Beef producers from northern and central Queensland made their presence known at the Droughtmaster National Sale, putting together sizeable drafts of new sires.
Dart Pastoral Company put together the largest pen, finishing the two-day sale with 17 bulls for an average of $9794, to top at $14,000.
The purchases support a strategic phase of post-drought herd rebuilding, and will be used across the Dart Pastoral operation of approximately 3500 predominantly-Droughtmaster breeders, run on properties near Injune and Torrens Creek.
Manager Jeremy Napier, Springbok, Injune, said among other things, they were chasing a sire that could put more beef into their breeder herd.
He said bulls with good legs, good feet to travel and clean pizzles were on their wish-list.
And while the Dart Pastoral draft included some single buys, much of it was repeat buying from select vendors, including six bulls from the Needmor Droughtmasters offering.
The Dart Pastoral operation incorporates more than 100,000 hectares in the Torrens Creek and Aramac area, as well as 3500ha at Injune where they run up to 400 breeders and background crossbred cull heifers.
Close to 2000ha at Roma is used to background steers and take them through to feeder weights before they are offloaded through the Roma Saleyards and private sales, Mr Napier said.
Agent Carl Warren, TopX Roma, said they aim to turn off around 2500 head of feeder cattle a year.
"Predominantly using the Droughtmasters as the core breeders up in the northern blocks and then also crossbreeding with Charolais bulls, the progeny always demands a premium at Roma," Mr Warren said.
"With spirited competition from repeat buyers, they are consitently in the top five per cent of the market at Roma, just depending on weight.
"This year obviously, after last year's drought, we've come down a little bit in the weight but we're normally selling off anywhere between 340 and 400kg to that domestic market."
Mr Warren said there had been good value at the sale this year. "They (Dart Pastoral) were in the market for big, fleshy bulls with excellent movement and travel abilities and we worked hard over the sale to get exactly the style we needed," he said.
"We've tried to lift our average a bit this year, and we're pretty happy with the results."
Glenmore Downs Farming, Clermont, bid online to also put together a draft of 17 bulls, averaging $4441 and topping at $7000, while the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries secured 12 new sires for an average of $5958.