Genetics

All breeds records smashed as Wattletop Angus females average $8494

Jon Condon, 26/05/2017

THE sheer strength of the Australia seedstock industry at present was in clear evidence yesterday when the first stage of the Rogers family’s Wattletop Angus female dispersal averaged a phenomenal $8494 for a complete clearance of 259 PTIC females.

The result is easily a record for any registered female dispersal of any breed in Australia, and made all the more significant because of the large numbers involved.

PTIC cows, ranging in age from rising three years to rising ten years, sold to $38,000 twice – not far short of the Angus breed record of $45,000 set in 2010 (see Beef Central’s exclusive list of breed records, click here).

Buyers of the equal top priced females were Spry’s Angus, Wagga Wagga, and Bannaby Angus, Taralga. One was a rising eight-year-old cow, the dam of one of the best bulls ever bred on Wattletop, Franklin G188. The other was one of his daughters.

Equal top priced female at $38,000 at yesterday's phase 1 Wattletop dispersal was this three-year-old Franklin G188 daughter, bought by Bannaby Angus Taralga, NSW.

Equal top priced female at $38,000 at yesterday’s Wattletop dispersal was this three-year-old Franklin G188 daughter, bought by Bannaby Angus Taralga, NSW. Click on image for a larger view.

Large, well-known Angus studs were prominent buyers, including Coolie Angus at Merriwa, which bought 14 cows for a gross of $236,000, averaging $16,857, while Wirribilla Farms, a large commercial Angus operation out of Walcha, bought 30 females, primarily to supply its own future herd bull requirements.

Stud principal Lock Rogers told Beef Central this morning that that there was particularly strong support from new and emerging Angus seedstock breeders, keen to secure quality proven bloodlines established over 35 years of selective breeding.

“We think the fact that this was a complete, and outright dispersal – not a reduction – giving buyers access to the heart of the herd, was part of the reason why it went so well,” he said.

LOCK ROGERS0395 (1)

Wattletop principal, Lock Rogers

“The other factor was that the timing was perfect, with the underlying strength and confidence in the cattle market. But the result greatly exceeded our expectations,” Mr Rogers said.

So deep was the bidding demand at the sale that lot 270 in the catalogue, a very well bred, but rising ten year old matron, sold late in the day, made $16,000.

Yesterday’s sale marks the half-way point in the Wattletop dispersal, with stage two, offering a similar number as yesterday, comprising two-year-olds on their first calf, and mated yearlings, to be sold in March next year.

 

  • Click here to view an earlier Beef Central story outlining the Rogers’ reasons for dispersing their Wattletop herd.
  • Beef Central’s popular Genetics Central feature returns after seasonal recess in mid-June. For spring bull sale advertising inquiries (available spaces are filling fast), contact Sally Inslay on 0419 471 578 or email sally@graincentral.com

 

 

 

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  1. Robert McKittrick, 26/05/2017

    Err, Coolie Angus is at Merriwa NSW not Merawah!

    Thanks for the heads-up Robert – now corrected. Our knowledge of southern place-names and spellings is somewhat limited. I thought somebody was having a lend of me yesterday when they told me they were going to an event at Lal Lal. Turns out there is such a place, not far from Ballarat. We rely on our sharp-eyed readers like yourself to help with quality control. Editor

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