NZ Farmers Livestock agent Ollie Carruthers says the cows went as far away as Taranaki, Northland and about 75 of them went to the South Island.
The sale of an elite Waikato dairy herd attracted strong interest from across the country from farmers seeking better genetics for their cattle.
The sale saw 115 cows go under the hammer at Stony Creek Farm’s on-farm sale at Walton, near Matamata for an average price of $2952, about $1000 above than the current market price for a good quality dairy cow.
The herd is the highest ranked crossbred herd for breeding worth (BW) in the country, according to LIC Animal Evaluation data.
The sale included 16 in-milk cows contract-mated to LIC, one of which sold for $10,600 to a West Coast dairy breeder.
That cow was a two-year-old with a BW of 370/67 and a production worth of 381/49.
NZ Farmers Livestock agent Ollie Carruthers says that of the 77 lots sold, 54 were sold online. The sale drew a modest crowd with many more watching it online.
The bulk of the buyers were dairy breeders and there was a small number of commercial dairy farmers also purchasing the cows.
“The cows went as far away as Taranaki, Northland and about 75 of them went to the South Island,” Ollie Carruthers said.
“It was a very high index herd and opportunities like that don’t pop up all that often.”
Vendor Ben Watson says he was really pleased with the result.
“We have never had a sale like that,” he said.
