Production

Weekly Spring bull sales wrap-up

Jon Condon 02/10/2012

 

Stud record $40,000, total clarance for Raff Angus

 

A big crowd nudging 250 people saw a 100 percent clearance and a stud record top price of $40,000 set at last Monday’s Raff Angus bull sale on Queensland’s western Darling Downs.  

The average price of $6606 was outstanding, given that the average age of bulls catalogued principals David and Andrew Raff and families was just 16 months.

The on-property sale at Mundibulanga, near Drillham saw the $40,000 top priced bull sell to regular buyers the Wilkinson family, from Messines, near Guyra inn northern NSW.

The bull, Raff Explosive G174, was a fifteen-month-old framescore 7.6 son of Raff Explosive E108 weighed a whopping 794kg with a whole of life daily gain of 1.63 kg. At scanning on August 12 he recorded an EMA of 108sq cm, 46.5cm scrotal size with 6/6mm fat depth at rib and P8 sites.

Andrew Raff described Explosive G174 as one of the outstanding bulls offered in this year’s catalogue with tremendous bone and excellent smoothness.

“His pedigree and performance are as good as we have to offer,” he said.

Guest auctioneers Michael Glasser and Brian Leslie operating for GTSM sold the record 150 bulls – 30 more than last year – in an action-packed two hours. Spirited bidding came from buyers operating from all areas of Queensland, NSW and Victoria as well as representation from South Australia and Tasmania, with many operating by phone and on Auctions Plus.

Some 85pc of the offering was sired by Raff-bred bulls that were the culmination of a six-year project that saw the purchase of four cows in the US in 2006 and the importation of 300 embryos which produced more than 20 stud sires.

Second top at $30,000 was Raff Fonzie F352, bought by long-standing Raff clients Ed and Kym Lahey, Dungay Park Stud, Kempsey, NSW. Fonzie F352 is the first natural calf of this year’s Brisbane Royal interbreed supreme champion cow, Raff Blackbird D349. Sired by Raff Danny Boy D207, the 21-month-old frame 7.2 bull recorded a daily gain of 1.41kg weighing in at 966kg with 130sq cm EMA, 45cm scrotal and an IMF scan of 7.1pc.

Another three bulls sold for over $20,000 – the first being Raff Dynamite G73 to the Oak Creek Angus stud from Texas, on the Qld/NSW border for $24,000. Raff Dazzler G82 was purchased by regular buyers Consolidated Pastoral Co, Isis Downs, Isisford, Qld for $23,000. Paul and Faye Land from Cudgewa in Victoria returned this year to purchase Raff Duke G196 for $22,000.

Volume buyers included long-standing buyers McDonald Holdings of Devoncourt, Cloncurry and GP Cattle Company Portland Downs, Ilfracombe Queensland, each taking ten bulls.

 

$5546 average for The Grove/Woolcott Shorthorns

A 'standing-room only' crowd of more than 200 people appreciated the breed-leading genetics and high-quality phenotype presented by the Morgan family's The Grove Shorthorn stud and invited vendors, Woolcott stud, Meandarra, at their recent sale near Condamine.

The catalogue of 151 bulls produced a complete clearance at an average price of $5546, sold under the ‘electronic’ Helmsman auction system – an innovation which is proving to be successful following 27 seven years of traditional auctions.  

In addition to 79 purebred Shorthorns from The Grove and 40 offered by Woolcott, The Grove catalogued 31 composite bulls bred specifically for tropical or temperate extensive production systems.

 The 79 Shorthorn bulls account The Grove averaged $6481, selling to a top of $16,000, paid by Jackson Family Partnership, Charters Towers for The Grove F975, a bull with all three liveweight EBVs in the top 5pc of the breed and retail beef yield in the highest 1pc.

The 40 sires sold account Woolcott Shorthorns averaged $4362 with the top price of $10,500 paid by Futurity Shorthorns, Baradine, NSW for Woolcott F351, a bull with EBVs for seven traits in the top 20pc of the breed.

