Local Angus bull buyers had to compete strongly with interstate buyers at last week's Crawford Angus bull sale, as the top bulls were pushed to $28,000 and averaged $10,830.
It was the first autumn bull sale offering for the Graham family at Crawford Angus, Adjungbilly, and it did not disappoint.
Solid local buying action helped to achieve the total clearance of 41 bulls.
The heaviest bull in the draft, Crawford R335, at 832 kilograms, was a son of the highly sought GAR Ashland that is attracting a lot of attention across the country.
Crawford R335 sold for $28,000 to James Graham, Eulonga Pastoral Company, Coolac.
He presented with strong 200- and 400-day growth figures through to +120, a figure +8.3 eye muscle area, balanced with +1.3 for retail beef yield and +3.3 for intra muscular fat percentage.
Luke Bavistock, Princess Royal Station, Burra, South Australia, paid to $18,000 for eight bulls to average $11,125.
Mr Bavistock runs a large Angus cow operation in the pastoral country of South Australia, with a focus on producing high performing calves for his 15,000 head feedlot.
"We focus on the 600-day growth figure for our bulls, combined with strong eye muscle area, retail beef yield and carcase weight, for the calves to perform quickly at younger ages for our feedlot operation," he said.
He said they try and pick the bulls that are breed average or above.
Sascha Roche, Julong Partnership, Tumut, loves the Rennylea L519 bull line and snapped up two of the top sires at the sale for $21,000 apiece.
They were Crawford R341 and R300, with outstanding birth to growth numbers and backed by positive carcase data.
Local buyer for Bridge Lane Bundarbo, Jugiong, Ken McQuirk, snapped up three bulls to replace some outgoing sires in his herd, averaging $10,333.
Mr McQuirk said they run close to 900 Angus cows, of which the calves were sold mainly as weaners this year, with strong prices, but have been taken through to feedlot weights previously.
"We sell our calves were the money is the best, but these bulls give us the option to hit both markets," he said.
An undisclosed local buyer bought five bulls, averaging $8200, to top up his bull ranks before the market likely heated up in the spring sales later in the year.
He sought bulls with a figure of +1.8 or higher for intramuscular fat.
Bettergrow-Warragundi, Two Mile Flat, rounded out the sale with six bulls to average $8500.
The sale was conducted by Wilks McKean, with company director, Joe Wilks, as the auctioneer.
Brett Tindal
National Livestock Manager for ACM Agri. 22 years experience in the Livestock Media industry. Media, Marketing, Photography, Videography and Livestream
National Livestock Manager for ACM Agri. 22 years experience in the Livestock Media industry. Media, Marketing, Photography, Videography and Livestream
