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Virginia Premium Assured Heifer Program Sale Summary
Livestock Update, August 2001
John Hall, Extension Animal Scientist, Beef, VA Tech
The Virginia Premium Assured (VPA) Heifer Program has been very successful over the last 18 months. This program has provided buyers high quality replacement heifers while rewarding VPA Heifer producers for extra attention to nutrition, management and genetics. VPA Heifer sales grossed $ 624,523.06 through the sale of 686 heifers (Table 1). Five hundred and seventeen VPA & VPA+ bred heifers averaged $ 967.38 per head, and 169 VPA & VPA+ open heifers averaged $ 736.01 per head.
Table 1. Number of heifers, total receipts, average prices and price ratios for Virginia Premium Assured Heifers* and non-Premium Assured Heifers** sold in 2000 - 2001.
| Head | Total $ | Average $ | VPA advantage | Ratio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VPA+ Bred | 314 | $307,763.04 | $980.14 | $99.21 | 111.26 |
| VPA Bred | 203 | $192,375.00 | $947.66 | $66.73 | 107.58 |
| Non VPA Bred | 253 | $222,874.89 | $880.93 | 100.00 | |
| VPA+ Open | 70 | $52,157.98 | $745.11 | $79.75 | 111.99 |
| VPA Open | 99 | $72,227.00 | $729.57 | $64.20 | 109.65 |
| Non-VPA Open | 109 | $72,525.08 | $665.37 | 100.00 |
Several sales featured VPA Heifers and non-VPA Heifers. In those sales, VPA+ heifers were worth 8% to 13% more than non-VPA heifers (Table 2). Regular VPA heifers sold for 3% to 5% more than their non-VPA counterparts.
Table 2. Average price ratios of Virginia Premium Assured Heifers relative to non-VA Premium Assured Heifers sold in the same sale.
| Average Ratio | |
|---|---|
| VPA + Bred | 113.22 |
| VPA Bred | 105.44 |
| Non-VPA | 100 |
| VPA + Open | 108.10 |
| VPA Open | 103.85 |
| Non-VPA | 100 |
Sales price is not the only important consideration with a new marketing program. We are currently conducting a follow-up survey of VPA Heifer buyers to ascertain their level of satisfaction with VPA Heifers.