Brahman bull buyers looking to secure a red sire prospect from the Big Country sale at Charters Towers on Monday had to almost triple their previous budgets or enter consortiums, such was the strength of the market.
Cattlemen and women from as far as New South Wales, the Northern Territory and Queensland were successful in securing one of the 121 red Brahmans and 131 stud heifers, which were cleared on the first day.
The 89 red registered sires averaged $18,905 and topped at $125,000 while 32 herd bulls averaged $10,595 and topped at $36,000 for a combined red bull gross of $2,021,500 and $16,705 average.
Just when onlookers thought the sale top had been reached at $120,000 for Kariboe Valley Ventura to Yoman Cattle Co, Moura, 11 lots later the Stevens family of Cremona Brahmans, Julia Creek, outlaid $125,000 for Clukan Redwings from Steve and Theresa Taylor, Clukan Brahmans, Jambin.
Having been an underbidder on the $50,000 NCC Navajo earlier in the day, David Stevens expanded the budget to ensure the 27-month-old homozygous poll Clukan bull was coming home with him ahead of underbidders Palmvale and Elmo Brahmans.
"The dearest bull I've ever bought before this was $45,000," Mr Stevens said.
"It's definitely a one off thing."
The son of NCC Echuca and Clukan Addie weighed 886 kilograms with P8 and rib fat depths of 10 and seven millimetres, an eye muscle area of 141 square centimetres and 41 centimetre scrotal circumference.
The Stevens family breed bulls for their own herds at Julia Creek and Georgetown and sell the remainder to local clients.
"We have had a commercial stud for a while and probably in the last five or six years we started to get into the good stud cattle," he said.
"Numbers are back a bit now because we lost most of them in the flood and we are just trying to get them all back, start to pick up a few."
The bull will enter semen collection before being put to a mob of top females for natural joining.
Clukan achieved the highest red vendor average with two bulls equalling out at $68,000, followed by Kariboe Valley with three bulls averaging $49,000 and Palmal with four at $46,125.
Tarramba sold two to average $23,750 while NCC sold 12 bulls to average $20,916 and Muan Brahmans sold 17 to average $19,941. Garglen sold seven to average $17,071.
In the heifer section of the sale, 131 'Brahman Belles' averaged $9365 with a top of $50,000 outlaid for the 13-month-old JDH Mr Elmo Manso daughter NCC Red Opal 5226 by the Northern Queensland Cattle Consortium.
The consortium, this time consisting of Cambil, Palm Creek, Burdekin, Badilla, and Rosetta studs, also paid $42,500 for NCC Red Opal 5210.
Speaking for the consortium, Lawson Camm, Cambil Brahmans, Proserpine, said both females would be available to the purchasing studs for IVF programs.
"We know that line has performed through IVF and they get a lot of embryos so we expect these will as well and that's why they were attractive to buy," he said.
"It (the consortium) lets us purchase superior genetics. If we came to a sale here individually we would be looking at one of those females, maybe, but we get access to two. We can share the cost and, with IVF, we can still produce as many calves, and spread the risk more.
"It's about pushing those genetics out and giving everybody more use of them."
The sale continues on Tuesday with grey sires on offer.
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