Sale summary: 73 bulls offered, top price $28,000; average price $8637
The McKinlay family of Callandoon Angus at Springsure are hoping that Burenda Specialist P976 (P) will do a very special job for them.
Offered at the Burenda Angus and Brangus bull sale at Clermont last Thursday, the family paid $28,000 to take home the popular sale topper.
A homozygous polled Brangus bull with 72 per cent Angus content, Glen McKinlay said they would be putting him over their stud Angus cows.
"We were looking for something to take a bit of hair off, and at 24 months and 1002kg, there's a fair bit of bull about him," he said.
"He's very sleek-coated and we don't think he'll fall away at all. We've been looking for a while for that type of bull."
His daily weight gain was 1.38kg and his intramuscular fat percentage was 6.2, while he had a scrotal circumference of 41cm and semen morphology of 82pc.
Burenda stud manager Jonathan Schmidt said he had been bred from a bull they'd bred themselves, Burenda Specialist L921 (P) (AI), and such was their regard for his doing ability and mobility that they've retained some of his semen to use in their stud.
Callandoon was one of three studs at the top of the Brangus sale list and helping the 36 Brangus bulls on offer to an average of $9375.
Palgrove Pastoral Co paid the second-top price of $25,000 for Burenda Emperor P1042 (P), another homozygous polled Brangus bull, with 63pc Angus content.
Weighing 858kg at 23 months, Palgrove spokesman Ben Noller said he would be going into Palgrove's Ultrablack program at Rhodesia, east of Emerald.
"He was a very complete sire, slick-skinned, that will suit the cows there," he said. "He had the muscle pattern and sleekness we were after."
Burenda Pleasure P1105 (P), a PP Brangus bull with more tropical high Brahman content, was purchased by Michael and Kellie Silvester, Forest Hills Brangus stud at Capella for $19,000.
Other top prices received were for Burenda Singletory P961, sold to BH Bindaree Brangus, Murgon for $17,000, and Burenda Deal Maker P984, sold to Beejay Brangus at Capella for $16,000.
Four of the Angus bulls offered sold to a top of $14,000, two to Tay Glen Pastoral at Dysart, one to SC McGregor, and one to Rowe Cattle Co at Moranbah.
The Murphy family at Tay Glen was named the most successful exhibitor at the Central Queensland Carcase Classic in September, thanks to their strategy of joining Brahman breeders with Charolais bulls and then putting Angus bulls over the progeny for a three-way composite.
Mr Schmidt said they were doing well out of that and he was glad his bulls were part of that.
The 37 Angus bulls offered made an average price of $7918.
Among the volume buyers were repeat clients Alpha's Rostron Grazing at The Grove, buying six bulls; and Tim and Megan Allan, Argyle, Mundubbera, who bought six bulls at Clermont, on top of the six they purchased at the Burenda sale at Roma in August.
Two new volume clients were HH Pastoral at Charters Towers, buying seven Angus bulls to go over Brahman females; and Southwick Pty Ltd at Moura, who bought four Angus and two Brangus bulls for their heifers at Hobartville, north of Alpha.
Speaking on behalf of Michael and Kylie McTaggart, Southwick's owners, manager Steven Kimber said they were looking to join a lot of Santa Gertrudis/Droughtmaster-cross heifers and wanted bulls that would give low birthweight calves.
"It's also a trial to see how they handle dry times," Mr Kimber said.
Mr Schmidt said they really appreciated all the support from new and repeat clients, adding that of the few bulls that failed to sell under the hammer, most were sold while the sale was in progress, and the last two were sold within five minutes of it ending.
"The sale had a lot of different styles of bulls - you've got to have that to keep everyone happy, and I think we did that," he said.
- Agents: Hoch & Wilkinson, GDL, AuctionsPlus.