Leppington and Oberon-based stud St Antonio Charolais will have 15 bulls on offer in this year’s Golden Guitar Charolais Sale.
Stud principals Bruno and Paul Marrapodi established the stud in 1991, and have been in the Tamworth multi-vendor sale for the past six years.
Among their sale bulls are four by St Antonio Hector, two by Palgrove Emerald and five by Palgrove Humdinger, who sired St Antonio Levi, one of three bulls to make $10,000 at last year’s sale.
Bruno Marrapodi said the stud’s focus was on producing commercially-orientated bulls to suit crossbreeding operations, with most going to the New England region in previous sales.
It’s the only public sale for the stud each year, with most bulls sold privately.
“We’re breeding meaty, soft, easy-doing bulls, and we’ve had some really good results through the Golden Guitar sale in previous years,” Mr Marrapodi said.
Mr Marrapodi’s top pick in this year’s catalogue is St Antonio Maurice (lot 9), a 23-month-old red factor son of Hector and St Antonio Hispring G89.
St Antonio Hector has been a strong stud sire, breeding moderate framed bulls with good skin and plenty of meat, Mr Marrapodi said.
“Maurice has good good muscle definition, skin type and softness,” he said.
“Lot 3 (St Antonio Metric, by Airlie Koradji from St Antonio Louisiana G64) is another bull I like. He’s a soft, thickset poll red bull with plenty of performance.”