Excitement mounted at the Top of the Crop Production Sale on Aug. 28 when 13-year-old Delta Annette was sold for more than $20,000 by Johnnie and Pat Robinson of Celina, TX. The beautiful red and white 70-inch horned daughter of Emperor received the highest bid of the day at $21,000 from Butch and Kelly Geurin of Mountain Creek Longhorns in St. Jo, TX.

With this bid, it was apparent that day that breeders were ready buy a Texas Longhorn. More than 100 Texas Longhorns left Fort Worth to begin living in their new homes around the country.

The sale, hosted by J&R Farms, Bob O’Meara and Patty Kluge of North English, IA, brought in $187,175. Fed and ready to buy, breeders gathered at the Will Rogers Equestrian Center serious about adding members to their Texas Longhorn family. The sale held a strong total average of $2,188. Cows averaged at $2,142 and bulls averaged at $2,365.

Bill Sayre of Brookfield, MO, the seasoned professional auctioneer for the afternoon, kept the sale’s momentum going. Pedigree reader Joel Lemley of Blackwell, TX convinced breeders why each Longhorn should be theirs.


“Come on everyone, don’t fall asleep or you are going to miss out,” Lemley said throughout the day. “Don’t sit on your hands for this one.”

Ring men, Jim Curry, Bill Davidson and Shawn Sayre encouraged breeders to bid on the Longhorn of their choice.

Ron Marquess of Ben Wheeler, TX traded his seat for a spot on the auction block to encourage potential bidders to bid on a breeding syndication share with 3-year-old bull, DH Red Ranger.

“You need to see what this bull is doing around the country,” Marquess said. “Hook onto him.”

The plan worked as Rex and Vicki Mosser of Midway, TX bought a chance to have their cows bred to the bull from the Hunt-Marquess Partnership for $10,000. T.M. Smith, Oren O’Dell and Craig Perez together also purchased a breeding opportunity for $10,000.


With this purchase, breeders are allowed to breed five of their cows a year with DH Red Ranger for a total of three years. Only 10 syndication spots will be filled. With more than 70 inches worth of horns, DH Red Ranger was the winner of both the 2003 tip-to-tip and total horn measurement.

Ronnie and Stella Cruce of Nortonville, KY bought the first breeding syndication share from the Hunt-Marquess Partnership at the Rocky Mountain Select Sale in Colorado Springs for $10,000.

Mike Crawford and Pam Watkins of Rockwall, TX were two of the many breeders to add to their group of Texas Longhorns by purchasing two more at the sale. Tom Christopher of Coppell, TX, the Marquesses and Michael and Lindsay LaRue of Fossil Creek Ranch in Dodd City, TX were the top bidders of the afternoon, together buying more than 20 Longhorns.

Although the breeders were the ones buying and selling, the Texas Longhorns proved to be the stars of the afternoon with breeders focusing their energy on welcoming the new additions into their homes.

-Antoinette Vega-