$525 Steers to $20,500 Heifers: This Week’s Auction Highlights

Howdy friends,

Six auctions. 385 animals. Nearly $1.6 million in sales. And a price range that tells you everything about where this market is right now: a steer sold for $550 at the Fall Roundup while a “micro/mini” heifer hit $20,500 at Pandarosa a few weeks later.

HHCA Fall Sale: 181 Head, $664,025

The Heartland Highland Cattle Association's 9th Annual Fall Sale ran December 6 in Springfield, MO with online bidding through DVAuction. 181 lots sold (173 animals plus 8 genetics lots). It's the largest single-event snapshot of the traditional Highland market we got all year.

Big-Picture Numbers

Performance by Registration Category

The sale used lot-number prefixes to segment animals: 1000s for AHCA-registered, 1500s for HHCA-registered, 2000s for steers, 3000s for unregistered Highlands, and 4000s for genetics lots.

Top Five

1. Arista (Lot 1041) — $13,500 AHCA heifer, red frosted, Kerfes Homestead

2. Maybell (Lot 1031) — $13,000 AHCA bred cow, deep red brindle frosted, Scottish RR Ranch

3. Duchess of Circle AM (Lot 1047) — $12,000 AHCA ET heifer, dun

4. JSM Homestead cow (Lot 1550) — $9,900 HHCA white cow, AI-bred to WL Genesis (sexed heifer straw)

5. Diana of Circle AM (Lot 1045) — $9,200 AHCA ET silver heifer

What Stood Out

Registration matters. AHCA animals averaged $5,591; HHCA averaged $3,788; unregistered averaged $3,355. That's an $1,800–$2,200 premium for AHCA papers over similar animals without them.

The $800 bull. An AHCA-eligible bull calf (Lot 1005) sold for $800—the sale low. Meanwhile, the top heifer hit $13,500. That's a 17× spread. Bulls are tough to move right now.

Color helps, but it's not magic. Silver, yellow, dun, frosted, flashy brindle—they kept showing up in the upper tiers. But color alone didn't do it. Color + paperwork + good handling did.

Temperament sells. "Docile," "loves to be brushed," "kid-friendly"—these descriptions consistently earned a four-figure premium over similar cattle with "not a pet" or "protective" notes.

Honesty works. Several consignors were blunt about quirks—udder issues, bottle calves required, early halter work. Those animals still sold. Transparency didn't tank them; it placed them in the right tier and attracted the right buyers.

Highland Genetics Online Auction: $131,969

This sale taught me as much about auction mechanics as cattle pricing. The Shopify-based platform displays full bidding histories, so we got good visibility into who's actually buying. 18 cattle lots (all AHCA-registered), consignments from 7 states, bidders from 20+ states and Canada.

One thing I learned after the sale: hidden reserves are apparently common in AHCA-affiliated auctions. A bidder can "win" but if the unpublicized reserve wasn't met, the seller doesn't have to complete the sale. Highland Genetics confirmed this is standard practice in their circles. Coming from other auction worlds, that surprised me. It's worth knowing if you're bidding in these sales.

Sale Statistics

Top Five

1. WL Kokomo (Lot 12) — $13,000 dun, 29 bids, highest bid activity in the sale

2. Windy of Piney (Lot 1) — $9,350 black, 22 bids

3. SWM L'Oreal (Lot 6) — $8,500 dun, 22 bids

4. Gray Owl's Leanna (Lot 15) — $8,500 red, 16 bids

5. MT Farm's Ruth (Lot 2) — $8,250 dun, tied with PF Velvet (Lot 10)

The Bidder Reality

The whole sale likely had only 22–23 active buyers (19 named plus 3–4 anonymous). That's not weakness—prices were strong—but it's a thin market. A couple determined buyers can move the entire price map.

Heifer and bull buyers are almost completely separate pools. The bidder IDs competing on heifers rarely showed up on bull lots. Heifer buyers were more numerous, bid earlier, showed emotional patterns. Bull buyers were fewer (4–6 per lot), more price-sensitive, bid late.

Most lots were decided by two bidders. Even high-demand lots came down to one dominant bidder and one strong challenger. Everything else was warm-up. The real fight happened in the final 10 minutes.

Popcorn bidding adds real money. Time extensions consistently added $750–$2,000 per lot. If you're selling online, this feature matters.

November 30: The Triple-Header

Three sales ran simultaneously on November 30. Together they moved 53 animals for $426,940. Each sale had a different format, different buyer pool, different vibe.

Ginkgo / Limestone Lane Highland Winter Select

Boutique sale: 12 animals sold, and one bull (Bandit) that hit $6,600 but didn't meet reserve. The mix was Highlands, Highbelts, Pandas, and Shorthorn crosses. Limestone Lane's registered Highlands took three of the top four spots.

Top sellers: Limestone Lane Marsali (white AHCA heifer) at $11,000. Carlin, Saffron, and Keir each hit $9,000. Miss Maynard (mini/Panda cross) brought $9,400.

The bull story: Yuma, a standard Highland bull calf, sold for $2,000. Bandit, a Panda bull, got to $6,600 but that didn’t reach the reserve price. Meanwhile, every heifer in the sale found a buyer. Bulls are a hard sell right now unless you've built demand for them specifically as potential herd sires or pasture ornaments (hopefully as steers!).

Wonder Livestock Cyber Sunday

No reserves and $0.01 starting bids, let’s go! The catalog was bottle babies with extreme markings and chondro-positive mini lines—a different universe from HHCA.

