Livestock agents described this year's Farrer Angus bulls as some of the best ever offered at the 19th annual on-property sale and buyers agreed when prices averaged $10,838 on Wednesday.
For the first time since 2017 all of the 31 catalogued bulls were cleared under the Helmsman system for a result well up on the $5680 average last year and $3215 the year before.
Only 11 bulls made less than $10,000 with the top price of $19,500 paid by Mathew and Mel Wyrzykowski, Te Koona, Fitzgeralds Valley, near Bathurst, for Farrer Q31.
The 22-month-old weighed 858 kilograms and was the first Farrer-offered son by American sire, QHF WWA Black Onyx, who the agricultural students selected to use in their artificial insemination program.
Three of his four selection indexes were in the top one per cent of the breed while he sat in the top five per cent of estimated breeding values for 200, 400 and 600-day weight, carcase weight, eye muscle area and the heavy grain index.
He was set to be joined to heifers as the Wyrzykowski family look to establish their breeder herd following a shift from trading.
"He was a standout as far as figures go; he had good growth and is still good enough to go over heifers," Ms Wyrzykowski said.
"It was nice to support the school."
They currently run 250 cows, the majority Angus, and also paid $12,000 for an Ayrvale Grade G5 son, Farrer Q48.
The Wyrzykowski's sons, Clancy and Dusty, both attend Farrer but it was their first time buying from the stud.
Not only did the family land their pick bull of the day, but their sons were set to be rewarded too.
Farrer students are enticed to invite buyers to the sale and are rewarded with a $100 spotter's fee if they successfully introduce a new customer.
"Ever since our eldest son, who is 24, went here, every year they would ask, 'do you want to buy a bull?'," Ms Wyrzykowski
"And this year we did. They've asked people for years."
Farrer's Niaomi Evans said the result was exceptional and a full clearance was the main aim.
As the school is a government agency, all bulls that aren't purchased during the auction can not be sold privately.
Last year's sale was forced to go online due to the uncertainty of COVID-19 and wasn't able to fully capitalise on the record prices that followed thereafter. But they were fully rewarded in 2021.
"Bull prices are really strong overall in the industry as people are getting rewarded for their efforts," Ms Evans said.
"But commercial prices are also really strong...you are getting good money for your commercial cattle and people are following that through and buying good quality stud bulls and are prepared to pay that money for them."
More seats had to be set out to accomodate for the 70 registered buyers on the day with AuctionsPlus also supporting those unable to attend and accounting for eight bulls.
All eyes presale were on Farrer Q59, a son of Baldridge Command, who was the students' pick and sold for the second top of $15,000 to NR and AM Stackman, Niangala.
Walcha's DW and AM Cameron secured two Knowla Mandela sons, both for $12,500, while Ken Lord purchased two G A R Scale House sons for $10,000 and $9000.
Other successful buyers were from Weabonga, Boggabri, Scone, Rawdon Island, Willow Tree, Myall Creek, Nowendoc, Loomberah, Denman, Wollomombi, Guyra, and Calala.
The sale was conducted by Elders Tamworth.
Read the full report in The Land next week.
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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.
