Friday, March 29, 2024

Bull sale season improves with age

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Silverstream Charolais at Ataahua, near Christchurch, postponed its annual bull sale by a month this year and achieved a good result with a top price of $35,000 being the best for some years.
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Stud principal Brent Fisher said 52 of 57 Charolais bulls were sold for an average price of $9519, which was better than last year.

Top price was lot 2, Silverstream Osmar 41 by a Canadian bull JWX Downtown, from an outcross bloodline and heterozygous polled.

The price was paid by Ahahi Charolais and Australian semen rights went to Palgrove Stud in New South Wales.

The sale on July 10 was attended by about 250 people, the biggest turnout, and Fisher thought there were pros and cons attached to the delay.

More people might have been able to attend in person whereas others might have bought their bull requirements ahead of time.

Three further bulls sold for $20,000 or better and a number of new buyers were successful.

Silverstream also sold 10 of 12 Hereford bulls offered from the smaller Hereford stud established during the past decade with cattle from Anna Fisher’s parents, Peter and Jill Smyth, Nga Puteputi, Hawke’s Bay.

The Hereford average was $7800 and the top price $16,000 paid by Minzion station, Miller’s Flat.

Lot 30 in the Charolais sold for $9000 and the proceeds went to the NZ Agricultural Show, Canterbury.

Carrfields livestock agent and auctioneer Neville Clark, Gisborne, who called the Silverstream sale, said the overall results for this year’s sale season were pleasing for vendors and commercial buyers.

The rising demand for beef in all our markets was reflected in keenness for bulls among commercial farmers prepared to pay for genetics to improve their herds and results.

Higher price averages for some sales compared with past years might have been inflated by high-priced purchases by studs, which grabbed the headlines.

“Commercial buyers probably found what they wanted and could afford away from the highlights,” he said.

Bulls were presented in good order with the right balance between figures and phenotype.

Clark said the beef industry was lucky pandemic restrictions didn’t factor heavily into the sale season and he was pleased to see the usual social interaction wasn’t hampered.

Rural Livestock agent Anthony Cox said sale clearances were comparable to last year and the early threat of disruption to travel and bidding by covid-19 did not pan out.

The sale season started with uncertainty towards the end of the lockdown and averages and top prices were back on 2019.

When the calendar got around to the East Coast in late June prices really took off, including a NZ on-farm record price of $104,000 made by Turiroa.

The highest price paid for a Hereford this season was $42,000 made by Matariki, Kaikoura, closely followed by $40,000 for a Maungahina, Masterton, bull.

Maungahina also sold a Speckle Park bull for $35,000.

Top price for Simmental bulls this season was $18,000 paid by Lowridge Simmentals for a private purchase from Kerrah Simmentals, Tangiwai Station, Wairoa.

Kerrah decided to go full private treaty this year rather than its usual mid-May sale date and sold 80 out of 84 with an average of $7613. 

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