The records keep stacking up with Northern NSW Angus studs, as a price of $85,000 was paid at the Clunie Range sale on Friday, where 170 bulls averaged $25,212 for a gross of $4,286,040.
Stud principal Brett Guest, shaken and sore after a sale ring "distraction", said the result was a vote of confidence shown by long-standing repeat buyers with a strong commercial focus.
In the rising two-year-old section of the catalogue, 148 bulls averaged $25,007, while 22 yearling bulls sold to $45,000 and averaged $26,591.
Clunie Range Radford R91, tipping the scales at 926 kilograms, was the $85,000 top-priced bull bought online by the Lane Brothers, Wilano Angus, Dunedoo.
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With an eye muscle area (EMA) estimated breeding value (EBV) of 13.1, which is within the top one per cent of the breed, the 21-month-old is a son of Clunie Range Pretty Boy P711.
Mr Guest said the bull was an "easy doing type, ideal for heifer matings", which would be used for a specific role at his new home. Its birth weight (BW) EBV was 3.5, 200-day growth 47, 400-day 85, and 600-day, 112.
Wilano Angus was out of the blocks earlier in the sale with $45,000 for a 23-month-old son of Baldridge Beast Mode B074, weighing 928kg, in Clunie Range Rocketship R223.
Wilano bought the top-priced bull at the Clunie Range sale in 2018, paying $30,000.
The influence of Queensland-based commercial buyers was apparent, with 98 of the bulls offered heading north of the border.
The top-priced yearling bull was bought by Wendouree Pastoral Co, ALpha, Qld, for $45,000. The bull was sired by GB Fireball 672 and weighed 613kg at 13 months. Wendouree also paid $24,000 for a FER L87 son.
Drummondslope Cattle Company's Andy and Angela Mulcahy, Alpha, were among the volume buyers at the sale, with 10 bulls averaging $26,200 with a top of $30,000.
Mrs Mulcahy said it was the fourth year Drummondslope had been buying at Clunie Range, using the bulls to convert their former Hereford herd to all-black.
"The Clunie look is now in our herd," Mrs Mulcahy said.
She said they trucked a consignment of 540 steers to Grassdale feedlot near Dalby Qld this week.
"They did really well," she said with a smile.
Kevin Graham from Kevin Graham Consulting, Brisbane, acted for four buyers.
One of Mr Graham's clients, Sylvester family's Arcadia Station, Injune, Qld, bought three bulls averaging $26,000, while the Campbell Family Trust, Glenview, Condamine, bought three bulls averaging $24,000.
He kicked off the sale buying for Craig Bethel, Regald, Nebo, Qld, lot one, Clunie Range Red Rock R552 for $32,000 and then waited until almost the end of the sale with lot 170, CL red Oak R651 for $12,000.
H said the two new sires would be used within a Brahman cow base for carcase traits.
He also bought for Ray and Libby Cowan, Woodbine Prairie, Qld, for a sire that "was ideal" to assist in a move away from a Brangus breeding program at $32,000.
Mr Graham said the Clunie Range sires offered the best in carcase traits, fertility and marbling, and this is what his clients were seeking.
All of his clients were repeat buyers and were seeking "genuine carcase cattle bred by genuine cattle people".
Consolidated Pastoral Company bought three bulls for its Banana-district bull-breeding operation, Qld, Allawah, to $42,000, averaging $31,333. Their top-priced acquisition is Clunie Range Retrospective R69, a 24-month-old son of Musgrave 316 Exclusive that weighed 946kg.
Clunie Range's recommendation for this sire is obvious as semen collected from it had been used in their herd and ET programs as well as two more commercial herds. Its eye muscle area is 130 square centimetres and IMF EBV is 7.8.
ACC Properties, Euthulla Qld bought seven bulls, including two, at $30,000 and averaging $26,285.
Bundulla Pty Ltd, Taroom, Qld, bought four bulls averaging $20,0000, while JH Fairfax and Son, Kioma, Toobeah, Qld, bought six bulls averaging $22,666.
The Ham family, Mac Downs, Barcaldine, Qld, bought three bulls averaging $18,666.
Local buyers were also influential. Acting through CL Squires and Co, Inverell, DBS Ag, Auburn Vale, Inverell bought eight bulls to $32,000, twice, averaging $29,000.
Strathbogie Station, Emmaville, bought four bulls averaging $20,000, while the Radford family, Beresleigh, Yetman bought five bulls averaging $23,600.
Simon Chamberlain
I have comprehensive experience in rural and regional journalism, as well as more than six years as a media officer for several politicians and worked in local government. I rejoined The Land in May 2022 and have loved being back in harness, reporting on a massive range of topics.
I have comprehensive experience in rural and regional journalism, as well as more than six years as a media officer for several politicians and worked in local government. I rejoined The Land in May 2022 and have loved being back in harness, reporting on a massive range of topics.
