Dennis family pay $13,000 for Hopgood Leonardo at Clermont sale

Clearance: 67pc

Top price: $13,000

Average: $5696

The rusty tint of Hopgood Leonardo, a 25-month-old son of Palgrove Gold Dust, plus his impressive fat cover statistics, were what David and Lydia Dennis were chasing when they paid the top price at the ninth annual Hopgood Charolais sale at Clermont on Friday.

The Clermont couple paid $13,000 for the 1013kg future sire, the top weight in the 49-head sale, who showed rump and rib fat scans figures of 12 and 8, as well as an intramuscular fat marbling percentage of 5.2.

All figures were the highest for the lots offered.

“Fat cover is a big thing when they go to the meatworks,” David said. “Charbrays tend to lack it but we can overcome it by buying bulls like these.”

He also bought Hopgood Larry Dooley for $7000, a low birthweight bull showing exceptional growth rates and ability to lay fat, and good testicular development at 43cm.

While the number of buyers in attendance was less than last year, principal Mark Hopgood said it had been a good result for the Goondiwindi stud, considering the season they were having in the Central Highlands.

“There was strong interest shown in our bulls – it was just the dry weather that held us back,” he said. “The Brahman/Droughtmaster/Santa base of herds up here cross well with our Charolais and breeders here get good results.”

The Bridgemen family, based at Olive Vale, Alpha, had five Hopgood bulls at the fall of hammer, while Old Banchory Grazing at Clermont secured four.

Buying three each were other Clermont grazing operations, Glenmore Downs Farming and Burnett Enterprises.

David and Prue Bondfield, Palgrove, Warwick, paid the second top price, $12,000 for Hopgood Lethal, a son of Palgrove Hallmark, the Hopgoods’ new sire and described by them as “a tremendous red factor, homozygous polled bull and probably one of the best bulls we have seen”.

Another six bulls were sold post-sale.