Wirruna Poll Hereford stud, Holbrook smashed their stud records with bulls reaching $70,000 and females making up to $15,250 at their 2021 Autumn on-property sale on Wednesday.
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The event was conducted as a Helmsman sale and at times the crowd doubted whether it would ever end as bids refused to subside until close to the two hour mark.
Once the clock finally timed out, following some fierce bidding on the female lots, the Locke family had sold 61 of the 66 bulls offered for an average of $12,820, all eight individual female lots for an average of $7500 and all 29 females sold in group lots, for an average of $5022.
The $70,000 was paid by a partnership made up of Tarcombe Herefords, Ruffy, Victoria and Quamby Plains Poll Herefords, Hagley, Tasmania.
The bull, Wirruna Phil P273, was the favourite from the outset and Wirruna stud principal Ian Locke described him as a unique and complete bull.
"He's got very good structure, I really liked his fleshing ability - he had B-minus muscle but also softness to do in any sort of environment, in any conditions - then he had the EBV's to match all of that, which is hard to pick holes in," Mr Locke said.
The bull was a son of renowned Wirruna sire, Wirruna Ledger L285 and out of Wirruna Doreen J50. He had an eye muscle area of +7.4, rib fat of +1.8 and rump fat of +2.8, along with a calving ease direct value of +8.4 and scrotal size of +4.1.
One half of the purchasers, Tim Hayes of Tarcombe Herefords said he had had his eye on Phil P273 for 12-months, having seen something special in him as a yearling.
"I think he'll have a really big impact on our stud, we've had Wirruna genetics before and they've always done very well for us so that gives me a lot of confidence in paying a lot of money for a bull," Mr Hayes said.
Wirruna's previous top-price record for a bull was $38,500 paid for Wirruna Legs L108 in 2017.
Other top bull sales on the day included Wirruna Papa P149 who sold for $27,000 to Glenoan Park, Kyneton, Vic, Wirruna Prize Fighter P041 who sold for $25,000 to ER Cheers and Sons, Goolgowi and Wirruna Plato P214 who sold for $23,000 to Nutrien Warren.
The females grabbed their share of the spotlight too, with a full sister of Super Sire Wirruna Matty attracting $15,250, a new record for the stud.
Purchased by JS Baulch of Illowa, Victoria, the pregnancy-tested-in-calf four-year-old showed off an intramuscular fat value of +3.3, in the top one per cent.
"I think she was a moderate but meaty cow and certainly created a fair bit of interest," Mr Locke said.
It was one of the biggest crowds seen at a Wirruna sale but despite this AuctionsPlus was very active, with 46 online bidders managing to nab 30 of the 78 lots on offer and bidding on 55 lots in total.
Mr Locke said there were several new names on the board at the close of the auction.
"There's some new operators who got some bulls, but it's the long-term clients and the commercial operators who probably lifted their budgets in this purple patch in the beef industry, they've certainly competed hard and I appreciate their support," Mr Locke said.
The sale was settled by John Atkins, Atkins Marketing Livestock, Wodonga.
- Full sale report in next week's edition of The Land
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