Our March 2023 Online Auction
Creating the Auction
Highland Genetics had the idea to create an auction platform on our website in January of 2023. The idea was to have a Highland-focused auction service that markets the consigned animals for you. Our goal is to be easier then other auction services have been in the past. We have a team who gets and or receives the content and markets the animals in the best possible way so these animals can find the right home for the best price. We also wanted there to be a wide variety of animals in the sale. From high end semen from proven bulls in the show ring to gentle and loving pets, we wanted them all so you can find exactly what you're looking for.
(Pictured above is Bluestone's Marigold, one of the outside consignment heifers in the March sale. She was consigned by Bluestone Ranch in Sawyer, North Dakota)
Setting the Date and Getting Ready
After getting the the auction website up and running, we set the date to our first online auction. March 11th, 2023. By now it was February and we had a month to market 4 heifers and semen from 2 different bulls.
We started with fresh content. Getting new pictures and videos from as many of the animals as we could. Writing up detailed adds and creating sale videos about each animal. Information such as their size, demeanor, and genetics. Along with additional information, photos, and show records of each specific animal's lineage or who they were bred to. No need to go digging for photos, searching for stats, or looking up animals in the AHCA herdbook. We did the hard work for you.
Next we let the world know about them. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, AHCA newsletter ads, and our personal newsletter. These guys were everywhere for the next month and everyone was going to know about it. One single video on TikTok got over 130,000 views in a matter of days, while our posts on Facebook were reaching around 50,000 people over the weeks leading up to the sale.
(Pictured above CBS No Excuses. Owned by Back to the Roots Farm in Watkins, MN. Highland Genetics had two lots of his semen available in the March auction with 5 straws in each lot)
Time to Bid!
The auction was open to bidding for about 2 weeks. As expected, it started somewhat slow but the demand was there. Things didn't really start getting interesting until the last 48 hours of the sale. To bid on one of our animals you have to create a bidder I.D. There is a $5 dollar fee to create the account. We have found that this prevents those who are not truly interested in the animals from spam bidding and keeps the auction to just the people who truly want what we have to offer.
Overall our first auction did very well! Our high seller was Lot 2, a bred heifer that sold for $14,000. The heifer sale average was $10,000 and our semen sale average was $1,875. We would like to give a huge thanks to everyone who participated in the sale. Without your support this wouldn't be possible. As we continue to push matching quality and ease for the Highland Cattle consumer we are very thankful to take this next step as a business.
Didn't get a chance to bid in the March auction or have an animal you want to consign through us? Don't worry, this will not be our last auction, our next one is coming soon!
Happy Highlanding!
Highland Genetics
