It was a nostalgic day at the Dunoon Angus female sale last Wednesday, when the top priced buyers just happened to be the buyers of the first ever Angus bull sold at auction by the Harbison family at Dunoon in 1997.
Neil and Beth Richmomnd, Rosegrange Pastoral Company, Little River, Victoria, had been coming to Dunoon since 1997 and secured the lot 1 bull at that sale 23 years ago.
Mrs Richmond said they had been supporters at the Dunoon Angus sale from the start and just loved the cattle and the people at Dunoon and saw an opportunity with the female sale to secure some high quality heifers for their grandchildren.
"We are getting on a bit and we wanted buy some good females to set our grandchildren ( aged 10 to 18) up for the future," she said.
It was only two months ago they were ringside at the Spring bull sale securing two bulls at $19,000 and $20,000 to run with their commercial herd.
Mrs Richmond said they love the temperament and carcase of the Dunoon cattle, while the top heifer just stood out and really caught your eye when you walked into the pen, she said.
The sale met good competition throughout, while some heifers with joining's that were not met by the markets expectations, where left to stay in the program as 114 of 128 "Q" heifers topped at $18,000 and averaged $4849, all 22 "P" PTIC cows sold to a top of $6500 to average $4386 and 82 commercial heifers sold in lots of eight to 10 topped at $2600 and averaqed $2359 to realise an overall average of $4757.
The top heifer was chased hard by stud breeders before being snapped up by the Richmond's and she was Dunoon Joyle Q191, a Topbos Leading Edge L292 daughter out of a Dunoon Joyle G333 female, joined back to Baldridge Command C036 and displaying moderate birth weight numbers, with plenty of carcase and growth at +135 600 day and +7.4 eye muscle area.
The heifers were sold in lots of two animals with the buyer having the ability to take the pick of the two.
Sam King , Bowmont Angus, Tatyoon, Vic, paid $13,000 for one of the feature lots in Dunoon Lubra Q260, also by Leading Edge L292 and joined to Baldridge Command C036, with strong growth and carcase data.
There were plenty of studs looking for a piece of the action, with KO Angus, Kangaloon, securing a Rennylea L519 daughter, joined back to Murderduke Quaterback Q011 for $10,500, Gerald Spry, Sprys Angus, Mangoplah, added a new heifer to his roster at $4000, Black Star Angus, Mudgegonga, Vic with two at $3000 and $4000, while the Graham family, Bongongo Angus, Coolac, paid $10,000 for a V A R Discovery daughter.
Karen Masson, The Rock Angus, The Rock, started the sale strongly securing seven stylish females to a top of $10,000 for a The Rock K8 daughter, described as a real meat machine, long with plenty of depth and muscle to go back into their herd, averaging $5286 across the draft.
Doug Collins, King Angus Beef, Devonport, Tasmania, bought eight heifers to add to the top end of his commercial program of 600 cows, producing grassfed bullock to the abattoirs at 650 to 600 kilograms liveweight.
Mr Collins said he was chasing a type in the heifers that had great EMA, IMF and growth and was especially impressed with the Rennylea L519 and Lawsons Momentous M518 daughters.
Flemington Angus, Batlow, put five new breeding females into their herd to a top off $9500, averaging $5150, while online bidding was strong from Brian Powell, Yamba Angus, Garra, paid to $10,000 twice for 13 new heifers for a $4423 average,
Chris Paterson, Heart Angus, Tamworth, was chasing younger females with a phenotype they wanted in their herd from a genuine sale offering, securing eight classy outfits averaging $4125, while Scott Bailey, Bailey Livestock and Property, Singleton, bought 13 stud heifers averaging $3846, along with two pens of 10 commercial heifers at $2400 and $2600 per head.
The sale was conducted by Elders with Lincoln McKinlay as the auctioneer.