INTERNATIONAL sires have made a big impact on the Angus breed over the past few years, and 2017 was no exception, with strong demand for progeny of some of the top imported genetics used by Australian studs.
Among the top performing sires have been New Zealand's Matauri Reality 839, and SydGen Black Pearl 2006, from the US.
Matauri Reality 839
REALITY, a son of Schurrtop Reality X723 and Matauri 06663, is in the top one per cent of the breed for six traits – calving ease direct, calving ease daughters, gestation length, scrotal size, and rib and rump fats – has now been used in 186 stud herds across Australasia.
The strong results for 2017 began at the Gilmandyke Angus, Orange, NSW, autumn bull sale, where Gilmandyke Reality L0157 topped the sale at $16,000.
Later in the year, Paul Smith, Tieyon Pastoral Company, Alice Springs, NT, paid $24,000 for Texas Reality L227, and at the Sugarloaf sale at Dungog, Sugarloaf Reality L154 topped the sale at $20,000.
Clunie Range, Wallangra, NSW, had exceptional results with Reality sons, with seven two-year-olds averaging $17,429 and two yearlings averaging $9500.
The outstanding demand at Clunie Range included the top-priced bull, Clunie Range Landmark L415, which made $45,000 and was bought by Victorian stud producers Sam and Sandra Trovatello, Adameluca Angus, Kyneton, Vic. At the same sale the Attard family, “Shingle Hut”, Moura, Qld, purchased another son, Clunie Range Loverboy L371 for $22,000.
A Reality son set the top price again at the K.O. Angus sale, Kangaloon, NSW, with Bannaby Angus, Taralga, NSW, paying $16,500 for K.O. 839 Reality L87.
Reality sired the top yearling bull at the Knowla Livestock, Moppy, NSW, sale, with 18-month-old Knowla McCaw M20 selling for $28,000 to the Sylvester family’s Five Star Angus stud at Nundle, and Greg and Sally Chappell’s Dulverton stud, Glen Innes, NSW.
Lou, Rosemary and Jasmine Maher, Meerlieu, took home the top bull at the Witherswod Angus, Taminick, Vic, sale, with a son of Reality reaching $15,000, and Landfall Reality L154 sold for $17,000 to Blyth Bros, Gippsland, Vic, topping the Landfall spring sale in Tasmania.
Reality progeny topped the Milwillah sale, Berthong, NSW, with Milwillah Reality L20 selling for $27,000 and Milwillah Reality L19 being one of three bulls to make the second highest price of $17,000.
SydGen Black Pearl 2006
SYDGEN Black Pearl 2006 is a son of breed leader SydGen Trust 6228 and SydGen Anita 8611, and has been widely used in Australian studs due to his temperament and a well-balanced set of figures.
The bull's success as a sire in 2017 sales began at Banquet Angus, Mortlake, Vic, in February, when his son Banquet Lukas L200 set a new stud record of $52,000, selling to John and Peter Blyth, Blyth Bros, Fernleigh Angus, Elmbank, Victoria. Stoney Point Angus, North Adelaide, SA, bulls sold to a top of $12,500 for Black Pearl son Stoney Point Lascelles L179, and Reiland Longford L1008 made $16,500 at the Reiland Angus sale in April.
At the Coolana, Chatsworth, Vic, autumn sale, Dick Whale, of Independent Breeding and Marketing Services, paid $14,000 for Coolana Black Pearl L157, and at Coolana's spring sale, 12 bulls sired by SydGen Black Pearl 2006 averaged $8625 with five at $10,000 or more, with the top bull at $14,000 being Coolana Black Pearl L666.
In the stud's female sale, a daughter of Black Pearl, Coolana Tearful L108, topped the spring-calving cows at $10,000. The bull also sired the top heifer, Coolana Nightingale M51, which made $9000.
Black Pearl’s strong results continued in the winter sales, with Dulverton stud’s 12 Black Pearl sons averaging $11,750, two making $15,000. The stud celebrated the sire’s influence with a pair of Paspaley earrings up for grabs.
At Bald Blair, Bald Blair Black Pearl L281 and Bald Blair Black Pearl L188 reached $14,000, and yearling bull Bald Blair Black Pearl M83 sold for $10,000.
Wattletop L38, a 25-month-old by Black Pearl, reached $20,000, and another son, Wattletop Black Pearl L164, made $17,000 at the Wattletop sale at Guyra, NSW.
Black Pearl son Eastern Plains Liquor sold for $15,000 and at the Moogenilla, NSW, sale in August, Moongenilla L15 fetched the top price of $16,500.
Black Pearl was among the standout sires at Clunie Range Angus, with 28 two-year-olds averaging $14,036, and four yearlings selling for an average of $12,750, and at the Karoo sale, Stephen Peake, Peake Angus, Barraba, NSW, paid $20,000 for Karoo Black Pearl L125.