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Te Mania takes a trip down memory lane to its first CALM sale in 1987

Picture of Natasha Lobban Natasha Lobban : Feb 26, 2025

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Te Mania takes a trip down memory lane to its first CALM sale in 1987

When one of the original CALM assessors Neil Henderson, sent Hamish McFarlane, from Te Mania Angus, some cuttings of newspaper adverts from November 1991, it started a chain reaction to dig deeper into the history of the stud's involvement with CALM, which has since been renamed AuctionsPlus.

The advertisements in Stock & Land feature headshots of the Victorian CALM team of the time, details about available sales, and also a promotion of Te Mania's upcoming autumn sale for 1992.

CALM Te Mania 1991 sale The advertisements from Stock & Land in 1991.

"It sort of got me thinking," Mr McFarlane said of the discovery, which prompted him and his wife Amanda, who has scrapbooks of newspaper articles from over the years, to dig through them and they found a photo and article dated from 1987 (main image)."

Te Mania were the first cattle breeders to list stock for sale on the Western District Meat Packing Company's new CALM computer system. They are pictured in front of the sale in action - a huge step for the business and the industry as a whole.

"Part of the DNA of the business is really embracing technology," Mr McFarlane said.

"At that time, that was a new frontier that was being offered as a way of allowing genetics and access and reach and all that sort of thing."

He described the mobile phones of the time as "very much like suitcases" and that reach and connectivity was challenging, but with decades of technological advancements Te Mania continues to sell with the AuctionsPlus platform which he called "our shop front".

He said convenience and the ability for people to bid remotely were the driving forces behind the long and loyal relationship between the businesses.

"One of our earlier sales, we had some people bidding from Queensland. And so that really just opened our eyes to the potential for this and look it's only got better since then," he said.

"The technology's improved and people's acceptance of it is improved also and we're at now these days where bulls and livestock are being offered where they're videoed, they're photoed and there's a catalogue that supports it, so very much people can feel a lot more confident and comfortable with the concept."

Net Feed Intake

Meanwhile Net Feed Intake EBVs have been introduced into the information provided to Te Mania's clients.

Mr McFarlane said Tom Gubbins, his brother in law and business partner in Te Mania, researched NFI EBVs in 2021.

"We felt that that was going to be another frontier of information that we could supply to our clients," Mr McFarlane said.

"So we invested in the Vytelle system and it was fully implemented at the end of 2023.

"I think the Angus breed has been very much at the forefront of supplying analysed information and so there are a lot of EBVs that are on offer and while this one's been out there for probably, I'd be guessing about 18 months now it's gaining traction, particularly around the space of climate change and it's part of the messaging that can assist and giving guidance to our customers as to which genetics are going to suit them more better than others."