The fifth annual JAD Speckle Park Bull and Female sale drew strong competition which saw the stud tie it's record price of $55,000 on the way to grossing over $1.1 million.
Held on-farm at Greenvale, Yeoval, the sale was conducted by Bowyer & Livermore and had 100 per cent clearance of 87 lots with top price going to Lot 5, JAD Sizzler S50.
JAD Rare Cat R109 reached $55,000 at last year's sale.
Son of sire Minnamurra Montezuma M25 and dam JAD E11 Amy's Girl, JAD Sizzler S50 ranked in the top 5pc of the breed for rib fat (+1.4mm) and rump fat (+1.9mm) and the top 10pc for carcase weight (+27kg), mature cow weight (+55kg), 400 day weight (+37kg), and gestation length (-1.1 days).
The September 2021 drop polled leopard-coloured bull was purchased by Big Star Speckle Park, Valroona, Hillston, and Ron Potter Farms, Hillston.
Ben Wesley said JAD Sizzler will fit in nicely with the breeding program at Big Star.
"His stats just tick all the boxes for us for where we are and what we need to do," he said.
"He is that heifer's (JAD E11 Amy's Girl) first calf and that was a real standout for us.
"He'll be going over heifers and he'll suit our program.
"I've got a few Minnamurras out there and should supplement them well.
"His sire is a standout here. He is six and a half years old and still going strong and I believe that will flow through in this bull and that's what I'm looking for."
His sire is a standout here. He is six and a half years old and still going strong and I believe that will flow through in this bull and that's what I'm looking for.
- Ben Wesley, Bigstar Speckle Park
Jock Potter, Ron Potter Farms, Hillston, said they will use JAD Sizzler S50's semen to artificially inseminate some of the operations 1200 breeders.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how it goes," he said.
"We bought a share in this bull because we wanted to make a jump ahead in our genetics."
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The sale featured 36 stud bulls which averaged $12,916.67, 18 pregnancy tested in calf (PTIC) stud heifers averaged $11,666.67, 12 commercial bulls averaged $8583.33, 15 lots of PTIC commercial heifers to total 122 head averaged $2776.64 and six lots of five semen straws averaged $495.83 per straw.
Top priced PTIC stud heifer was Lot 67, JAD Northern Star S106, purchased by Celamba Pty Ltd, Tarawera, Queensland, for $20,000.
The September 2021 drop heifer was sired by Prairie Hill Loaded Up SE and dammed by Ravenworth Northern Star 101A.
She is in the top 15pc for rib fat (+0.9mm), rump fat (+1.2mm) and intramuscular fat (+0.4mm), and was joined to top stud bull JAD Quistacat Q48.
Stud principals Justin and Amy Dickens were understandably pleased with the sale result.
"We had a tremendous crowd here today and good solid support," Mr Dickens said.
"Obviously the beef drop has come back a bit and so does the sale result, but overall we're very happy to get them all sold.
"They've gone out to a lot of new buyers which is always good.
"There were lots of return buyers also which is good.
Mr Dickens said it wasn't the easiest year at Greenvale.
"Season wise we started off really wet and it was quite challenging through spring," he said.
"But then we cut off and in December it was quite tough here. We only got rain here a couple weeks ago and it greened up.
"It's been a bit of a challenge to manage all that. It will be good to see these move on to new homes.
"We just finished weaning and next year's crop will come along nicely."
Mr Dickens said he was happy with how the stock presented for the sale.
"We only supplement from Christmas onwards. They had a little bit of silage and a mix of wagon mix and they came up well and I was really happy with how they presented," he said.
"I thought we couldn't have done much better in the presentation of the cattle this year and we got rewarded for it."
Mr Dickens said the stud was looking for more consistency this year compared to last.
"We were chasing more consistency and more industry relevance," he said.
"We wanted more length of body, more weight, and more performance in them.
"You are trying to always tidy their structure up and their temperament I was really, really happy with.
"They are exceptionally docile.
"We absolutely hit those goals. Nothing's ever perfect and we'll continue to strive to be better every year.
"I know next year's calves are already better at the same age, so it's constant growth and we've got to do that with this breed. We have to improve them all the time to gain a greater attraction in the industry.
"And we'll be focused on that."
Auctioneer Brian Leslie, Dairy Livestock Services, was pleased with how the sale went.
"I think it was fantastic. We're at a top price of $55,000 which is an equal record here at JAD," he said.
"It was a really strong sale, right the way through there was bidding from all over Australia on AuctionsPlus, and there was folks here from a long way away as well.
"I've been selling this sale for five years and you know, I thought this was the best line of bulls that we've sold here at JAD.
"And it's great to see so many return buyers coming back buying. They must think the article's doing a pretty good job or they wouldn't return, would they?"
