Commercial buyers looking to stock new properties and others rebuilding after drought weren't afraid to go toe-to-toe with leading Hereford studs trying to get their hands on the final offering of Thornleigh genetics from the Monie family.
It took auctioneer Paul Dooley and Elders stud stock agents Brain Kennedy and Lincoln McKinlay just under three and a half hours to rattle through the draft of females and bulls at the Thornleigh Herefords Dispersal Sale at the Glen Innes saleyards on Thursday.
Early results had 232 of 258 females averaging $4176 while 16 of 26 bulls averaged $6750.
In the final wrap up, 180 cows and calves averaged $4211, 37 Hereford PTIC P heifers averaged $3689 and 12 Hereford Q yearling heifers averaged $4208.
Buyers from as far as Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria were successful on the day with Jarimbee Pty Ltd, Blayney, accounting for 36 animals to stock a new property near Molong.
At least 25 lots were bound for Vern Robertson, McCooey Herefords, Goulburn, who was a major buying support.
Stud principal Ben Monie said the sale was solid all the way through and commercial producers could see the value in the cattle.
"I think the commercial base was outstanding today and then...a few guys wanted to add some stud cows into their herd and they bought well," he said.
"Most of all, the thing that pleased me most was the real solid base that we had in there, which is a good sign for Hereford cattle.
"All day they were after the Battalion Black Hawk cattle.
"I don't think there was any great trend on the polled or horned cattle. The horned cattle really sold well commercially and I think a few of the Allendale Anzacs sold very well and they were obviously after cows that had calves at foot."
Nevertire producer Peter Swatridge and his daughter Christine Rasmussan secured 24 lots ranging from $3000 to $4500 as part of their endeavours to rebuild from three years of drought.
Running commercial Hereford breeders alongside buy in cattle, Mr Swatridge said they currently had about 50 per cent of their normal stock numbers.
"I was looking for cows with heifers calves to build numbers," he said.
"We did buy a couple of cows with bull calves, mainly out of frustration when we couldn't get others.
"Buying quality cattle is never easy and there is an opportunity when someone has a total dispersal."
A high of $9000 was reached twice in the female portion, but one was later retracted.
Thornleigh 232 Constance H186 was knocked down with a calf at foot to Rams Trust, Inverell, during the sale but was later declared a no sale.
The price was reached later by Franco Herefords, Casino, for Thornleigh Katherine M397, a four-year-old daughter of Courallie J F181 JamiroQuai, and her bull calf by Lotus Legion.
Bulls hit a top price of $16,000 twice.
Adrian Spencer and family, Ironbark Herefords, Barraba, secured a yearling son of the $45,000 Battalion Black Hawk K7 named Thornleigh Black Hawk Q153 who boasted high index values with an intramuscular fat scan of five per cent.
Another Black Hawk son, this time the two-year-old Thornleigh H Blackhawk P183 also made the top money to a buyer on the grounds.
Notable stud support came from Curracabark Herefords, Gloucester, who accounted for 12 head averaging $4416.
Other studs who bought on the day included Battalion, Supple, Tummel, Collingwood, Swanvale, Te-Angie and Beggan Hill, just to name a few.
Not only was there a strong crowd in the grandstand but 173 bidders registered on AuctionsPlus and accounted for 45 animals with 20 of them going the way of Brian Unthank Rural, Albury.
The sale was conducted by Elders with agent Dick Gleeson getting a special shout out from those involved for his hard work in assisting with the sale.
Mr Monie also thanked his family for their support.
They will look towards a more flexible operation and dabble in trading cattle but did retain some embryos in their preferred females to keep a connection to the herd that began 88 years ago.
Read the full report in The Land next week.