Elite Poll Herefords, ‘Eulalia’ at Scone brought bids to a top of $8500 at their annual sale last Thursday.
Of the 38 bulls offered 32 sold to an average of $5020, which proved a pleasing improvement on last year’s result considering the extremely dry period in the upper Hunter, said stud Principal Kay Payne. Bulls sold to NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
The sale topping bull was secured by commercial producer Charles Belfield, 'Kialami' Armidale, who outlaid $8500 for Elite L251, a homozygous poll son of Elite Y281 H284, sire of last year’s top priced bull. L251’s performance featured top one per cent ‘calving ease daughters’, top 10 per cent growth and Eye Muscle Area (EMA) and top five per cent ‘$Indexes’.
Mr Belfield also secured another Elite Y782 H284 son of similar performance, including an EMA of 6.4, for $5500.
Repeat buyer, Terry Carlon, Uralla, pushed Victorian competition for Lot 17, an MSU Revolution son, to $7500. Lot 17 had an EBV of 70 for 400 day growth and 7.0 for his EMA, yet his ‘calving ease daughters’ was still in the top 10 per cent of the breed.
Stephen and Fiona Cole, from Bookaar, Victoria, chose yearling sire Elite J216 M147 on their first trip to Elite.
Andrew Bell from Millicent, South Australia, chose three bulls to $7000. He has been has been involved with the Hereford progeny testing scheme and appreciates breeding values as a guide.
The sale was conducted by Neil Thomas of Thomas Livestock, Branxton.
