Erelite Black Angus - Photo credit to Unger U2 Ranch

By Dori Modney

$140,000 Black Angus cow named Erelite: raised with expertise and dedication

Nov 21, 2019 | 8:30 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB — Darren Unger wasn’t easy to get a hold of, but then, he and wife Joanne are a very busy couple.

For almost three decades, they’ve operated the U2 Ranch north-east of Coaldale, AB. Looking after a significant herd of pure-bred Red and Black Angus cattle, 24/7, 365-days a year, on a ranch that covers a 1000 acres of verdant rolling hills, is not a hobby. It’s a life that requires knowledge, expertise and commitment.

The Ungers are trying to “slow down”, which explains the reason behind the dispersal auction of more than 1200 head of their cattle on November 11 and 12, at Perlich Brothers Auction market.

The catalogue of individual cows being sold went on for pages, many of the bovines have their own photo and biography. However, two particular cows definitely caught some attention.

On the first day of the auction, one of the U2 Red Angus cows was sold for $65,000. Unger confirms it went to a pure-bred breeder from Nebraska.

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“He flew in for the sale and he recognized it was a cow that he would want the genetics for his herd and he bid until he bought her.”

While $65,000 is nothing to sneeze at, it was the second day when one of the other U2 animals was sold for an astonishing amount. A Black Angus mama, named Erelite (her name) 109-Z (her registration code), was sold for a jaw-dropping $140,000.

Unger says the cow was purchased by two breeders.

“One was from Wyoming and the other from North Dakota – they teamed-up together and bought her.”

In the catalogue, Erelite 109-Z is described as “the most influential cow to walk our pastures. She is admired by all, with her unique blend of massive power and exquisite femininity. Since 2015, Erelite has had a perfect production record and turned into a very productive donor. All three of her sons have sold to purebred herds including Coalition for $32,000 and Temptation for $47,500. All of her success is backed by two generations of the best and most prolific donor quality cows we’ve raised.”

According to auctioneer Bob Perlich, it was the highest price paid for a cow in his company’s 52 year history.

Unger says the animal was raised on his ranch.

“She was born here and is about eight years old now, and she’s obviously been a very productive cow – she’s raised some prominent bulls in her career, so she’s fairly well-known. As far as cattle go, I guess she’s got a lot of what people are looking for. Production wise, she’s just one of those types of cows that are hard to come by. She’s going to be used to make breeding stock. They’re going to be using her in an embryo transplant program to create more animals like herself.”

Why is she so special?

“She’s already proven herself, with her production, she’s produced some bulls that have been very, very popular. One bull has been very popular in the U.S. so when that happens, people recognize her value because she’s already proven that she can produce superior genetics, so people are after her genetics.”

As for the size of the winning bid, Unger says they were surprised.

“We had no idea because it’s an auction – we knew there were people interested, but we didn’t know at what level, so we were pleasantly surprised.”

As to whether or not they could see a price like that again, Unger said he just didn’t know.

He chuckled, “We have a bull sale coming up in March – but, I don’t know, I don’t really want to say. It’s the scenario, if two people want the animal and they bid on it, that’s where it ends up, and that’s how an auction works.”

For those who are curious, the only difference between a red Angus and black Angus, is just one colour gene.

“It’s just one gene in there that makes them either red or black. Other than that, there’s really no difference, except for the colour.”

As for how they have been able to raise such exceptional cattle, Unger rather humble.

“I guess we have some genetics that other people want and we’ve been doing this for 27 years and we obviously take it quite seriously and we put everything we have into it. I guess we’re fortunate and thankful for the support that we got, especially, it seems like we got a lot of U.S. support, and Mexico as well – we’re thankful for that.”

“We still have all our bulls to sell in the spring. We sell them as yearlings in March and our next step is to try to slow down and take it a little bit easier, that’s why we had this sale, because this has been a full-time, seven days a week, 24-hours a day, and we’re just trying to slow down a little.”

Of course, slowing down doesn’t mean retiring. Joanne says they will still be doing some commercial ranching. The dispersal sale will simply cut out the long days and a lot of the work in the winter months. The Ungers definitely have laurels to rest on.

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