THE first homozygous Poll Wagyu calf ever offered by auction in Australia sold for $65,000 during a special Wagyu Seedstock sale on AuctionsPlus on Friday.

Purebred Wagyu Darley Polled Emperor made $65,000 when sold on AuctionsPlus on Friday.

Lillian Jimenez’s Darley Stud, Chatswood NSW offered a 15-month old purebred homozygous poll bull, Darley Polled Emperor.

Friday’s result is being claimed as a world record for any purebred (ie non Fullblood) Wagyu animal sold at auction, regardless of horn status. It is also believed to be the highest price ever recorded for an animal of any breed sold on AuctionsPlus, and came with a marketing cost on the online livestock sales platform of just $13.

The calf was the product of an embryo imported from the US, produced by Prof Jerry Reeves’ Bar R Ranch in Washington. The sire was the hetrozgous poll purebred bull Bar R 52Y – owned jointly by Dr Reeves and Tasmanians, Keith and John Hammond, Hammond Farms, using one of Dr Reeves’ poll Wagyu donor cows, Bar R 27Y.

The calf is not a Fullblood Wagyu (progeny of a Japanese-bred Wagyu sire and dam) but is bred up to purebred status, in this case carrying 95.8pc Wagyu genetics.

A second full ET brother to Darley Polled Emperor was passed in on AuctionsPlus on Friday, for $25,000.

There has been mounting speculation about the likely market for Poll Wagyu genetics in Australia, in advance of the first physical auction of 20 young poll bulls, all heterozygous, in Queensland later this month (see earlier report).

A breeding syndicate called Polled Wagyu Pty Ltd will offer 20 young purebred Wagyu bulls, all tested heterozygous polls, at a special live auction near Mackay in Central Queensland later this month.

The first sale will take place at 8pm, as a night-time event attached to the annual Blue Mountain Campdraft an hour south of Mackay, on Friday 18 August. The sale will be conducted by Landmark, and will be interfaced on AuctionsPlus.

Click here to access details.

• Beef Central profiled the Poll Wagyu syndicate’s genetic selection progress chasing polled cattle in this earlier article, published in May.