Sale catalogues are getting longer, more bulls offered and the number of commercial beef and dairy cattle farms is shrinking because of land-use changes.
“The steady reduction of cow numbers makes bull selling very competitive,” PGG Wrightson national genetics manager Callum Stewart said.
“Good quality bulls will sell, but we may see prices in the top flight, $15,000 to $20,000, come back a bit.”
PGG Wrightson’s northern North Island auctioneer Cam Heggie says the change in land-use was a major factor in demand for bulls and there was not a region of the country untouched by that dynamic.
Stewart and Heggie said that growing conditions over spring and summer have been good for most regions and where feed shortages were pinching now, the vendors would make sure bulls presented in good order.
Canterbury-based Carrfields stud stock agent Callum Dunnett agreed that sale bulls were in good order and because weaner calves sold well this year, he expected demand for bulls would be strong.
“Sheep are positive too and they say that good lamb income sells bulls,” Dunnett said.
After dairy herd clearances and service bull auctions, the beef bull season would kick off with a bull walk at the end of May.
NZ Farmers Livestock is the agency for the large BullsEye service bull sale at Huntly on May 10 and general manager Bill Sweeney says there would be a limited number of autumn-calving dairy farmers wanting sires at this time.
Online listing on MyLivestock.co.nz would help reach that autumn bull demand throughout the country.
BullsEye vendors David and Fiona MacKenzie put up 230 bulls in total, mixing two-year and three-year Herefords and Angus.
Bulls bought can be held on the vendor’s farm until late May or late June with notice.
“That delayed delivery option really helps those farms mating cows in June, because they don’t want bulls around heifers and cows too early,” Sweeney said.
He expected that the big BullsEye autumn offering would set the market tone for service bulls right through the selling season.
Top dairy genetics were in demand at the Autumn Harvest Sale in Cambridge in late April, when the top price of $12,500 was paid for a four-year-old Ayrshire cow.
Kiteroa Cream Burdette was bought by the Baxter family from Tirau and sold by the Kite family of Ohaupo, marketed by Dean Malcolm of Bluechip Marketing, the sale organiser.
Second top price was $12,000 paid for a Jersey two-year-old cow, Fynreath Joel Dutchess, purchased by Frank and Diane Borba of the United States.
The sale had 60 lots consisting of cows, heifers, embryo and semen packages from five dairy cattle breeds and the overall sale average was $6013.
The averages by breed were Holstein $6338, Jersey $5571, Ayrshire $6062, Brown Swiss $4312, and Milking Shorthorn $4500.
The 2020 beef bull season saw top prices of $104,000 for Turiroa Angus and $92,000 for Cricklewood Angus, excellent averages of $12,839 (59 sold) for Kaharau Angus and $12,560 (50) for Turiroa.
Herefords topped out at $42,000 for Matariki at Kaikoura followed by $40,000 for Maungahina at Masterton, which also had the best breed average of $10,907 (27).
Silverstream Charolais had a top price of $35,000 and an average of $9519 (52).
Simmentals reached $18,000 for Kerrah at Wairoa and the average was $7613 (80).
