Buyers who hadn't initially planned to go to the inaugural East Coast Select Speckle Park sale at Kempsey have walked away with a record-setting bull.
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Vendor, Born Ready Speckle Park Cattle, Dyers Crossing, near Forster, sold Born Ready Shady for a new world record price for a Speckle Park bull of $150,000 to Ivery Downs Speckle Park, Colinton, Qld, on Saturday.
The new benchmark smashed the previous world record set by Six Star Justice R10, who sold for $100,000 in May last year to Toebelle Speckle Park, near Maitland.
At 956 kilograms, the 25-month-old Fish Creek Farm Storm M1 son, had an eye muscle area scan of 143 square centimetres and a 39cm scrotal circumference.
The black bull also had estimated breeding values of +27 200-day weight, +37 400-day weight and +48 600-day, putting him in the top 15 per cent of the breed for growth. He was also in the top 5pc of the breed for retail beef yield.
Stacey Jones and husband Dale, Ivery Downs Speckle Park, made the late decision to head to Kempsey after having a late night discussion about Born Ready Shady. He was the bull they wanted.
They arrived from Colinton in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The couple was impressed with the combination of the phenotype and carcase qualities that Shady presented. They'd been looking for a black Speckle Park bull to add to their genetics alongside a Canadian bull which they were in partnership with, called Greenwood Coal Train.
"He was everything we were hoping he would be, he's tremendously balanced and carries his size very well," Mrs Jones said, of Shady.
"Dale said 'that's the best black bull I've seen aside from Coal Train' and for him, that's saying something.
"We do think he's a game changer for Queensland and then the breed in general."
Born Ready's Andrew and Brooke Paff took to Facebook after the sale to voice their excitement.
"As you can imagine, we are absolutely over the moon and we are still in complete shock. We haven't had the best luck of late and having a win is something that hasn't quite sunk in yet," the post said.
"We have always said the big unit, Shady, was a 'bloody good bull' and he would be a hard one to let go of. But, apparently he's a bit better than good and he may have just put down town Dyers Crossing on the map."
The Joneses plan for Born Ready Shady to be collected, with semen destined for America and Canada, but they've taken a different approach to selling semen within Australia.
They'll be setting a lower standard price on semen straws to encourage his genetics to be spread far and wide.
The Born Ready stud has retained 100 straws for in-herd use only.
For the female portion of the sale Gotcha Our Star R188 was the top-priced cow and calf, selling for $9000 to Ben Thorley, Greta.
The two-and-a-half-year-old cow, with her first calf, had above average EBVs of +0.3 for both rib and rump fat.
The 578kg female was described in the catalogue as having a "picture perfect" udder with plenty of milk.
Gotcha Enigma T5 was the top-priced heifer, purchased by Paul Laycock, Esk, Qld, for $18,000.
The Wattle Grove Ba Da Boom Q127 daughter, tipped the scales at 490kg at 18 months, with an 85sq cm EMA.
She also had above breed average EBVs of +1 and +1.3 for rib and rump fat and was in the top 5pc of the breed for milk, at +5.
The semen lots reached $220/straw for Wattle Grove Ba Da Boom Q127, offered by Gotcha Speckle Parks, Cundletown, and sold to Cassandra Salkend, Oakey, Qld.
The embryo packages reached $800, twice, offered by Gotcha Speckled Parks and purchased by Jamie Davis, Kyogle.
The first was a package of Underhill Specs Splash of Black Gotcha 7G/CN Zpotz 4U Zerbert 5Z embryos, rarely offered in Australia.
The second at $800 was a package of Calamasue 9Y/River Hill 46Y Cher-Unique 6C embryos.
The sale was conducted by Kempsey Stock and Land, with Brian Leslie as auctioneer. Elite Livestock Auctions provided the online interface.
