ONE of Australia’s largest annual one-brand, vendor-bred weaner offerings will go under the hammer at Roma store sale next Tuesday.

Each year the Murray family’s Kindee Pastoral Co offers its entire weaner turnoff in one hit at the same late June sale at Roma.

This year’s offering for next Tuesday, 27 June, will include 1000 Santa/Charolais/Shorthorn cross feeder/backgrounder steers, mostly around 260-350kg, and 700 similar heifers, all 8-10 months of age.

The vendors have taken the highly unusual step of committing their entire annual weaner turnoff each year through a single sale – but in doing so, have established strong repeat buyer support from restockers, backgrounders and feedlot operators looking for large, even lines of well-bred, high-performance cattle.

Kindee weaners yarded for last year’s June Roma store sale

Remarkably, the Murray family has sold their annual turnoff at Roma at the same time each year for 30 years or more. In total, the family’s unusual ‘one-brand, one-sale, every year’ strategy can be traced back 70 years.

There is obvious a considerable seasonal risk factor involved in putting all their eggs into one sale basket like this. But apart from a sale three years ago when the region was in severe drought, the arrangement has well and truly paid off in almost all other years.

The Kindee weaners are bred and weaned on brigalow/bottletree/bauhinia scrub country either Cowangah, near Taroom, or Muya, via Injune.

Next Tuesday’s sale will be live streamed and online bidding will be provided through Elite Livestock Auctions. The equivalent sale last year was the first commercial cattle sale in Queensland to be supported by online marketing technology featuring live video and audio feeds from the sale, and live external bidding.

The introduction of the Elite Livestock online bidding interface this year on both lines adds another level of completion, seamlessly integrating the digital bidding platform and the traditional physical saleyard format.

Roma’s Watkins & Co are marketing the Kindee cattle at next week’s sale.

“The live interface means that interested bidders who cannot get to Roma can still compete on the offering,” Watkins and Co’s Brad Neven said.

“Somebody who wants to buy only a single pen might not want to drive all the way to Roma, but this way they can still compete on quality cattle. It’s about extending the buyer footprint,” he said.

Many of the weaners at past sales have gone south into NSW and even Victoria. Vendor Ian Murray remarked on the impact Weebollabolla Shorthorn genetics had made within his herd since the breed was first introduced to the three-way cross  six years ago. Weebollabolla itself has featured as a prominent buyer of the Kindee weaners in recent years, in a bloodline progeny buyback onto Moree oats country.

• Details: http://elitelivestockauctions.com.au
• Login and bid online: Tuesday 27 June from 8AM