MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Top quality beef animals and horses will move through the auction ring Nov. 17 as Mississippi State University releases more than 100 research herd cattle and horses to the highest bidders.

MSU and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station will host the 23rd annual Animal Production Sale at the Mississippi Horse Park, AgriCenter and Fairgrounds, which is located on Poorhouse Road south of Starkville.

The horse sale begins at 10 a.m. More than 40 horses are scheduled to be marketed in the horse sale, including descendants of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. The sale will include quarter horse and Thoroughbred mares, geldings, colts and fillies. View some of the sale horses, online at http://www.msstate.edu/research/equine/.

Lunch will be served at noon, and the cattle sale will begin at 1 p.m. About 45 bred, commercial heifers from MAFES research farms in Starkville, Raymond, Holly Springs and Prairie will be sold with calving dates beginning in February. In addition to the heifers, 25 coming 2-year-old and yearling Angus, Charolais and Hereford bulls will be marketed.

For more information on the sale, contact Blair McKinley or Jane Parish in MSU’s Animal and Dairy Science Department at (662) 325-3516. A Web page with more details on the sale is available at MSUcares.com.