A WHOPPING $80,000 price tag was placed on one of the most talked about bulls of the past year at this week’s National Poll Hereford Show and Sale – but by all accounts, he was more than worth it.
An electric atmosphere hit the Dubbo sale ring when 1070-kilogram Tycolah Jovial F77, exhibited by the Crowley family, Barraba, made its entrance on Tuesday.
Bidding kicked off at $20,000 and in the space of a few bids Jovial backed up its Sydney Royal Urquhart Trophy win and Dubbo grand champion title, with a sale price which validated its “talk of the town” status.
The bull was purchased in syndicate by Ken McCallum, Viewfield stud, Crookwell, his brother Rob Hain, Gunyah stud, Cooma, and David Cooper, Kimpton Park stud, Goulburn.
Mr Cooper and Mr Hain each have a 45 per cent share in the bull while Mr McCallum has the remaining 10pc.
Mr Cooper said the bull was one of the best he had seen at Dubbo or anywhere else in years.
“He is the most complete bull I’ve seen in the past 10 years,” Mr Cooper said.
“He has great balance and structure and he walks perfectly.”
Underbidders were the Centennial and Glendan Park studs, of Coolah and Kyneton, Victoria respectively.
For vendors Steve and Therese Crowley, the result was the icing on the cake after Jovial’s stellar show success since the bull first set tongues wagging at last year’s Sydney Royal.
Indeed, on a June day back in 2010, Mrs Crowley remembers her husband coming home and telling her they had a ripper calf on the ground – a once in a lifetime kind of calf.
Fast forward two years later, and Jovial – named after famed sire Vern Jovial – has lived up to, if not exceeded, expectations.
“That bull has been the pinnacle of our stud’s breeding career; he’s the best bull we’ve produced in the stud to date,” Mr Crowley said.
Jovial made headlines in April when it snared the prestigious supreme beef exhibit title at Sydney, a year after claiming the junior and grand champion Poll Hereford bull title at just nine months of age.
Since Sydney – barely two months – the two-year-old bull had gained 124kg, and recorded an eye muscle area of 141 square centimetres and rump and rib fats of 20 and 14 millimetres.
Jovial is by Tycolah’s “super sire” Karina Cherry Z8, which Mr Crowley said they had now sold 42 sons of for a total around $500,000.
A total of 116 from 119 bulls sold at Dubbo in a 97pc clearance, with a record $9086 average and grossing $1,054,000.
The $80,000 top is just $5000 behind the Dubbo Poll Hereford National record set by Allendale National W168 in 2003.
