Weebollabolla Shorthorns at Moree celebrated 150 years in the breed and 56 seasons selling bulls with a record result on Friday, as family and long-time friends gathered 'round the rotunda to witness an historic occasion.
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The sale - the last to showcase sires in the selling ring - landed a record stud price of $47,500 with 53 sires sold from 68 offered to record an average price of $11,188.
Top selling sire, the homozygous poll roan Weebollabolla Severn S55, by Weebollabolla Quidong Q4, from a daughter of the powerful red Jackpot J86, sold to Jason and Kylie Catts, Futurity Shorthorns, Glen Ayr, Baradine.
Mr Catts said the stud sire fits the bill with his estimated breeding values including carcase data, calving ease and growth.
"And he was a stand-out in the pens," Mr Catts said. "He is the complete package."
The two-year-old Severn S55 presented at 900 kilograms with a scrotal circumference of 40 centimetres. His EBVs included +1.2 intramuscular fat - a strength of his sire Quidong Q4 - with +2 for birthweight and +62 for 600-day growth.
Two bulls sold to $45,000 including the roan Weebollabolla Southern Cross S189 by Quambone Q61 from a daughter of Bundaleer United Chief U21.
The stud debated long and hard about retaining this sire but in the end he sold to close friends and associates the Morgan family, The Grove Shorthorns, Condamine, Qld, who bred the bull's grandsire, The Grove Gigabytes J0837.
Southern Cross S189 presented at 938kg with a41 centimetre scrotal circumference and EBVs that included +1.2 IMF, +47 carcase weight, +4.4 eye muscle area and +11 for milk.
Godfrey Morgan from The Grove said the sire's muscle coverage and IMF were attractive attributes.
"He is a good bull, solid with a lot to offer and will be a good stud performer," he said.
"He has a lot to offer our commercial clients from maternal traits to meat quality. This is what we are looking for."
Generational Weebollabolla clients the Brownlie family from Westmar via Meandarra, Qld, also paid $45,000 for the homozygous poll Southern Comfort S188 by Quambone Q61 graded a score of 7 for structure by independent assessor Dick Whale, presenting on sale day at 964kg with a 43cm scrotal circumference.
The bull will head to Stuart and Annabelle Brownlie's property Parabellum to join a commercial herd of Shorthorn cattle with calves grown out on pasture and fed on-property for 100 days before reaching a carcase weight of 380kg at milk- or two-tooth stage.
John and Carol Brownlie, Deepwater Farming Company, Westmar, paid $34,00 for the roan homozygous poll bull, Weebollabolla Still The One S5, by Lomu L8 from a daughter of The Grove K0182.
Presenting at 890kg with a 45.5cm scrotal circumference, S5 expressed extreme docility - a likeable trait of his mother Weebollabolla Rhyll Q29 - and a respectable index figure of $74.
"We haven't bought here for years, but we have been watching how the Weebollabolla bulls have increased in fleshing and muscling and improved in recent years," said John Brownlie, whose father first bought from the stud in the late 1960s.
"These bulls have always been high in marbling and fertility and the result is more and more cattle that we like. We are passionate about the breed."
Top-selling yearling bull was the $20,000 homozygous poll bull, Weebollabolla Tigabytes T22, by The Grove Gigabytes J0837, from a daughter of The Grove J0598.
This sire sold to Gillian Leeds, Leeds Shorthorns, Jerilderie, with her daughter, Wendy Mayne, Texas Angus, Warialda, by her side.
"I will use him only sparingly, as he is only a baby," Mrs Leeds said.
"I like the genetics. He comes from a good cow. The cow line is very important to me."
Tigabytes T22's dam, Weebollabolla Cha Cha L5, represents a strong cow line at the Weebollabolla stud, while his sire J0837 brings marbling, shown in T22's IMF EBV of +1.2pc to help create an impressive index figure of $81.
The female lots sold to $9000 top for Weebollabolla Nindethana T3, by Munro's Luck M100, and in calf to the $34,000 Still The One S5.
Nindethana T3 had an index figure of $91, and sold to Southcote Shorthorns, Walcha.
"This heifer expressed exceptional capacity, dimension and softness," said stud principal Sam Martin.
"We are excited to add her to our program."
Commercial shorthorn heifers in calf to Spencer S28, and produced by close associates the Stuckey family, Condobolin, Qld, sold for $2400 a head.
The family returned the favour by going home with six sires to $17,000 for Weebollabolla Shaw S186.
The sale was conducted by Elders stud stock and BJA, Inverell, online via AuctionsPlus, and with Elders' Lincoln McKinlay as auctioneer.
