Bullish end to season

The tail end of the bull selling season finished on a high note with the genetics of the nation’s top-priced $135,000 bull traced directly to a South Canterbury stud.

In the last few weeks of bull sales, a flurry of late bidding made up for a sluggish start across the South Island.

Overall, bulls were probably back about $1000 compared with last season, due to low lamb and sheepmeat returns and a prolonged dry spell in some areas.

In the final week the Murray family’s Woodbank Angus, north of Kaikoura, had a sale high of $40,000 for an average of just over $9000, Te Mania at Conway Flat had a sale high of $42,000 for a $9600 average and the Fraser family’s Stern Angus at Totara Valley sold to $42,000 for an average of 10,200.

A record crowd spilled out of the sale shed at the Stern Angus sale and watched as five stud bulls sold for $42,000, $34,000, $30,000, $30,000 and $17,000.

Stern 712 topped the sale at $42,000, going to Dandaloo Angus stud in Wairarapa with its sire, Albert of Stern, going on to break records.

Last week Albert of Stern sons sold for a New Zealand record on-farm $135,000 at Tangihau Angus, Gisborne, and 28 sons averaged $28,000 between Stern and Tangihau.

James Fraser said Albert looked set to become a rival to Braveheart of Stern which had dominated Angus genetics for much of the past 20 years.

Commercial bulls in the catalogue also performed well for the family partnership of him, wife Fiona and their son Robert with the upper end making $20,000 for a commercial average of $8900.

Mr Fraser said they sold more bulls than last year and were pleased with the strong demand for Stern bulls from South Canterbury, Otago and Southland with about 15 bulls going to the North Island, including stud sires.

He said the top-priced bull, Stern 712, was from the first crop by Albert and there was strong interest for the pedigree line.

"Of the five stud bulls sold, four of them were by Albert of Stern. There’s been quite a bit of chatter about his sons.

"Our catalogue is dominated by home bred sires and we are just enjoying the feedback we are getting from clients on how well the bulls are doing and how their progeny are performing."

He said 99 registered buyers were among the crowd of about 250 onlookers.

The second highest selling bull, Lot 22, went to a syndicate of breeders from the North and South Island, including Martin Farming Angus in Tasman’s Wakefield.

Lot 25 sold for $30,000 to North Canterbury’s Riverlands J Angus and Lot 60 was bought also for $30,000 by Riverlee Angus in Manawatu.

"The best thing was the average commercial price was acceptable for buyers.

"People could buy commercial bulls from $5000 and as you know things are dam tough and we just want to be able to provide bulls at a high quality level and give opportunity for buyers across the price points."

"We offer a big catalogue that people can select from, that will suit their programmes at reasonable value. Our byline is practical performance cattle and we like to retain a good Angus phenotype with good levels of EBV performance in our cattle without being extreme. That’s probably the crux of why people come here."

Last season the South Canterbury stud led the country with $98,000 for Stern Razor 521.

Leading up to the final week many top bulls were selling for sub-$20,000, but there were exceptions.

The South Island’s top price was $70,000 for a Taimate Angus bull near Marlborough’s Ward.

The Laing family’s Sudeley Angus at Little River and Leeston had a full clearance with a top bid of $43,000 and a $11,100 average.

Martin Farming Angus near Wakefield had a high of $28,000 and Silverstream Charolais and Herefords stud sold a Charolais for $24,000, while Meadowslea Angus in Fairlie topped at $20,500.

Averages north of Otago to the tip of the South Island ranged from $6120 to $11,100.

tim.cronshaw@alliedpress.co.nz