The breeder of a top Angus sire, missing from Yea property, says he believes it may have been stolen by "some idiot".
Kelly Angus has reported Texas Powerplay P613 is missing from the property and have called in police to investigate.
The $108,000 bull was purchased by a syndicate, including Kelly Angus, at the Texas Angus stud sale at Warialda, northern NSW in July 2020.
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Texas Angus stud co-principal Ben Mayne said Powerplay said he was "devastated" by the situation.
"We've got calves on the ground now and everyone who has used the bull is just absolutely in love with the calves."
He said Powerplay was a maternal brother to Iceman, sold this year for $225,000.
"There is a fair bit of value in that pedigree".
Mr Mayne said he'd been told by Kelly Angus Powerplay was in with a group of cows and "went missing.
"I just feel so sorry for them, they have invested a fair bit of money in a pretty handy bull."
He said the only logical explanation was that the bull had been stolen.
"You would have to be a very dumb person to try and steal a bull with that profile - he was super quiet, he was the sort of bull who you could walk up to in a paddock and he would come up for pat.
"He wouldn't be hard to muster up and put into a trailer, because he is so quiet
"He is probably quiet enough to push onto a trailer, if you had something to feed him - that's the only explanation I can think of, some idiot has tried to do that, not realising who he is.
"I just hope they find him, because he is a bull we want to keep using for quite a few years."
Benalla Detective Senior Sergeant Gary Dean said it was 'still early days yet'.
"Kelly Angus are still looking around the property, making sure the bull hasn't jumped over the fences," Det Snr Sgt Dean said.
"They have had choppers up there, we will probably get our chopper up there to have a look around - it is a large property, 8500 hectares.
"It is a big, solid bit of meat, that one."
He said as a Farm Crime Liaison Officer, he was often called to such incidents.
"Sometimes they just turn up on someone else's property, a bull will go where a bull goes.
"Who is going to stop that big thing? Certainly not a little fence - if they want to go, they will go."
World Wide Sires Australia general manager Geoff Wood said his company was the marketer of Powerplay.
"We don't own the bull, our job is to market, promote and sell semen," Mr Wood said.
"They have obviously tried to look for him, and haven't been able to find him.'
He said he was still hopeful Powerplay would be found.
"He is a bull coming into the peak of his powers, in terms of a stud bull, his calves on the ground look exceptional, so we expect demand to be high this year."
He said WWS had a "good bank of semen' but warned "it's not unlimited
"If the bull's not found we will have to reassess that situation, it's not going to last forever."
Mr Wood said WWS was just 'holding our breath - but obviously when demand outstrips supply price generally goes northward.
"At this point we are not doing too much, except holding his recommended retail price."
There had been 'really good' semen sales from Powerplay.
"With what he is doing, it might only six to 12 months of semen, who knows?"
Det Sen Sgt Dean said information could be provided anonymously to Crimestoppers, local police or at the Yea weaner sale, on Friday, where officers would be staffing an information stand.
Stock & Land contacted Kelly Angus by phone and email but they did not respond.