For the second year in a row, the Meier family, Coonabarabran, has bought the top-priced bull at the Isla Angus Annual Bull Sale.
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Purchaser Ivan Meier bought Isla Revenue Ripper R15 in 2022 and he was back in 2023 to buy Isla Scout S68 to the sale top of $12,000 at Coonabarabran on Wednesday, August 30.
Mr Meier was also the volume buyer of the sale - in just its third year - and went home with four bulls at an average of $8250.
The Meiers run a commercial operation, and are neighbours of Ambrose and Lisa Doolan of Isla Angus, and said he liked the style of cattle they offer.
"They're good temperament in the bulls and obviously the results are on the ground in the form of calves," Mr Meier said.
Scout S68 had estimated breeding values of +45 200-day weight, +78 400-day weight and +96 600-day weight.
The 720-kilogram, two-year-old bull was sired by Millah Murrah Kruse Time K400 and out of Millah Murrah Flower L90, and had an intramuscular fat figure of 7.2 per cent.
Mr Meier said when he was the bull in the flesh, he liked what he saw.
"I liked his figures and I liked the style of bull when I looked at him," he said,
"I just thought he was a good all round bull and he would fit nicely into what we do."
At auction, 17 of 30 bulls sold to an average of $6882 before a further three bulls were purchased after the sale.
The Doolans said the result was in line with with their expectations in what's "been a pretty tough season".
While Mr Doolan said a total clearance would have been great, he's now looking forward to what those bulls can do with Isla Angus' commercial herd.
"Those ones [bulls] that didn't go in the sale... we're pretty excited to be able to use those genetics on our commercial cows here," he said.
"We've got some good genetics here from Black Onyx and Millah Murrah Kruse Time calves and we're really looking forward to breeding those with our commercial cows and getting a good result."
The Doolans have reason to celebrate as well after the results at this year's Royal Agricultural Society Beef Challenge competition were announced.
Having only entered domestic cattle this year, they had some good results including first place in team eating quality for their Angus steers and also in the weight gain category.
"The top team in the domestic top average daily weight gain was cattle from here by our bulls and five of the top 10 individuals were from here," he said.
Along with the Meiers, a number of other repeat buyers supported the sale.
Among those was Toby Semmelweis, Bearbung, who bought two bulls - Isla Starbux S18 and Isla Salute S45 - to an average of $7000.
The sale was conducted by Davidson Cameron and Co with Tom Tanner auctioneering. AuctionsPlus provided the online interface.
Ben Jaffrey
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
Ben is a content curator and journalist for The Land. He has been with ACM since 2015 and first worked at The Area News and then at the Northern Daily Leader. Ben first joined ACM Agri as a digital journalist for all seven agricultural mastheads in 2022 before shifting to The Land full-time in 2023.
