MARYSVILLE, Ohio – The 2025 Ohio Beef Expo, hosted by the Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA), was March 13-16 at the Ohio Expo Center in Columbus, Ohio. The Expo featured eight live lot seedstock sales on March 14 and 15. Each sale included registered females and bulls.

A “live lot cattle sale” means cattle are sold alive, not as meat or carcasses.

Buyers had several options for viewing cattle before they entered the sale ring. Some breeds had shows where the cattle competed before being sold, while others paraded their cattle before the sale day. Online bidding was also available.

The eight breeds at this year’s sale were Aberdeen Angus, Angus, Hereford, Maine-Anjou, Miniature Hereford, Red Angus, Shorthorn and Simmental.

While the number of breeds and consignors changes year-to-year, the Seedstock Sale always attracts attention. “Frankly, it’s been a hallmark of the Ohio Beef Expo,” said Elizabeth Harsh, Ohio Beef Council and Ohio Cattlemen’s Association executive director. Despite live cattle lot availability not being as high as in past years, this year’s 300.5 live lots generated $1,626,000 in sales for an average of $5,322.

Live lot averages were up for all eight breeds from 2024. The .5 live lot reflected a half-interest purchase in a Maine-Anjou bull.

The fact that live lot numbers did not reach an all-time high for this year didn’t surprise Harsh. “Because the cattle market has been so strong that people could make those sales off the farm, and they didn’t have to hold their numbers until Beef Expo,” she said. “That’s what happens when you have extremely strong prices – sale numbers at the Beef Expo might be a bit smaller, but it’s still strong.”

The Seedstock Sale’s success didn’t come without challenges. While planning the first Beef Expo in 1988, Harsh explained that the various breed associations had their spring consignment sales spread over different weekends. Many of these annual events had banquets associated with them, and convincing these groups to give up long-established traditions was challenging.

“Getting them to believe in this concept and come together all on the same weekend was a leap of faith for some of them,” Harsh said. “But you can see with the sales results this year that it’s been worthwhile. We sold cattle to 24 states this year, which talks about the tremendous quality in those sales and the interest from buyers, throughout Ohio, but well beyond Ohio.”

Simmental and Maine-Anjou offered the most live lots for the third consecutive year. Maine-Anjou led the way in the live average price. The $7,699 average was a 34 percent increase from 2024.

“It’s been that way for some time,” Harsh said. “It was probably the Maine-Anjou’s largest sale in several years, not every year, but in the last several. But in the last few years, it’s been the Simmental that’s had the most numbers.”

Black Angus had a strong sale this year, 32 live lots averaged $6,334. “One of the best sales they’ve had in several years,” Harsh said. “So, they were very pleased with that.”

Harsh explained the give and take that goes on with the breed associations on setting the sale dates and times. “The various breeds prefer certain times and certain days; we can’t do everything on the Saturday of the Beef Expo,” she said. “We needed to get to where we had strong sales on Friday afternoon, Friday evening, and all day Saturday – we’ve now accomplished that.”

The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association is the sponsor of the Ohio Beef Expo and coordinates the entire event. They work with a Breeds Committee made up of representatives of each breed to plan the sale based on their rules. “What has made it so successful is that each breed still has the autonomy to run its sale by its own breed association’s sales standards,” Harsh said. “Each national organization might have different rules on what they have to do, so we don’t mandate a lot of things.”

Once the schedule is set in cooperation with the breed associations, there are very few changes. “We don’t want to have a lot of upheaval in the schedule because you get buyers that depend on knowing, for example, that the Simmental always sells on Saturday at about this time, and they plan their trip around knowing that, so we want some continuity as well,” Harsh said.

Sometimes changes occur, and it works out for the best. “The Shorthorns, this was their first year to sell on Friday evening, and they had a tremendously successful sale, and they said they want to stay there again in 2026,” Harsh said.

Although there were eight breeds this year, the OCA makes room on the schedule for additional breeds. “We welcome other breeds,” Harsh said. “Limousin has been part of our event in the past. They were not able to have a sale this year, but we would welcome them back if they have enough numbers to continue in 2026.”

Market conditions and the consignor’s ability to host a production influence the number of breeds and lots brought to the Expo. “Many times, consignors don’t have their own production sales, so they depend on being part of these sales to market their quality seed stock, show heifers, breeding females and bulls,” Harsh said.

Harsh was particularly impressed with the number of people gathered around the sales ring. “I was very pleased to see just how packed the sale ring was for virtually every sale,” she said. “We had tremendous crowds.”