OVER sixty well spaced supporters and more than 70 online participants ensured that the Te Mania Angus Northern bull sale at Walgett on Tuesday was going to be a success.
Hope was high and despite the drought barely months gone it did not stop all 111 bulls from being snapped up for a top price of $24,000 and average of $10,604.
With the COVID-19 restrictions in place, 50 bulls sold through AuctionsPlus including the volume buyers coming from Queensland and other sales to Victoria and New South Wales.
The first 25 bulls sold averaged a whopping $13,818. Sixty-four of the 111 bull sold for more than $10,000.
Twenty-three sons of Te Mania Kirby K138 were offered with the top priced bull one of them.
Te Mania Packet P44, the 25-month-old son, tipped the scales at 825 kilograms had strong traits in growth and fertility, estimated breeding values (EBV) for 400 day growth of +101, scrotal size (SS) +1.9 and days to calving (DC) at -7.9.
He was purchased by Ben Hill, Miles, Queensland for a syndicate consisting of his stud Bulliac Angus along with Ardrossan Angus and Ben Nevis Angus.
"This bull phenotypically stood out," Mr Hill said.
"He is an excellent bull with a beautiful top line and plenty of width through his rump and down to his thigh.
"He has a really good scrotal set up so should lead to good udders.
"Being a 4.5 IMF bull, his data set is something we can use.
"We will use him for semen collection at times but we all have different joining times so he will travel between the studs."
Mr Hill also purchased another bull for his Bulliac herd at $12,000.
Local breeder Cara Fagan, Coonamble, runs a commercial Angus herd of about 400 females.
They purchased two bulls, Te Mania Pervasive P1399 and Te Mania Pastille P697.
Their draft of two topped at $12,000 and averaged $10,500.
"We were looking for good thick set bulls with good structure," she said.
"We like Pervasive as he is a really good bull, thick set, carcase attributes and has good calving ease characteristics."
Agent Chris Clemson of Clemson Hiscox and Co thought the sale was tremendous.
"If someone asked me about five months ago if we could sell 111 bulls here at Walgett, I would have said no chance at all," Mr Clemson said.
"We put up 111 today and sold them all.
"The Gubbins and McFarlanes should be commended for the way they have presented the bulls. There were no give away bulls here today."
Co-principal Hamish McFarlane felt a bit overwhelmed at the result of the sale which was one of their best results in the north.
"This sale was very representative of our home sale, which runs in autumn in regards to the sire lines and the percentages of sons offered," he said.
"We understood that they were accepted but were unsure of how well they would have been competed for, so it was pleasing that they were."
He said there was strong desire from Australian run operations to source bulls that were locally bred.
"We are starting to get feedback from our progeny testing program and how the home-bred genetics are performing well," he said.
"We offered a fair few heifer bulls and hoped there would be good demand for them.
"Our climate is very different to here at this time of year but we do a lot of work in the development to help the cattle adapt and acclimatise as much as we can."
The sale was conducted by Clemson Hiscox and Co with Paul Dooley taking command of the bids.
