Murdeduke’s fourth Angus stud bull sale in central Queensland saw strong demand for the draft of 64 two-year-old bulls that were on offer last Tuesday.
The sale recorded a clearance rate of 86 per cent with a top bull price of $17,000 plus a overall sale average of $5639.
Murdeduke stud manager Simon Falkiner said the overall sale results were “well up on last year’s figures”.
Mr Falkiner said he’s delighted with the result especially as they invested a great deal of time and energy into preparing this year’s stud Angus bull draft.
“We spent time acclimatizing the bulls for five months on grass at Gogango near Rockhampton,” Mr Falkiner said.
“It was as much about preparing their rumens for Queensland conditions as anything thing else.
“The bulls exceptional scanning results reflected these sires have transitioned well and should continue to thrive in central Queensland.”
The top priced bull of the Murdeduke Angus Bull Sale at Gracemere was Lot 3, Murdeduke Hussar M283, who sold to David Bondfield, The Palgrove Stud, Dalveen.
The bulls will stand at Mr Bondfield’s Emerald property Rhodesia and be used in his Ultra Black stud breeding program.
Mr Bondfield remarked “that at 24-months-old the strong sire weighed 954 kilograms, had fat scans of 14 millimetres and 10 millimetres across the rib and rump areas, an eye muscle area of 144 square centimetres plus an intramuscular fat percentage of 5.8 per cent.
“The sire is an ideal fit for our program and we can’t wait to see the results,” Mr Bondfield said.
Other first time buyers at the sale were brothers Chas and Roger Nobbs who took home seven bulls between them to a top price of $12,500 and an overall average $9000.
They set their sights on the heavier bulls that recorded good raw eye muscle area and IMF scans, backed up with good Estimated Breed Values.
Chas Nobb’s lead selection was Lot 11, a Milllah Murrah Klooney son CSWM411, that he paid $12,000. The bull had a raw EMA of 128sq cm that helped him deliver a Retail Beef Yield of 1.8 and EMA of 7.8 EBVs, which put him in the top seven per cent of the breed for those traits.
Roger Nobbs paid $12,500 for his lead selection, Lot 59 CSWM62, a high carcass merit Te Mania Gaskin son who has great calving ease potential and the highest IMF and EBV of 3.2, top 5pc of the breed, in the catalogue.
Girrah Pastoral Holdings, Blackwater put together a run of four bulls including Lot 51, an 860kg Murdeduke Kalpana son and one of the best scanning bulls in the catalogue at 136sq cm EMA and 7.3pc IMF.
Another Kalpana son with the highest marbling figures in the catalogue at 7.8pc sold to Spring Creek, Blackwater for $8000.
Bulls went as far west as Julia Creek with Redland Park adding three more bulls to the four they purchased last year. They focused on calving ease as the bulls will be joined to heifers.
Andrew Turner, AFAS Investments, secured a 934kg Millah Murrah Kingdom son that scanned 136sq cm EMA and 7.4pc IMF.
The bull will used in his Red Angus herd situated just south of Cairns.
Matthew and Fiona Noakes, Marlborough had a busy day buying two bulls for themselves and four bulls for Namgooyah Grazing, Dingo who are repeat buyers from last year. Their selections centred on “doing ability and carcass quality” as shown in their Lot 2 bull, CSWM113, who scanned 15mm of fat on the rump and eight millimetres of fat on the rib area with an EMA of 133sq cm.