Their dedication to the Brahman breed and commitment to providing a consistent article led Justin and Hayley Titmarsh to take out both top and second top price honours at the Roma Tropical Breeds sale on Friday.
Mr and Mrs Titmarsh, Kyilla, Condamine, operate under two stud prefixes- JNH Brahmans and Reldarah Brahmans, and sold JNH Koshi for $14,000 to top the Brahman portion of the sale.
At just two years of age the polled bull weighed in at 760kg and offered a 40cm scrotal circumference with P8 and rib fat measurements of 12 and 10 millimetres respectively.
Soon after the family went on to sell Reldarah Victor, also a polled sire, for a second top price of $8000 to Charlie Booth, Bonanaza Park, Wandoan.
The massive 910kg Reldarah Victor offered an impressive 43cm scrotal circumference with huge P8 and rib fat depths of 18 and 15 millimetres respectively.
While the Brahman portion of the sale met tough selling conditions, Mr Titmarsh said it was rewarding to see repeat buyers travel to the sale.
“There just wasn’t the amount of Brahman buyers here to keep the hype of Brahman Week going but we’re happy to get homes for our bulls,” he said.
“JNH Koshi’s half brother sold for the top price here two years ago at $9000 so this year’s top far exceeded that and aside from being a tough sale, that’s exciting.
“We hope to see the sale go on and start drawing higher buyer numbers while we’ll continue trying to breed bulls to suit everyone’s requirements.”
Top priced Brahman buyer John Schutt, Tralee, Blackall, said he did not attend many seedstock sales as he usually bred his own bulls but tried to buy outside sires on occasion.
“We run a 1200 head breeder herd, all of which are at least 50 per cent Brahman in terms of content,” he said.
“This bull was just a nice neat bull and one I believe will be a useful addition to our herd with potential to breed future bulls for us.”
Mr Schutt said the season was the best he had seen it in 33 years- as long as he had been breeding and finishing beef cattle at Tralee.
“We sell the flat backs as feeders in dry times but we aim to finish our cattle on grass when the season is good,” he said.
“They’re mostly on Buffel grass where we are and right now it’s shaping up beautifully- you just can’t beat it.”
Second top priced Brahman buyer Charlie Booth, Bonanza Park, Wandoan, said he planned to use Reldarah Victor over Hereford cows to produce F1 breeders.
“The Brahman content produces hardier cattle which is good in the lighter country- we find we can get 12 to 13 years out of a breeder with Brahman content,” he said.
“This is our first time buying here and we found what we were looking for quite close to home which was great.
“He (the bull) is a nice long, soft bull with a big scrotal measurement which is good for fertility and the big drawcard was he’s really quiet which I look for, especially when crossbreeding cattle.”