The composite bulls sold to strong commercial interest with 19 Durham Blacks (Shorthorn x Angus) averaging $5888 for nine two-year-olds, with 10 yearlings returning an exceptional average of $5400. A respectable $3850 average was recorded for the 12 Durham Red (Shorthorn x Red Brahman and Shorthorn x Senepol) bulls.

 

Santa Central hits $36,000

Pictured with the $36,000 Hardigreen Park Omega are Scott Ferguson, vendor Moreton Rolfe, Hardigreen Park, and buyer, Ben Adams, Dangarfield, Taroom. A five-state and international buying panel operated at last week’s Santa Central Santa Gertrudis sale held near Clifton on Qld’s southern Darling Downs where bulls topped at $36,000 and females, $11,000.

Averages price for the 85 Classified S bulls climbed to $6606, while nine purebreds topped at $13,000 to average $5056. When compared to the 2011 result all categories rose in value.

The overall sale average increased by $133 per head, ‘S’ averages improved by $195/head and purebreds by $1771/head.

International support was again evident, with Franco Koch, Kochbo Stud, Morreesburg, South Africa operating via phone with Blake Munro, Elders was the losing bidder on the $28,000 Soleo-Melance G-Unit and was active bidding on Glenn Oaks Grande and Glenview Granville. Mr Koch inspected all three during his recent visit to the recent Santa Gertrudis World Congress.

In a catalogue breakdown, 29 led bulls average $10,879 while 56 unled classified bulls averaged $4393 while the nine purebreds set a $5056 average. Top seller was the $36,000 952kg, Hardigreen Park Omega (P) offered by Moreton and Frances Rolfe, Hardigreen Park Stud, Wallabadah, NSW. Picking up the 134EMA (AI) son of Warenda Rolex was the Adams family, Dangarfield Stud, Taroom.

Solid year for Santas

In the past two weeks a total of 648 Santa Gertrudis bulls have sold at auction for an average $5471, the Santa Association announced in a release last week.  General manager Bill Dunlop said the sales had been significant for both volume and repeat buyers.

“Sales have reached $36,000 twice in the last week and $46,000 in the week previous. These prices are the icing on the cake for the seed stock producer,” he said.

“However the real value in these sale events are the numbers of large-scale producers that are buying Santa bulls that are good value.  We’re seeing a resurgence of producers purchasing these bulls to join them to many different breeds of females in an effort to extract the weight that they struggle to gain from other breeds.”

“Close to 2000 Santa bulls have been sold through the auction ring so far in 2012, and by the time the 2012 circuit is completed overall sale numbers from 2011 would be well and truly eclipsed,” he said. Six more Santa bull sales remain in the 2012 spring stud stock season culminating at the annual Charters Towers Sale in early November. 

 

Yearling Angus average $4300 for Lawsons

Yearling bulls sold to $8000 and averaged $4300 at the Lawsons Angus spring sale at Yea in Victoria recently.

The sale produced a complete clearance of the 81 yearling bulls offered – all June-August 2011-drop – which also included 19 bulls offered on account of Tom Lawson's Paringa Black Angus stud.

The top price of $8000 was paid twice for high indexing sons of Lawsons Invincible C402.

Lawsons principal Harry Lawson said he was pleased with the results, particularly the total clearance, although there was some good buying in several of the top bulls lots with low birthweight-high growth breeding values and Long Fed indexes exceeding $130.

The sale attracted buyers from as far north as Hughenden, in North Queensland; NSW buyers from Walcha, Gunnedah and Boorowa; and Tasmania and King Island.

King Island's Sustainable Agriculture Co was among the volume buyers with 13 bulls paying to a top of $6000.

  • Send your concise Spring bull sale reports for inclusion in Beef Central’s regular weekly summaries to: admin@beefcentral.com

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