Benelkay stud principal Andrew Orman was concerned over how the Queensland border closure would affect his annual Santa Gertrudis bull sale at Mullaley on Tuesday.
Speaking before the sale Mr Orman was proud of how the bulls had grown out, having been conceived, grown and weaned in the drought.
"Out of adversity comes resilience," he said.
Repeat buyers from throughout New South Wales pushed the top price to $12,000, with 24 bulls sold for an average of $5750.
A further four bulls sold after the sale to update the clearance to 28 bulls of 33 or 85 per cent and an average of $5500.
The 21-month-old Benelkay Performer P090 secured the $12,000 top price knocked down to Widden stud, Denman.
The Yarrawonga M134 son, the first to be offered for sale, weighed in at 710 kilograms with raw scans of eye muscle area 117 square centimetres and intramuscular fat of 5.2 pc.
Widden assistant farm manager, Kris Oldfield was a repeat client for Benelkay and said the bulls had done an exceptional job.
He was impressed with their top price purchase.
"He was a big frame bull, nice rump, nice thick bull and long with good 40- day growth," he said
"The best bull of the day."
Widden stud also purchased Benelkay Pink Floyd P050, the equal second top price bull at $11,000, and two more bulls to complete their draft averaging $8750.
Widden stud run a commercial operation crossing Santa Gertrudis over Herefords and turn the steers off to feedlots and retain the heifers for breeding.
They maintain their percentages by crossing the whiteface heifers back to Santa Gertrudis and the red faced heifers to Herefords.
Bruce, Jo and Hannah Russell of Grassbrook, Manilla, purchased the bulk of the Benelkay draft; taking home seven bulls under the hammer and purchasing a further two bulls directly after the sale.
They paid a top price for Benelkay Pearl P084 at $9000, and an average of $5000 for their draft.
A favorite of Jo Russell was Benelkay Pampas who they secured for $7000
"He was nice and dark, soft looking and will make a good heifer bull," she said.
The Russell family have been breeding Santa Gertrudis for around 30 years and have been buying from Benelkay for the last five years.
Grassbrook run a commercial Santa herd of around 1200 with some cross breeds and are now selecting bulls to complement their Santa cows to retain heifer progeny.
"Its not all about the carcase, we are looking at sire potential, this time," Bruce Russell said.
Mr Orman was looking forward to next year's milestone sale, 60 years of breeding, 50 years of being a stud and the 10th on property sale.
The Benelkay family concentrate on breeding middle of the road cattle to suit a variety of markets including supermarkets.
The last 10 years has seen the stud focus on moderate, easy doing, quality cows.
The sale was conducted by Elders Gunnedah with Paul Dooley as auctioneer.
