

	Lot 151, DCC Playmate 116S, a 3-10-06 daughter of CMAC Hard Core.  Bushy Park Cattle Co. bought this tremendous Black, polled, 3/4 heifer with a 661 lbs. weaning weight.  Her EPD’s are 1.2 BW, 44.9 WW, 17.4 MM, 39.9 M&G and 84.3 YW.
OTHER TOP HEIFERS:
	Lot 159 - DCC Playmate 48S, a 3-09-06 Black, polled, 3/4 daughter of DJ Digger D323 to Bushy Park Cattle Co.
	Lot 165 - DCC Playmate 254S, a 5/07/06 Black, scurred, PB daughter of BPJV Hotline to Bushy Park Cattle Co.
No Photo Available	Lot 530 - DCC Playmate 530S, a 3/21/06 Black, polled, 3/8 MaineTainer daughter of DCC Total Package 1P to Bushy Park Cattle Co.
	Lot 162 - DCC Playmate 124S, a 4/05/06 Black, polled, PB daughter of BPJV Hotline to Adamson Cattle Co., Cody, NE.
	Lot 163 - DCC Playmate 247S, a 5/07/06 Black, polled, PB daughter of BPJV Hotline to Mark Green, Harriet, AR.
	Lot 153 - DCC Playmate 192S, a 4/04/06 Black, polled, PB daughter of DCC The Man to Carlos Wolfe, Covington, OH.

       Volume buyers included Barker Cattle Co., Utah; Bushy Park Farm., Maryland; Greg Felder, Montana; Eric Shelton, Oklahoma; Hinton Griffeth, Georgia, Tom Heller, South Dakota and Doug DeRouchey, Wyoming.  The cattle sold into 30 states.