Limehills Stardom brought $25,000 for vendors Limehills Herefords owners Gray and Robyn Pannett, of Millers Flat.
Mr Pannett said the sale price of the 20-month Hereford bull was because of his strong pedigree and high intramuscular fat.
Limehills Stardom was bought by North Island businesses Charwell Herefords and BeefGen.
The auction was the first inaugural fully electronic national seed stock sale for the breed, using PGG Wrightson platform bidr.
The bulls in the sale stayed on their home farms and would be transported to the winning bidders, Mr Pannett said.
Limehills Stardom was sired by Limehills Streaker — ‘‘one of the leading bulls in Australasia’’, which ‘‘cleaned up’’ in a Beef + Lamb New Zealand trial by having the highest intramuscular fat percentages of any breed in the project.
Limehills Herefords stud had been running for about 50 years.
The 42nd bull sale would be held on the Pannetts’ 4200ha sheep and beef farm on June 1.
The other Southern vendors to sell a bull were Robert, Mary-Anne and Peter Kane, of Tapanui, who fetched the third-highest price of $14,000 for Westholm Justin.
Robert Kane said he was ‘‘very happy’’ with the price for his bull.