BACK TO BUSINESS 81 Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale st
CHANGE AMID TRADITION by Managing Editor Stevie Ipsen
As one of the most iconic events in the agriculture industry, the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale is celebrating 81 years, and after adjustments had to be made to the 80th milestone celebration to accomodate the COVID-19 pandemic, the 81st year at the Tehama County event promises to make the founders of the event proud. What was started by local cattlemen as a horned Hereford bull sale in 1941, when Hereford was king of the beef industry, has now grown to an all-out western affair. While it seems obvious that anyone in the cattle business might feel at home at the Red Bluff Bull and Gelding Sale, those who have attended the event can attest that anyone who owns a pair of cowboy boots could find something – or many things – to pique their interest at the weeklong event. Though the bull sale still attracts some of the best horned Hereford bulls in the west, the sale has evolved into an all-breed bull sale with sometimes upwards of a
42 California Cattleman January 2022
dozen beef breeds represented. Longtime consignor Steve Lambert of Oroville says that he grew up knowing that Red Bluff is where you sold your best bulls. "That was back in a time when not just anyone could have a production sale," Lambert recalls. "Cattlemen worked year round just to raise a bull that was good enough to take to Red Bluff." Today, ranchers like Lambert, who may have their own on-the-ranch sale events still hold back a couple good ones to take to Red Bluff. "It's a tradition for our family and the people in Red Bluff who have become like family. It is something we look forward to every winter," Lambert says. Another person who is no stranger to the event and quite literally grew up at it is B.J. Macfarlane, Macfarlane, Cottonwood. Macfarlane, a Hereford breeder, has himself been a successful bull sale consignor in Red Bluff, but starting in 2022 will be wearing a new hat at
