Local vendor Burt Bruggemann had plenty of reasons to smile at the Dalby Saleyards on Wednesday when he and his wife Marie, in partnership with his son Jason and daughter-in-law Kylie, offered their 18 two and four tooth bullocks for top money.
The bullocks, of which the majority were sired by the family's registered Santa Gertrudis Triple S stud, were EU accredited and sold to average 465.2c/kg to return $3522.51/head selling to JBS.
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"We consigned 60 of their siblings to Teys Biloela earlier this week that dressed out at 371kg, and these fellows keep gaining weight at two kilograms a day and were a bit heavier, so we had to put them through the saleyards," Mr Bruggemann said.
The family also consigned two pens of feeder heifers to take advantage of the current market which returned $2367.56c/kg.
"We don't very often sell through the saleyards, as we normally finish on grass and sell directly to the processors," Mr Bruggemann said
"But the market is too strong not to consider all our options, particularly with our heifers and overall we are very happy."
Mr Bruggemann is a Santa Gertrudis man through and through and has been breeding commercial Santas for 25 years.
The family started breeding stud cattle and selling registered bulls in 2005, and are vendors of the annual Western Downs Santa Gertrudis group that hold their sale at the Dalby saleyards.
"We are pretty proud of these bullocks we are selling today, as they are the role model of the type of animal we want to produce," he said.
"We find the Santa are versatile and they will fit within any market or grid."
The family run 400 breeders at Wongalea near Taroom and Mr Bruggemann said over time they had worked with the temperament and fertility issues that the breed was once criticised for.
And as for the cattle prices achieved on Wednesday, Mr Bruggemann said they were unbelievable.
"I have been selling for the past 60 years, and over time I have had to take the good with the bad," he said.
"I still have a clear memory of the devastating 1974-78 crash in the cattle market, but we were lucky we as we have farming country which subsidised our income.
Mr Bruggemann said they were currently having a good season and had a good body of grass.
"We received good rain in November and then received 44mm last week as a top up," he said.
We don't very often sell cattle through the saleyards, but the market is too strong not to consider all our options.
- Burt Bruggemann
Overall selling agents yarded 3835 head with cattle trucked in as far as Cunnamulla and western NSW.
Selling agent Anthony O'Dwyer of GDL said it was the shortage of cattle supply that drove the market, with some attendees to the sale speculating price surges of 10c/kg.
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The buying panel were all major processors and feedlot operators, with some restocker activity.
The Bruggeman bullocks were sold by retired auctioneer and founding partner and former managing director of GDL Noel Grant, who attended the Dalby Saleyards on Wednesday to acknowledge and celebrate the 25th anniversary since the company sold their first beast through the yards.
"It was the first time Mr Grant had auctioned cattle in over 10 years and he didn't miss a beat.
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