Monday Mini: Bluegrass Sale Recap

This week’s Monday Mini looks back at the Bluegrass Sale held in Lexington, Kentucky this past weekend. We recap the top-selling lots, highlight sale trends, and discuss where buyer interest showed up strongest throughout the event. We also share an update on the NLFR Futurity results, making this a quick rundown of the weekend’s standout moments and key takeaways.

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Transcript

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If you're new here, this is one of our Monday Mini episodes, short, data-focused recaps of the most recent public Texas Longhorn consignment sale. Our regular, full-length episodes dive into ranch stories, breeding insights, and interviews. So be sure to explore those as well. If you're wanting to learn more about pricing and trends in the Texas Longhorn market, you'll want to tune in to today's episode. I'm Jamie. And I'm Molly, and we're the owners of Hired Hand Software and Hired Hand Live. Each Monday, we break down the numbers from the past weekend sale, online and in-person averages, high sellers, bidding trends, and what the data tells us about the current Longhorn market. Let's take a quick look at what happened this weekend. Today's Monday Mini, we're recapping the 2026 bluegrass sale from April 11th in Lexington, Kentucky, breaking down the most viewed animals, top sellers both online and in person, and overall activity on hiredhandlive.com. And before we dive in, a quick note that From the Pasture has new dedicated social accounts on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, separate from our Hired Hand Live and Hired Hand website pages. So be sure to follow along there so you don't miss anything we're sharing. Let's get right into the numbers. The Bluegrass sale delivered strong engagement both in the ring and online, and the data tells the story from sale averages to total views and activity on hiredhandlive.com. There were 54 lots that sold in the sale. The unofficial total was$246,250, while the unofficial average was$4,578. The internet only average was$5,205. With this being the fourth sale of the year to be included in our Hired Hand Live Trends and Averages series, the year-to-date average now sits at$11,746, while the internet only average is at$9,308. There were just under 15,000 total views of the consignments online with around 70 registered internet bidders. The most viewed lot after the sale was lot number 14, NV Stardust, consigned by Northview Farms, and she received just one hit shy of 900 views. She was also the most viewed lot before the sale with 679 views. Now that we've covered the overall stats, let's spotlight the top five in-person sales from the Bluegrass sale. These consignments drew serious attention and left Lexington with excited new owners. The fifth highest selling lot to an in-person buyer was number 53, HBR Monica's Lady, consigned by Tallgrass Cattle Company, selling for$5,000 to 5D Ranch. And for the fourth highest selling, we should say lots to in-person buyers, there was actually three of them that sold for the same dollar amount to in-person buyers. The first one is lot 56, HS Rodeo Queen, consigned by Hidden Springs Ranch. She sold for$5,750 to Ricky McLeod. She tied with lot number 49, HL Brookie, consigned by Hudson Longhorns, selling for$5,750 as well. This time to George and Annie Wartzpah. And the third of the highest selling lots was lot 22, HL Shiloh, consigned by Hudson Longhorns, again selling for$5,750 to NS Horns. We also had a tie for the third highest selling in-person lot, this time just between two animals. The first being lot 40, H.R. Sharp Rose, consigned by 1886 Cattle Company, selling for$7,000 to Hudson Longhorns. And the other animal that was the third highest selling lot to an in-person buyer was lot 29, 3P Rebel Safari, consigned by Flying Bee Longhorns, and she sold for$7,000 to Hoosier Longhorns. The second highest selling lot to an in-person buyer during this sale was lot number 21, HL Sharp as Attack, consigned by McIntyre Farms, selling for$17,500 to Hoosier Longhorns. And the number one highest selling lot to an in-person buyer was lot 14, NV Stardust, consigned by Northview Farms, selling for$75,000 to Hidden Springs. Here are the sales comments that were in the catalog prior to the sale for lot number 14, the