A young Angus sire who gained plenty of praise from some of the breed's most astute judges during Northern Beef Week sold for a $13,000 top at the annual Heart Angus on-property bull sale near Tamworth on Thursday.
Chris and Nat Paterson and family, Heart Angus, Timbumburi, sold 28 of their 35 Angus bulls under the hammer with an additional bull selling afterwards to achieve a $4896 average and an 82 per cent clearance.
The top price of $13,000 was achieved for Heart LD. Capitalist P7 who was bought forward to open the sale after attracting strong pre-sale interest.
It was Matt and Aimee Urban, Urban Angus, Dungog, who secured the 17-month-old weighing 746 kilograms.
He had estimated breeding values in the top 10 per cent for calving ease direct, 400-day weight and scrotal size. His eye muscle area was in the top five per cent at +9.
Mr Urban had been chasing the LD Capitalist bloodline for sometime and heard about the bull from James Laurie, Knowla Angus, Gloucester, who was full of praise after seeing him during Northern Beef Week.
"We were going to look hard this year at a Capitalist son and from what we had heard this fella was one of the best getting around," Mr Urban said.
"The pedigree, his structure, his phenotype; he is just the package really."
Mr Urban said they were specifically looking for Capitalist progeny rather than using him themselves.
"We thought rather than go to the bull himself, from what we have seen some of them can be a bit small, he looks like he might have a little bit (of growth) in him," he said.
"They are thick early and then they don't do much more so we thought if we can find one that's got a little bit more in him and I think that will come from the Hallmark."
Heart LD. Capitalist P7 was the first calf from Millah Murrah Ela, going back to Ascot Hallmark, who the Paterson family secured for $18,000 in 2017.
At the time she was in calf to LD Capitalist, resulting in the Paterson's latest sale topper.
They thought so highly of the young sire, they had retained semen to use in heifers in the spring.
"We've used his father a bit, Connealy Capitalist, and we are going to use a son of LD Capitalist this year in Musgrave Exclusive," Mr Paterson said.
"(Heart LD Capitalist) has a sirey outlook, a really well balanced bull, his structure is very good and he is a bull that can do a lot."
Speaking of the sale, Mr Paterson was very happy with the support from the crowd of buyers, the majority of them repeat clients but also four or five first time buyers.
He was most impressed with the consistency of their bulls, something they had been aspiring to achieve.
"For this season to sell that many, we were very happy," he said.
"The bulls were weaned early, about this time last year. We have been lucky just of late because we had a bit of crop to finish them on."
The second top price of $7000 was achieved on two occasions.
The first, Heart Angus Nomadi N99, was secured by the Higgins family, Nowendoc. The son of Millah Murrah Katich was 21 months old and one of three purchases for the family averaging $6000.
The $7000 money was also paid by the Stackman family, Bungara, Niangala, for their only purchase, Heart Capitalist P13. The son of Connealy Capitalist was out of Heart Flower and weighed 696 kilograms at 16 months.
Bulk buyer was the Ireland family, Beaton Vale, Walcha, who secured four bulls topping at $6000 and averaging $4750.
The sale was conducted by Chris Paterson Stock and Station Agent Pty Ltd with Paul Dooley, Tamworth, as auctioneer.
Lucy Kinbacher
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
Raised on a cattle property at Biggenden, Lucy Kinbacher has spent 10 years working across metropolitan, regional and rural publications in both Queensland and NSW. Lucy has been the editor of the Queensland Country Life and North Queensland Register since 2021.
