Due to its insistence on uncompromising quality, Frontier Bonsmaras in the Eastern Cape has sold every one of the bulls on offer at its annual sales over the past 12 years. Sabrina Dean joined the group on this year’s pre-sale tour to find out how the event fits into Frontier’s formula for success.
The young bull is fresh off the veld but its coat shimmers in the sunlight. Smaller-framed but ticking all the right boxes in terms of performance potential, it puts on a show for the spectators.
As the bull and the crowd size each other up, its breeder, Justin Stirk, shares his insights about the animal to potential buyers.
The bull, DAJ 16 0129, is strutting its stuff during Frontier Bonsmaras’ pre-sale tour a few weeks ahead of the group’s group sale due to take place at the Grahamstown Auction Yard on 15 August. It will later be one of two bulls to fetch sale-topping prices of R80 000, with the average for the 58 bulls being more than R47 000.
This is the 12th successive year of this annual event at which every Frontier bull on offer has been sold.
PUSHING FRONTIERS
Frontier Bonsmaras was founded in 2006 by five cattle breeders in and around Grahamstown, Bathurst, Port Alfred and Alexandria. Their idea was to add value to their respective operations by combining resources to host a single sale every year, with the emphasis on quality-approved bulls. They partnered with local agent Paul Hobson of Hobson & Co and the agency continues to play an integral role today.
The original Frontier group included Glynn Handley and Peter Knott, who were then among the oldest breeders in South Africa. Handley has since died, but his son, Craig, is now a pillar of the group. His bull, GCD 16 0122, tied for the top price of R80 000 at this year’s sale.
The Frontier Bonsmara group comprises four studs: Stirk’s Goodwoods Bonsmaras (DAJ), Brent McNamara’s
Winter Castle Bonsmaras (WCB), Andrew van Kerken’s Van Kerken Bonsmaras (AVK), and the Handley operation, GL Handley & Son (GCD).
AWARD WINNERS IN A COMPETITIVE FIELD
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