RECORDS were smashed for Angus females in 2017 in both stud and commercial markets, as the nation’s herd rebuild drove strong demand for good quality breeders.
In the stud cattle, a new Australian all breeds record for a female was set when Millah Murrah Prue M4 made $190,000 at the stud’s female sale in October. The 21-month-old heifer, by Coonamble Hector H249 and pregnancy-tested-in-calf (PTIC) to Millah Murrah Proceed L237, sold to Rodger and Jenny Pryce, Brooklana Angus, Dorrigo, NSW.
Millah Murrah stud principals Ross and Dimity Thompson, Bathurst, NSW, also recorded the highest price for an Angus cow, with five-year-old Millah Murrah Prue H112, PTIC to Millah Murrah Kruse Time K400, selling for $54,000 to East West Angus, Bingara, NSW. Prue H112, by Ythanbrae Henry VIII U8, broke the previous breed record of $48,000.
It was a solid sale across all 234 lots that averaged $13,709 and grossed $3.208 million, which was recorded as the largest single vendor result in history and the highest single day gross for any Australian stud sale.
The Millah Murrah average smashed the previous record for an Angus female sale of $8494, set at the first stage of the Wattletop Angus dispersal at Guyra, NSW, in May. Stud principal Lock Rogers sold two females for $38,000, with rising eight-year-old Wattletop Barundah E295, by Wattletop USA9074 C118, going to Spry's Angus, Wagga Wagga, NSW, and Wattletop J464 – a rising four-year-old cow by Wattletop Franklin G188 – sold to Bannaby Angus, Taralga, NSW.
Wattletop’s remaining 270 females will be sold in March this year in stage two of the stud’s dispersal.
In the other big stud dispersal for 2017, Victorian stud Coolana Angus sold 820 lots from 1046 offered for an average of $3276, in what was the largest dispersal in the breed’s history at Chatsworth in March.
The dispersal, held following 45 years of breeding by the Gubbins family, topped at $22,000 for Coolana Tearful G216, a rising six-year-old cow by Sitz New Design 458N from stud grand matron Witherswood Tearful X31, who went to South Australian stud producer Damian Gommers, Mandayen stud, Keith.