By Blake Jackson
“A full house saw a strong Show-Me-Select Replacement Heifer Program sale on Nov. 21 at Joplin Regional Stockyards,” says Patrick Davis, University of Missouri Extension livestock field specialist.
The event featured 246 heifers from 13 consignors and posted an impressive average price of $4,177 per head. This figure surpassed the previous record at this location, set during the spring 2025 sale, when 124 heifers averaged $4,010 each. With total sales exceeding $1 million, this marks the highest overall revenue for an SMS sale at Joplin Regional Stockyards since fall 2014, when 521 heifers sold for $2,888 each, totaling $1.5 million.
A University of Tennessee guide notes that spring-calving heifers sold in November typically bring 2.8 times the value of a 550-pound feeder heifer. Comparing this sale’s bred heifer prices to figures from the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s SW Missouri Weekly Summary Report, the average price achieved here was 2.1 times the value of a 550-pound feeder heifer.
“An old and new consignor topped the sale,” says Davis. Longtime consignor John Wheeler of Marionville, Mo., achieved the highest average price, selling 16 black, white-face Hereford/Angus cross heifers for $4,637 each. Close behind was new consignor Cash Brown/Cross B4 Livestock, who sold 15 black Ultrablack cross heifers and three Red Angus cross heifers for an average of $4,588 per head.
Both consignors shared the top-selling lot of the day at $4,800 per heifer. Wheeler’s high-selling group included five Hereford/Angus cross black, white-face heifers bred via artificial insemination (AI) to an Angus bull. Brown’s top lot consisted of five Ultrablack cross black heifers AI-bred to an Ultrablack bull.
“The volume buyer was a previous SMS heifer sale consignor who bought his heifers via internet,” says Davis. Dale Rector of Rector Farms in Rogersville, Mo., purchased 49 heifers online, making him the largest buyer of the sale.
Rector is a familiar participant in the SMS program and most recently sold a heifer in the May 2022 sale held at Joplin Regional Stockyards.
Photo Credit: gettyimages-jacqueline-nix
Categories: Missouri, Livestock, Beef Cattle