About 40 registered buyers, several representing more than one purchaser, attended the sale yesterday.
Many buyers returned from the North Island.
Bidding was in the Helmsman style of auction for the third year, and bids were definitely faster than last year, farm director Alastair Porter said.
"The buyers knew what they wanted. This year we had bids on 38 out of 57 deer and of those 57 deer, there was one 3-year-old, four yearlings and 52 2-year-olds."
Thirty-nine stags weighed more than 200kg each, with the rest not far behind.
A 2-year-old platinum adonis cross fetched the day's highest price of $7000, which was paid by deer industry founding father Bob Swann, of Nelson Creek Ltd.
BV10.26 weighed 239kg.
WH and BA Clarke and Son, of Otautau, bought the second-highest priced stag, a Rossi over a Carl cross hind.
BV14.08 weighed 245kg, the top-equal heaviest weight in the sale.
A platinum over an adonis cross hind was the third-highest sale and went to Jeff Matthews, from near Wanganui, for $6000.
BV10.49 weighed 232kg.
Mr Porter said the top price last year was $8700 for a 2-year-old stag out of the dam Lars and sire Mossimo.
However, the second- and third-year deer prices were much better, taking the average of the top three above last year's average.
The prized BV23.56 sold for $5000, "very good value for the buyer, given it was a higher BV than some stags that sold at other studs for considerably higher values", Mr Porter said.
"Our stags have good BVs, they're the heaviest overall range of stags in the country, but we are a more distant sale than any of the major studs and as a result . . . [fewer] buyers come here.
"The buyers that do come get very good value for taking the trouble to make the trip.
"The deer were consistently bigger, with heavier beam antler, which has occurred as a result of changes we made to our breeding programme in the last few years.
"This augers well for next year, when this year's yearlings will be for sale. They are the biggest spikers with the heaviest spikes we have ever bred."
