He says the son of leading sire Matauri Reality 839 registered in the very top bracket for Australasia for the mix of gestation time, low birthweight and growth.
“That’s what we specialise in and this guy has fantastic appearance as well.”
“We think he will be ideal for mating with heifers to get a really good quality first calf from them as well as for cows.
“He’s the next step up for us.”
Davie-Martin’s Puketi Angus Stud has already started selling semen from his new bull, with a major step-up in sales planned for the autumn and beyond.
The price is a record for a yearling bull in New Zealand sold to a single buyer. A four-strong syndicate paid $28,000 for a yearling from Te Mania Angus in the 1990s.
The late-September sale was a milestone for Rotorua breeders Mark and Sherrie Stokman and marked a great start for their first on-farm sale.
They had another sale to a breeder at $26,500, plus others down to $12,000.
Sherrie Stokman was delighted with the $11,500 top-price paid by a commercial buyer.
All up, there were 11 bulls sold at $11,000 or better and the average price for the 67 bulls sold, a full clearance, was $5858, a $1000 lift over last year.
“The commercial industry is our main sale market but luckily for us the pedigree has the right figures for the registered guys as well and that’s good.’’
With bull prices where they are now they do not sell many into dairy herds these days.
Sherrie’s family raised Angus cattle in the United States and she brought embryos with her when she and NZ dairy farmer husband Mark moved back here from the US in the late 1990s.
The top-price yearling traced back to two very good American bulls and both its mother and grand-dam were outstanding cows, she said
“Craig came to see the yearling bull on the farm and was happy he saw it.”
Davie-Martin said his family had loved the grandma when she was a heifer.
“You need to be careful with a heifer that you don’t damage it with the first calf but we believe strongly that you can do that and get a really strong growing calf, rather than breeding a small calf that stays small.”
He’s confident there’s enough stacked up in this bull’s pedigree to have faith he will pass on the shorter gestation, low birthweight and strong growth attributes.
PGG Wrightson genetics specialist Cam Heggie said the bull was bullet proof on all three fronts . . . EBVs, phenotype and a top-class dam.
“He’s an absolute ripper.”
He thought the second priced lot at $26,500 was slightly nicer to look at than the top-price animal but slightly down on the EBV data.
The Stokmans moved to having yearling-only bull sales seven years ago, instead of both yearling and two-year sales.
“Buyers get all the benefits with yearlings,” Sherrie said.
“You get the genetics, they’re more agile so less likely to be injured, they’re cheaper and they settle in better.”
Stokman Angus keeps a one-third interest in the semen from bulls it sells. The stud expects to use semen from the top-priced sale bull next year.
They kept a half-brother to him out of last year’s sale and are using him for breeding.
Stokman used to sell through the Taupo sale yards but changed to an on-farm sale this year, partly to avoid concerns around stock movements.
Davie-Martin is an advocate for the semen market and Puketi will have a three-tier pricing system . . . breeders, commercial, and dairy.
The Puketi-bred carcase suits a dairying animal.
His new bull will be home for autumn mating between spells at the Tararua Breeding Centre where semen is taken.
