$110,000 season high priced bull Telpara Hills Van Damme

A TELPARA Hills bull has sold for $110,000 at today’s Rockhampton Brangus Sale at Gracemere, setting a 2014 national bull season record price for any breed.

Telpara Hills Van Damme, a 23-month-old 901kg son of US AI sire GR Swift 209W3 was bought by Central Queensland seedstock producers, Mal and Sue Burston, Broadlea Station, Moranbah. Underbidders were described as commercial breeders from the Bowen/Collinsville area in North Queensland, while US interests pulled out when bids went past $50,000.

Van Damme was bred by Far North Queensland breeders, Stephen Pearce and family, Telpara Hills Stud, Atherton.

The price is easily the highest ever paid for a Brangus bull in Australia, and he ranks among only a handful of bulls of any breed that have sold for six figures.

The record-setter is the first GR Swift (US) son to be sold in Australia. Swift is owned by Brinks Brangus, out of Camp Cooley, Texas.

Half-brothers to Van Damme, by the same sire, will be offered at the Nindooinbah Ultrablack, Brangus and Angus sale near Beaudesert on Friday.

Telpara Hills principal, Stephen Pearce

Catalogue commentary described Van Damme as being known for his muscularity and athleticism.

“This bull certainly lives up to his name. He has presence, genetic power (top 15pc for all Breedplan traits), scale, style and awesome volume,” the catalogue said.

Van Damme is the first offspring to be offered out of Telpara Hills highly-regarded ET donor cow, TH Miss Csonka 541D9. He was a second-grade ‘leftover’ embryo from a flush sold earlier to US interests.

Vendors, the Pearce family, described him as one of the most outstanding young bulls they had bred to date. The bull was sold with full possession, three-quarter share and semen interest. Van Damme was apparently booked into an AI collection centre last week, local seedstock sources suggest.

Registered Brangus heifers also sold strongly during the first day of the Rockhampton Brangus sale fixture yesterday, with two heifers topping at $18,000, attracting bidding interest from across Australia and as far as the US.