By Dallas Burton

The first GTPI Bubble Sale ended this past Wednesday and was considered a mild success given it was a first time venture into establishing a market for GTPI individuals just below the contract level for A.I. and/or embryos.  Billed as “the perfect opportunity to increase the genetic foundation of your herd”, the involvement of larger commercial herds was sought but failed to produce results in this first sale.  The GTPI heifers that sold averaged over $5100 with the high seller being the highest GTPI heifer offered and certainly a good buy compared to live sales recently at $16,000.  One set of embryos sold and a Red & White 2 yr old sold apart from the GTPI offerings.  Not listed on the summary but involved with the sale were 4 lots of groups of Registered Holsteins.  Interest in these was more than anticipated and as a result, 2 of the heavy springer lots were sold with pending results on the other two groups.  Planning is now in process for a January Sale with refinements learned from this first sale.  The January Sale will be limited to 50 lots with no embryos being offered.  The sale length of time will be reduced to 24 hours of active bidding and advice is being sought from both the buyers and the sellers in this most recent sale to determine if there are other changes to be made.  The summary of the sale follows: