The largest single lot in AuctionsPlus history has sold. MacLachlan Pastoral Group offered 4,000 Killarney-bred Brahman feeders in last Friday's Weaner and Yearling Sale. They sold for 474.3c/kg liveweight, or $1,653.56 a head.
That is about $6.6 million in one transaction. It more than triples the platform's previous single-lot record of 1,200 head.
For MacLachlan Pastoral Group, the sale marked a change in approach. Killarney feeders usually change hands by private treaty or via an expression of interest process. This year, the vendor and Elders Katherine took them to open online auction for the first time. The result was full price discovery. Every bidder could see the price as it moved and compete on it in real time.
The lot was born and bred on Killarney and run on floodplain country at Woolner Station, near Darwin. The herd is built on Lancefield, Palmal, Eulogie, Elrose and Yoman bloodlines.
70% steers, 30% spayed heifers
18 to 30 months
Estimated 348.6kg average at delivery, ranging from 288kg to 434kg
Paul McCormick, a Level 2 AuctionsPlus Accredited Assessor, described them as "absolutely A grade live export feeders" with "enough breeding, frame and scope to thrive in Australian grazing or feedlot systems."
Bidding opened just one bid under the 460c/kg reserve, a clear sign buyers were ready to do business. Ten of the 11 bids landed above reserve, taking the final price 14.3c/kg past it.
Buyers could compete from anywhere in Australia, and they did. The cattle were near Darwin. Mr McCormick followed the sale from the Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen's Association conference in Karratha, WA. The winning bid came from Queensland. It shows just how connected the sale was, Australia-wide.
The cattle will be delivered to Noonamah between 1 and 15 December.
The sale drew national attention before a single bid was placed.
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The lot was also upgraded to an AuctionsPlus Featured Lot, putting it in front of more buyers in the lead-up to sale day. Getting a lot this size online took more than a standard listing. Mr McCormick said the work behind the scenes was significant.
"Fair to say it was a non-standard listing that required an enormous amount of work in the background to get it up," he said.
"What I want to highlight is the can-do attitude [the AuctionsPlus team] brought to this process. Right from the start it was all about the 'how can we' instead of roadblocks."
A 4,000-head lot shows online selling works at any scale. One accurate assessment, one listing and one sale reached buyers nationally. Vendors got price transparency. Buyers got detailed, independently assessed information on cattle they could not see in person.