Welcome to this special edition stud wrap where we spotlight the stud cattle results since the start of the 2025 financial year.
Looking back over the past two months, stud results have been strong considering the murmurs of waning confidence in the market appetite to drive record-busting prices with prominent purchasing regions experiencing tougher climatic seasons.
However, four stud sales interfaced through AuctionsPlus have achieved sale prices of $100,000 or more over the past two months. Meanwhile, Shorthorn and Charolais genetics have retained the highest average price per head throughout the past two months' stud sales.
The ‘Dunoon Angus Spring Bull Sale’ held in Holbrook, NSW, last week has taken the lead for the highest grossing bull interfaced through AuctionsPlus this Spring stud selling season.
The six-figure young sire DUNOON T1361 (lot 30) was purchased for $225,000 by Gilmandyke Pastoral, Orange, NSW.
The bull nicknamed ‘Bob’, was described as “very quiet, a strong spine, great body width, a lovely frontend and a great outlook”. The bull, born in September 2022, weighed in at 808kg on August 26, 2024.
‘Bob’ the top grossing bull, has been purchased for $100,000 more than the 2023 ‘Dunoon Angus Spring Bull Sale’ top sale, where DUNOON S603 was purchased for $125,000.
Dunoon's 2024 Spring sale achieved an auction average of $14,432, with eight lots secured to online bidders.
The sale was conducted by Elders Albury with auctioneers Lincoln McKinlay and Ryan Badjada taking the bids.
Quality Poll Hereford genetics prevailed at the Cascade Poll Hereford and Angus Stud with CASCADE TOSCA T042 selling for $110,000 at the ‘Cascade Poll Hereford and Angus Annual Bull Sale’, held out at “Koomoorang,” Currabubula, NSW.
The young sire was secured by Nutrien Ag Solutions' Peter Godbolt, Albury, who bid on behalf of Glendan Park. The six-figure purchase priced more than doubled the Cascade Stud’s previous top price record of $52,000 set in 2022.
TOSCA T042 weighed 948kg and was the second-heaviest bull in the catalogue. It was calved on July 14, 2022, and had an eye muscle area (EMA) of 129 square centimetres, intramuscular fat (IMF) percentage of 6.5% and a scrotal circumference of 43cm.
Overall, the sale averaged $11,257, with a complete clearance of 31 Poll Hereford bulls. In the two-year-old section of the catalogue, the average was $13,407, while the yearling bulls topped at $10,000, averaging $7,750.
In the Angus catalogue, 35 of 40 bulls sold to $18,000 for the two-year-old bulls, which averaged $10,640, while a yearling Angus bull topped at $20,000, with an average of $8400.
The selling agents were Davidson Cameron and Company with Paul Dooley as auctioneer.
The ‘Gilmandyke Angus Bull & Production Sale’ was a standout of the week, almost doubling its previous highest price. The auction’s top priced bull GILMANDYKE VERSATILE U176 (Lot 21), sold for $100,000 to Corio Ag, Cootamundra, NSW. The stud's previous highest price was $55,000.
The lot for the young sire opened at $20,000, where bids escalated quickly before the bull sold for $100,000. The 18-month-old weighed 672 kg and recorded estimated breeding values in the top 2% for intramuscular fat with +5.9, the top 1% for docility.
VERSATILE U176 in its description was called "an exciting young bull, he is the first Versatile son to sell in this sale draft, and to say we're happy with how they perform would be an understatement".
Bowyer and Livermore conducted the sale with Nick Fogarty as the auctioneer.
VERSATILE U176 sits alongside Texas Angus’ TEXAS TNT T317, which also sold for $100,000, as the equal-third highest grossing bulls, interfaced through AuctionsPlus this Spring stud selling season.
Texas Angus continued its run of producing six-figure bulls with an impressive line-up of genetics on offer at the ‘Texas Angus 56th Bull & Commercial Female Sale’.
TEXAS TNT T317, a two-year-old bull, topped the sale at $100,000, purchased by the Eungy Pastoral Company at Blackall, Queensland.
The sale held in Warialda NSW, had a line of 272 bulls on offer, which were sold for an average of $14,376 for the Mayne family.
This year’s six-figure bull, Texas TNT, was described as “absolute power, presence and performance”.
The bull had an impressive set of Breedplan figures, including +147 for 600-day growth, which ranked the bull in the top 7% of the breed for this trait, and +89 for carcass weight, which was the top 6% cent for Angus bulls of that age.
Texas TNT weighed 992kg for an average daily weight gain of 1.31kg, and had a frame score of 6.1, a scrotal circumference of 41cm and a birthweight figure of +5.
GDL, Dalby, and BJA Inverell were the selling agents, and Wayne York, Mark Duthie, and Josh Heck were the auctioneers.
We have seen top-grossing figures across the Angus and Poll Hereford offerings over the past two months. Interestingly, AuctionsPlus figures have shown that in this time period Shorthorn and Charolais genetics have attracted the highest average price per head of any breed.
Notably, the number of offerings is significantly less than Angus and Hereford stud bulls, however Shorthorn bulls interfaced through AuctionsPlus averaged $10,891 across three sales. Meanwhile, Charolais genetics interfaced through the platform have averaged $10,466 across 12 sales.
The ‘Futurity Pastoral Bull Sale’ was a highlight across the Charolais offerings on the platform who offered both of the high averaging breeds.
It was a showdown between the Shorthorn and Charolais bulls at the ‘Futurity Pastoral Bull Sale’ with 101 bulls on offer. However, it was the Charolais bull, FUTURITY ULTIMATE U232E (lot 63) who topped the sale, selling for $32,500.
Out of the Shorthorn bull offerings, the top priced Shorthorn sold for $30,000, averaging $10,636 across the 55 lots. The Shorthorn average gained a slight premium over the 33 Charolais offerings which averaged $10,106.
