A full clearance was achieved at the Te Mania Angus Northern Spring Bull sale held at Walgett on Tuesday, with bulls selling throughout NSW, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia.
In the breakdown, all 114 bulls sold to a top of $65,000 for Te Mania Reno R891 which was purchased by Mackas Pastoral, Salt Ash.
The sale averaged $24,394 which was an increase of about $6000 compared to the previous year's sale average of $18,327. The top price was also significantly higher the 2021 top being $52,000.
First-time Te Mania buyers, Mackas Pastoral, Salt Ash, had its sights set on the 22-month-old Te Mania Reno R891 and were thrilled when the hammer was knocked down to them for the top price of $65,000.
The Te Mania Mojo M886 son was in the top five per cent for intramuscular fat (IMF), top 10 pc for Heavy Grass ($GS) Index, and top 15 pc for calving ease. Weighing 935 kilograms, he was the second heaviest bull in the draft.
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Macka's Angus stud manager Jack Mackenzie said Reno R891 fit their criteria of "pedigree, phenotype, and performance".
"Pedigree for generations, and performance is paramount for us... his dam was still active in Te Mania's herd 11 years down the track so that is longevity at its best for us," he said.
Mr Mackenzie said he was chasing the maternal strength of Reno R891's pedigree which included four of Te Mania's key high-performing cow families which were Dandaloo, Lowan, Barunah, and Jedda. He said he would be a perfect match for the Texas Iceman R725 daughters.
"He is phenotypically what we love and is well balanced, has great length, exceptional structure, is clean fronted, has tremendous thickness, depth of side, as well as really soft skin," he said.
"His data set is exceptional for our program too, being moderate birthweight with exceptional growth and carcase data having a good eye muscle area [EMA] and exceptional IMF.
"It is hard to find future sires that suit our three criteria and when we saw him, he just ticked all our boxes and we really wanted to show our customers that we can buy the best to give them the best."
Also in the sale were two flush siblings to R891, Te Mania Remain R816 which sold for $30,000 to Minnamurra Pastoral Co, Coolah, and Te Mania Richeir R1122 purchased by JM and SR Dixon, Coonamble, for $20,000.
The $46,000 second-top priced bull was Te Mania Rainmaker R209 purchased by Alpine Angus, Porepunkah, Vic. Rainmaker was the heaviest sale bull weighing 945kg at 24 months.
Sired by Te Mania Pike P421, Rainmaker was in the top 5pc for gestation length, IMF, claw set and Heavy Grain Index ($GN), and top 10pc for 400- and 600-day weights, mature cow weight, milk, EMA, carcase weight, and foot angle.
Mr Roger Henwood, Winton, Qld, was the main volume buyer in the sale securing a total of 16 bulls. His draft topped at $22,000, twice, for Te Mania Reinhart R781 and Te Mania Roche R1349, and averaged $18,750.
Online activity was strong with 33 bulls being purchased between 11 different bidders. Bulls purchased online topped at $34,000 for Te Mania Redrupp purchased by Ingle Vale Partnership, Glencoe, and averaged $22,970.
Te Mania principal Hamish McFarlane said he was most impressed with the buyer interest in chasing high performance genetics to improve, and at times, set up breeding herds. He also siad the bulls presented well an displayed excellent temperament.
"It gives us that extra bit of confidence and feeling to go back and do it again and bring consistent drafts that the industry is looking for," Mr McFarlane said.
"We had new clients too like Macka's Pasotral; we had never sold to them before and it was really pleasing that a lot of our solid, loyal, and existing clients who have been with us for a long time were still there supporting all the way through," he said.
A common trend throughout the sale was the number of bulls sired by Te Mania bulls. In total, 105 of the 114 offered were by home-bred bulls.
"We are constantly on the look out for an outside sire, we are, but they have to meet certain criteria. Over the years we are using a lot more of our home-bred sires because we have confidence in them throughout our widespread commercial progeny testing program ." Mr McFarlane said
"Clients are wanting a Te Mania brand to market their own cattle and it seems to work really well. In some cases there are three to four generations on both sides that are all Te Mania bloodlines and that is really powerful for us and powerful for them so they can say they are pure Te Mania blood."
Auctioneer Paul Dooley, Tamworth, said this year's sale draft were the best line up of bulls he had seen in his 12 years of selling for Te Mania. "They are the best I have seen both phenotypically and genetically, and there were bulls to cater for everyone," he said.
The sale was conducted by Clemson and Hiscox, Walgett, with online interface by AuctionsPlus.