Top seller: Mini Hipark Rebecca at $15,500. The TikTok/Facebook favorite from the Norman × Lola flush.

The flushmate test case: Rebecca and Renley are full flushmates. Same sire, same dam, both bottle babies, both polled. Rebecca sold for $15,500. Renley brought $7,250. That's 2.14× for these full siblings. The difference was that Rebecca was labeled the "Facebook favorite" with viral reach. Social media attention doubled the price.

Chondro perception flipped: In Wonder's buyer pool, chondro-positive is a feature, not a discount. They're paying for micro size. Different market, different expectations.

Pandarosa Ranch Countdown to Christmas

This one reset the ceiling. Bottle babies, Christmas staging, consistent indoor photography, warm copy, no buyer's premium, and a loyal social audience. The result was the highest-grossing micro/mini Highland sale of the day.

The numbers: Heifer average around $12,100. Five heifers above $12,000. Top seller Noelle (micro/mini Highland) at $20,500. Bull-option males hit $5,500–$11,100—wildly above the norm from these other auctions.

The Pandarosa playbook: No reserves. Transparent auction. Professional photos in controlled lighting. Copy that tells a story. A social audience that shows up. Every seller in this niche market is benchmarking against these results now.

Scottish Highland Fall Roundup: 133 Head, $363,560

The second annual Fall Roundup ran November 8 at Mo-Kan Livestock in Butler, MO, co-sponsored by Honey Bee Cattle Co. and Howell Cattle Co. This was a hybrid live/online sale with DVAuction. 133 animals sold across catalog and non-catalog lots, including three dispersals. The large sale was quite successful in light of the fact that this is only the second year this group has put something like this together.

Big-Picture Numbers

How Categories Performed

Catalog females: 61 head, $3,948 average, range $550–$8,900. The top catalog lot was Bennachie's Grisa (Lot 7354), a dun cow with a white bull calf at side, at $8,900.

Catalog bulls: 24 head, $1,864 average, range $1,100–$3,000. Top bull was RAP Red Diamond at $3,000.

Non-catalog females: 18 head, $2,658 average, but the sale topper came from this group: a HighPark heifer (Lot 7459) hit $10,000.

Non-catalog bulls: 24 head, $1,042 average, range $550–$2,750. This is where you see the floor for bulls without papers or pedigree.

Steers: 6 head, $856 average, range $525–$1,525.

What Stood Out

The HighPark premium is real. A non-catalog HighPark heifer outsold every registered animal in the building. That $10,000 sale was more than the top AHCA lot ($8,900). Buyers are paying for the look and the genetics, not just the paperwork.

Bulls are soft across the board. 48 bulls sold at this sale. Average: $1,453. The non-catalog bulls averaged just $1,042. Only one bull cracked $3,000. If you're producing bull calves without a clear buyer or purpose, the math is a little bit tougher these days.

Dispersals moved. Three dispersals were part of this sale (Colonial, Torres, Horse Feathers). The dispersal lots averaged $3,116 across 43 head. When whole herds come to market, buyers show up.

What It All Means

Price Tiers Are Forming

Premium mini/micro heifers (Pandarosa tier): $12,000–$20,500. Bottle babies, extreme color, social proof.

Premium AHCA heifers: $8,000–$13,500. Show-quality, proven genetics, good temperament.

Mid-tier registered heifers: $5,500–$8,000. Solid animals, good paperwork, less flash.

HHCA and unregistered heifers: $3,000–$5,500. Functional, less pedigree depth.

Bulls (standard market): $550–$4,500. Soft across the board. Pandarosa bulls were the outlier at $5,500–$11,100.

Steers: $525–$1,900.

Two Markets, One Breed

These auctions show two parallel Highland markets with different buyers, different priorities, different ceilings. The more traditional market (HHCA, Highland Genetics (AHCA), Fall Roundup) rewards AHCA registration, show potential, proven genetics. The mini/micro market (Pandarosa, Wonder) rewards extreme color, small size, bottle-baby handling, social media celebrity. Chondro-positive is criticized in one and a premium in the other. Know which market you're selling into.

If You're Selling in 2026

• Register when you can. The AHCA premium was $1,800–$2,250 at HHCA. That's real money.

• Train for docility and say so. "Halter trained / loves to be brushed / kid-friendly" earns a four-figure premium.

• Invest in photos. Pandarosa's indoor Christmas staging moved prices. Presentation converts.

• Match your reserve strategy to your risk tolerance. No-reserve builds excitement but requires confidence. Soft floors protect the bottom. High reserves can leave you with a no-sale.

• In the mini/micro lane, build the audience first. The audience is the premium. Rebecca vs. Renley proved it.

• Be honest about quirks. It doesn't kill sales but can help place animals correctly and build trust.

Combined Season Numbers

385 lots. Nearly $1.6 million. A price range from $525 (a steer at the Fall Roundup) to $20,500 (Pandarosa heifer). Whether you're planning 2026 breedings or just trying to figure out what this market actually looks like right now, I hope this helps.

Until next time,

Elliott

Upcoming Auctions

Here's what I'm tracking. If you know of sales I'm missing, please reply and let me know!

December 7: Webb Cattle Co.

December 14: Mariposa Mini Cattle

December 14: Willoughby Sales Moo-ey & Bright Online Sale

—

After getting kicked out of a couple of the existing larger groups for sharing these newsletters, I started my own: Highland Cattle & Mini Cows: U.S. Breeders & Future Owners. Come join us!

—

P.S. If you're looking for an easy way to manage, buy, or sell your animals, Creatures is the platform I'm building. I would love to meet you and your cattle there!