SA WHITEFACE studs maintained their high standing at last week's 53rd annual Herefords Australia National Show & Sale at Dubbo, offering eight of the 18 bulls to make $10,000 or more, including both $30,000 sale toppers.
The breed's premier multi-vendor sale may have been missing the spectacular highs of 2013 when a new $90,000 record was set, but strong stud interest in top-quality genetics ensured the average was back only $300.
In an 81 per cent clearance, 106 of 130 bulls sold to five states averaging $6750.
Top-price honours were shared by Lachy and Lou Day, Days Whiteface stud - the breeders of the 2013 record priced bull - and Alistair and Jayne Day, Allendale stud, Bordertown.
Days Whiteface and Allendale also held the top two positions on the stud averages table from more than 50 vendors.
Days Destiny H151 was the first to make the $30,000 top for Days Whiteface, paid by Cascade and Bobanken studs, Currabubula, NSW, which runs about 200 stud breeders.
The 940-kilogram Allendale Waterhouse D1 son had an eye muscle area of 129 square centimetres.
"We have been watching him all week and just love his overall balance and quality," Cascade stud owner Karen Arnott said.
Bids flew again in the middle of the catalogue for reserve intermediate champion Allendale Anzac H187 offered by Alistair and Jayne Day and sold at the $30,000 top to the Nixon families' Wallan Creek and Devon Court studs, Drillham, Qld.
"We just like what we like and he was the standout bull in the shed," Bob Nixon said.
The August 2012-drop son of Debarry Calgary C58 weighed 965kg with a 134sqcm eye muscle area and had a well-balanced set of Breedplan figures including being in the top 5 per cent of the breed for 200-day weight and scrotal size.
Anzac H187's dam - an eight-year-old ET donor Dawn B22 - has an exceptional breeding record, producing bulls selling to $30,000.
This year, Dawn's progeny have included the $15,000 highest-price bull in Allendale's on-property bull sale and another at $10,000. A full brother also sold during the Dubbo sale at $18,000 to Kalm Poll Herefords, Pittswood, NSW.
Two Tas studs Chester Poll Herefords, Westwood, and Quamby Plains, Hagley, snapped up another Allendale Waterhouse son from Days Whiteface at $24,000.
Mark and Anita, Andrew and Sandra Wilson, Kerlson Pines Pastoral, Keith, had three bulls in their team of five head make $10,000.
The highest at $14,000 was Kerlson Pines Carrieton H118, sold to Jessie Purseglove-Roberts and Julie Cronin, Fernaig stud, Trangie, NSW.
Andrew and Vanessa Schwarz, Oakdowns stud, Bordertown, led the SA buying at $12,000 for pre-sale senior champion Mawarra Little Rippa, shown by Mawarra, Longford, Vic. The 26-month-old had the largest eye muscle area in the shed at 145sqcm and weighed 1055kg. It was their second Mawarra bull in the past year also purchasing one at the stud's on-property sale for $8000.
Bendulla stud, Mundulla also secured two new stud sires - Yalgoo Crusher H215 for $9000 and Lindendale Holroyd at $7000.
The sale's 124 registered bidders were in the box seat for much of the sale, with nearly half of the sold bulls knocked down between $3000 and $4000.
Many cattle producers were cautious because of post-drought rebuilding. Areas of northern NSW and western Qld are still looking for rain.
* Full report in Stock Journal, June 12, 2014 issue.
Catherine Miller
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