high selling lot. NV Stardust was born on 311 of 2020. She has great confirmation and is an 87.5 inch daughter of the great drag iron and out of a serious producing female line. She has carried it on with three calves in three years. We are retaining two of her heifers for our breeding program. She is AI bred to HL Heads Up due to CAF on July 4th, 2026. After the in-person highlights, let's shift to online bidding. We'd like to thank the hosts of the Bluegrass Sale for trusting Hired Hand Live to connect buyers from across the country. The fifth highest selling lot on Hired Hand Live was number 15, Hubble's 20 Glee 2416, consigned by Hubble Longhorns, selling for$3,750 to SA Longhorns. The fourth highest selling online lot was lot seven. FL Flatlands Delight, consigned by Flatland Longhorns, selling for$5,000 to Michael Deutschman. The third highest selling lot online was number 36. RVR Shades of Lace, consigned by Ruby Valley Ranch, selling for$6,500 to Randy Murray. The second highest selling lot online was lot nine. DC Rosie, consigned by Tallgrass Cattle Company, selling for$8,000 to John Chucklock. And topping out the list of highest-selling online lots was number eight. HR Rio Reb consigned by 1886 Cattle Company, selling for$11,500 to Jose Cordozo. Thank you to all of the online bidders and buyers. With the top online sales covered, let's look at the impact of internet bidding. Hired Hand Live connected buyers and sellers from wherever they were, and the numbers from the Bluegrass sale show just how strong that reach was. There was$35,350 value added through internet bidding with 113 online bids. Nine lots sold online to eight different online buyers. With this sale taking place in Lexington, Kentucky, our furthest internet buyer was in from Brazil, roughly 5,000 miles away from where the sale was held. If you're following the National Longhorn Fraturity rankings this year, we do have an update for you. This event counted towards the NLFR, which was the Bluegrass Fraturity in Lexington, Kentucky, held on April 10th. Be sure to also visit the NLFR website for details and upcoming events. Let's go over heifers first. The class one winner was FL Pearl Magnolia, entered by Flatland Longhorns, ending with 222 points. The Class 2 winner was Hubble's Blazing Saddle, entered by Mark Hubble, and she received 223.5 points. The class three winner was entered by RTG Ranch. Her name was RTG Big Tweety, and she ended with 223.25 points. The class 4 winner received 224.25 points, was entered by Dickinson Cattle Company, and her name was Jam Jade. The Class 5 winner, CTA Coco C, entered by Curtis and Tanya Abel, ended with 222 points. Class 6 winner was also entered by Curtis and Tanya Abel. Her name was CTA Cal USA Summer Treaty and she ended with 226.5 points. The class 7 winner, Horseshoe J Eloise, was entered by Jimmy Jones and she ended with 223 points. The class eight winner is HL Take Pride, entered by the Elite Partnership, and she received 225.75 points. The class 9 winner, Magnolia Kay, was entered by John's Landon Livestock, and she ended with 226 points. And finishing out the Heifer class was the Class 10 winner, Horseshoe J Isabel, entered by Jimmy Jones with 224.25 points. Class 11 was the first class for the Bulls, and that class winner was NV5Man, entered by Emmanuel Miller, and he ended with 225 points. The class 12 Bulls winner was Give a Hoot, entered by Dickets and Cattle Company, receiving 224.5 points. The class 13 winner, Spinal Tap, was entered by James Presley, and he ended with 225 points. The class 14 winner was SSL Benelli, entered by Benelli Legacy Partners, receiving 226 points. Class 15 was won by Midwest Top Shelf, entered by Square One Longhorns, and he ended with 225 points. And the last bull class was class number 16, and the winner for that class was M7 Shamrock, entered by George and Annie Wartzbaugh with 224 points. The high point heifer was CTA Calusa Summer Treaty, entered by Curtis and Tanya Abel, ending with 226.5 points. The high point bull was SSL Benelli, entered by Benelli Legacy Partners with 226 points. Looking ahead, our next stop for Hired Hand Live is the Cherry Blossom sale and the B and C Show Me Spring Longhorn Sale. We'll be releasing a pre-sale podcast on April 14th for each individual sale, featuring the sale hosts and everything you need to know before the sale.