![Ben Gallagher, The PInnacle, Walcha, Ed Bradley and Bea Litchfield with Stirling Litchfield and Gary Smith, St Clair Pastoral Company, The Pinnacle, Walcha with the top priced bull at $18,000. Picture by Simon Chamberlain Ben Gallagher, The PInnacle, Walcha, Ed Bradley and Bea Litchfield with Stirling Litchfield and Gary Smith, St Clair Pastoral Company, The Pinnacle, Walcha with the top priced bull at $18,000. Picture by Simon Chamberlain](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/176405925/f96c3fef-1953-4937-9560-1d6d4bba3f1f.jpg/r0_0_3412_2123_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Hazeldean Angus' 4th annual New England bull sale has topped at $18,000, averaging $9181 for the complete clearance of 66 bulls at its sale at the Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange.
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Volume buyers, mainly from the Walcha and southern New England areas, made the most of a draft of bulls that are representative of Hazeldean's breeding program, co-principal Bea Litchfield said.
Ms Litchfield said the bulls represented a focus on selecting good structural traits and calving ease. "Temperament is a real highlight of our program," she said. "We have a lot of confidence in our bulls and know they will do a great job for their new owners."
Buyer of the top-priced bull was St Clair Pastoral, The Pinnacle, Walcha, owned by Gary Smith, with Rob Dugdale providing advice and Ben Gallagher, The Pinnacle, at the ringside. Hazeldean S1971 was sired by Rennylea NORL519 and had an impressive resume of Breedplan estimated breeding values (EBVs). The two-year-old bull weighed 878 kilograms and was in the Transtasman Angus Cattle Evaluation's (TACE) top 30 per cent for intramuscular fat (IMF) with an EBV of +3.7. S1971's Angus Breeding Index ($A) was $222. Its Heavy Grain index ($GN) is +295, and its heavy grass index ($GS) is +207, placing it in the top 30pc of the June 2023 Angus Australia ratings. St Clair Pastoral bought seven bulls averaging $10,142.
Mr Smith said he'd owned the property for almost two years, and the next calving from the herd of almost 800 cows would be sired entirely by Hazeldean blood bulls. "We got our first crop of Hazeldean calves on the ground earlier this year, and we're really pleased with how they look," he said.
E and S Fogarty, Tressa Vale, Walcha, bought five bulls to $8000, averaging $7200, while Cobrabald Pastoral Company, Cobrabald, Walcha bought three bulls averaging $10,666, with a top of $15,000 for Hazeldean S2000. It is an 850kg son of Hazeldean Jaipur J140 with an index ranking of $A of +272, $GN +337 and $GS of +266. All three index rankings are within the top five pc of Angus Australia rankings.
Gotha Farms, Paterson Lakes, Victoria, bought four bulls to a top of $11,000, averaging $7500. Gotha Farms were prominent vendors at the Ray White Livestock Northern NSW Angus Feature Sale in late January. Gotha Farms offered the champion pen of Angus steers from their Findley district property, Inveregelly. The 24 steers averaged 493kg and made $2340. Inveregelly also sold a pen of 23 steers in the same run for $2300, while a lighter pen of 28 Angus steers from the same vendor, averaging 386kg, made $1720/head. A pen of 31 Gotha Farms Angus steers, averaging 371kg, sold for $1700/head.
D and N Powell, Glen Authey, Walcha bought two bulls for $14,000 and $11,000, while R and M Ireland Pastoral Company, Thunderbolts Way, Walcha bought two bulls for $11,000 and $8000. Black Hill Pastoral, Tia Diggings Road, Walcha bought three bulls to a top of $15,000, averaging $11,333.
The selling agents were Nutrien Ag Solutions Tamworth and Nutrien Boulton's Walcha. The auctioneers were Joel Fleming and Harry Phillips, with AuctionsPlus providing the online interface.