Carawah stud wins champion pen at inaugural Clermont commercial Brahman female show sale

A total of 733 Brahmans were yarded, including 38 cows and calf units, 40 PTIC cows, 100 PTIC heifers, 270 joining age heifers and 285 weaner heifers, from 12 central Queensland studs and commercial breeders.

Australian Brahman Breeders' Association set up the show sale, with cattle judged by Andrew Olive of Raglan Brahmans.

Claiming champion pen honours were Gindie stud Brahman breeders Travis and his father Niel Harling, Carawah stud, who offered seven cows and calf units, that were purchased by Andrew Olive of Raglan Brahmans, Raglan.

The premium offering made $1620 per unit.

The calves were sired by NCC Alford, which they paid $26,000 for in 2020 and the cows were also from NCC sires.

Mr Olive said he admired the females "productivity" and that it was an opportunity not to pass on.

"These cows had calves at foot and were already back in calf," he said.

"I know the pedigree of these females and it was too good of chance to pass up on this quality female offering," he said.

"These females blend in with our breeders and keep breeding."

Mr Olive said he thought the prices paid for females at this sale were above the rates reached at this week's local store and prime sales.

"I thought the sale started off strong, but it did drop off in the end. There weren't too many buyers present, whether that was because of a pending rain event, I'm not sure," he said.

Vendor Niel Harling said they didn't expect to win champion pen.

He said most of their cattle were on agistment that they just wanted to downsize their herd.

"We run a stud and these females were from the tail end of our pure stud breeders," Mr Harling said.

"It was a unique opportunity for our stud to offer these females at this sale and it was a credit to the breed society for running this inaugural sale.

"We've always culled our cattle heavily on temperament and quality and I guess it comes through in the end."

Mr Harling said the sale surprised him in terms of the rates some females made.

"There were a few pens of heifers that surprised me that were back as far as they were," he said.

"It was up and down a bit. There wasn't a huge gallery of buyers and that probably didn't help and that's why it varied.""

They also sold PTIC heifers which made $1320 per head.

Another highlight in the PTIC heifers section was a pen of 10 head offered by Riverside Pastoral, Riverside, Moranbah, which made $1240 per head to Talki Pty Ltd.

Top priced pen of yearling heifers was a pen of 12 offered by Rob and Una Oates, Mt Brett Comet, which were bought by Damien Parker, Eastmere, Aramac, for $1560/hd.

Top priced pen weaner Heifers was a pen of 21 offered by Mick and Amanda Clarke, Ibis Creek, Clermont, making $880/hd and bought by Talki Pty Ltd.

Micheal Borg, Calveston, Clermont sold a pen of 15 weaner grey heifers making $850/hd to Damien Parker, Eastmere, Aramac.

Bulk buyer on the day was Talki Pty Ltd, Talki Station, which purchased 147 females.

Speaking on-behalf of the Australian Brahman Breeders' Association, senior vice president Matthew Noakes. said vendors showcased good runs of quality cattle for sale.

"Most females offered at this sale made better than their current market value, with some pens exceeding that by 40 to 50 per cent," Mr Noakes said.

"This sale is a great opportunity for the breed to showcase the breed and to bring quality cattle together.

"Clermont is ideal place to hold the sale, with great support coming from the local area.

"We hope we build this sale and it gets bigger and better and if someone needs to buy a couple of decks of quality Brahman females, well we want this to be the destination."

Hoch and Wilkinson livestock agent Jake Passfield, Clermont, said there was a good quality of Brahman females offered by vendors from Clermont, Comet, Charters Towers, Nebo and Collinsville.

"Vendors here today offered a good quality run of females that were industry relevant," Mr Passfield said.

"There was a very good lead in them and the high quality of the cattle had a lot of competition on them.

"Competition was subdued on the lesser types but they still made market value on the day."

Mr Passfield said there was a good spread on the females, with buyers coming from Rolleston, north of Clermont, Alpha, and Jericho.

He said they're planning to run the sale again in 2025 at the Clermont saleyards.

"We've got something to build on and something to look forward to and I believe it's going to be a sale for the future," he said.