Oakey Creek Speckle Park stud celebrated the milestone of its inaugural sale in style by achieving a perfect clearance rate on Saturday.
The Manilla operation sold all 23 of the bulls it offered at its on-property live auction sale at an average of $10,996.
Two bulls shared the honour of topping the sale as both Oakey Creek S Pegasus Q1 and Oakey Creek S Colby Q3 sold for $16,000.
Oakey Creek S Pegasus Q1, the 24-month-old-son of Legacy Revere 110D and out of the Oakey Creek S Sweet Secret M10 female that goes back to JSF Trade Secret, was the first of the top sellers to be knocked down. He was in the top 10 per cent of the breed for gestation length.
Not long later, Oakey Creek S Colby Q3 was also sold for $16,000 with both high-sellers going to Celamaba Speckle Park stud, Deepwater.
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Also a 24-month-old son of Legacy Revere 110D, and out of Oakey Creek S Mateeka M13, he was in the top 10pc of the breed for fats, intramuscular fat and scrotal size.
Oakey Creek stud principal Dennis Saint said both top-priced bulls were "good types" with plenty of potential.
"I think both of those bulls had a lot going for them, particularly Oakey Creek S Colby Q3, which was a larger framed bull and very well put together," Mr Saint said.
"He was from new genetics out of Canada and this was the first sale we released any of those new genetics.
"In fact, there is only us and an operation in Queensland with those genetics and I think we are the first to release it, which is pretty exciting. I think he was a cracking bull and for the people who bought him, he will help their stud to no end, that's for sure."
A total of 50 registered bidders took part in the on-property sale while more than 200 bidders and viewers followed along online via AuctionsPlus.
"It was really pleasing to see bulls go to places like Ivory Downs Cattle Company near Toogoolawah, Beaudesert, Tara and Chinchilla in Queensland," Mr Saint said.
"As well as nearby places like Narrabri, Dungowan, Duri and even one went as far as Victoria.
"To get a good spread of buyers from all over the place like that was really pleasing."
As well as 23 bulls, Oakey Creek also sold 10 heifers to a top of $12,500 at an average of $7600, three semen packages to a top of $2300 a straw and at an average of $926/straw, four embryo packages to a top of $1700 per embryo and an average of $1633/embryo and 15 commercial heifers at an average of $2833 a head, giving the sale a 100pc clearance rate overall.
"The 100 per cent clearance wasn't necessarily the make or break for us, we were really happy with the overall quality of the cattle we put forward and if there were some left over we wouldn't have minded, however getting a full clearance gives us a positive indication we are on the right track," he said.
"Our little heifers excelled as well, while our semen packages and embryos went bloody well too, so all of that I think really backs up what we are trying to achieve.
"The pandemic certainly did make things a bit challenging but overall we are pretty pleased with how it all worked out."
The sale was conducted by Elders Gunnedah with auctioneer Lincoln McKinlay.
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Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
