A Victorian buyer swooped in for one of the top-priced bulls at the Quarterway Angus spring bull sale at Lyndurst, Scottsdale, Tasmania, last week.
The bull was one of two to hit the sale’s top price of $12,000 and was bought by Dennis Heywood, Everton, Wangaratta.
The central Victorian farmer was a regular client at Quarterway and stepped up again to take a bull home across the Bass Strait.
Mr Heywood’s new bull, Lot 20, Quarterway Taj Mahal T401, was sired by Nampara Junior Q148 and out of Quarterway Idealise Q169.
The September 2022-drop bull recorded TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation figures of +5.6 square centimetres eye muscle area, birth weight of +5.6 kilograms, 200-day weight of +51kg, 400-day weight of +94kg and a 600-day weight of +119kg.
The bull also had intramuscular fat (IMF) of +1.4 per cent.
The second bull to hit the $12,000 top price was Lot 33, Quarterway Toolbox T467.
The bull was bought by another return customer at the sale, Kate Coniston, Boobyalla, Tas.
The October 2022-drop bull was sired by Pathfinder Prophet Q400 and out of Quarterway Reference R251.
The joint sale-topper recorded TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation figures of +3.2 square centimetres eye muscle area, birth weight of +6.3kg, 200-day weight of +56kg, 400-day weight of +96kg and a 600-day weight of +121kg.
Quarterway Angus stud co-principal Trevor Hall said both bulls stood out prior to the sale and he had expected them to do well.
“It was their phenotype, frame and they were good-footed,” he said.
Another three bulls, Lot 8, Lot 15, and Lot 26, sold for $11,000 and a number of others hit the $10,000 mark.
Overall, the sale saw 44 bulls sold from the 46 offered with two year old bulls averaging at $8317 and five yearling bulls averaging at $5000.
This compared to the stud’s autumn sale back in March which saw 59 bulls sold from the 61 offered to a top of $21,000 and an average of $9339.
At the spring sale in September 2023, 34 of 55 lots sold to $11,000 twice, with an average price of $7000.
The spring 2024 sale average was up by $1317 on the same sale in 2023 and the clearance rate also improved, from 62pc to 96pc.
Mr Hall said he was “very pleased” with this result given what he described as an “extremely tough season and winter”.
He said most of the bull buyers were return clients but there were a few new ones who stepped up.
“It was about where we thought it would be,” he said.
“It was a very good sale with a lot of local support.
The majority of bulls stayed in north-east Tasmania and elsewhere across the state.
However, demand from both Flinders and King Island put a floor under prices with two volume buyers from Flinders Island, DRG Flinders Agriculture and Markana Grazing, taking home four bulls each.
Mr Heywood was the only mainland buyer.
Mr Hall put the sale’s success down to clients having faith in his program.
“We’re commercial cattle men as well,” he said, adding that if the bulls worked on his beef operation, they were working for others.
“We’re genuine beef farmers and we’re not chasing rainbows.”
He said bull figures were a “great selection tool” but they needed to be used in conjunction with the bull’s performance in the paddock and a “very strict structural assessment”.
Nutrien Tasmania livestock and studstock agent Cooper Lamprey agreed that there was a lot of local support for the Quarterway bulls.
He said there was continued demand for good bulls, bred to work for commercial beef farmers.
“There were a lot of repeat clients,” he said.
Courtesy of Barry Murphy, Stock & Land