Brisbane Valley Holdings offload 204 Droughtmaster steers at 650.9c/kg

The line was offered by Brisbane Valley Protein (Holdings) and bred by the Hawkins family at Herbertvale Station, Camooweal.

Boasting the renowned Glenlands bloodlines, the steers, ranging from six-10 months, had an average weight of 318kg (232 - 388kg).

The steers sold for 650.9c/kg (1202.1c/kg dressed) to return $2040/head via AuctionsPlus.

Brisbane Valley Protein managing director Duncan Brown credited the success of the sale to the Childs and Hawkins families.

"It's a complete credit to the Childs family for their consistency and quality of the genetics they offer year in year out," Mr Brown said.

"It's also an absolute tribute to the Hawkins family on their stewardship of the cattle.

"We own the cattle and they manage them on our behalf and over the years, they've really perfected the art of growing cattle in that country."

Brisbane Valley Protein have been in partnership with Herbertvale Station since late 2018, which Mr Brown said has been ideal for their operation, which is based in South East Queensland.

"We've got a pretty diversified show down south. We background cattle for feedlots and we also run Brisbane Valley Farm Direct, which we sell a range of meat online to consumers," he said.

"We buy a lot of cattle down here and grow them on silage and sell them off, but obviously that's a bit challenging when the market is so hot, so we wanted our own cattle.

"We don't claim to be experienced at managing breeding country in remote Queensland, so we've always admired the Hawkins operation and when the opportunity came up to buy into their herd, it was something we couldn't pass up."

The Droughtmaster steers were bred on Herbertvale Station, near the Northern Territory and Queensland border at Camooweal.

Grazing 6000 cows on 137,000ha, the station benefitted from an early start to the wet season.

Owner Charlie Hawkins attributed the steers exceptional weight for age to the improved conditions, favoured by the early wet.

"The steers were weaned roughly a fortnight ago and at assessment, they'd been freshly weaned for three days on agistment," Mr Hawkins said.

"These steers were a mixture of majority Brisbane Valley Protein and some of our stock.

"We didn't have a great wet, we had an early wet season and it was early and it cut out at the end of February.

"We've had some reasonable rains since but not big lots, so it's been a good season."

The Hawkins family have sourced Droughtmaster bulls from Glenlands for over 20 years.

Charlie said this draft of steers was one of the best his family has presented for sale.

"I've been breeding cattle for the last 30 years and all I can say is that I can't breed them any better than that. They were an exceptional line of steers," he said.

"I knew they were going to bring that sort of money because of the bloodlines, the genetics and the season we've had.

"We usually averaged about 10 to 15 bulls a year from Glenlands in the last 20 odd years. We haven't bought an outside bull for 15 years I know of anyway."

Mr Hawkins said they usually offer bigger lines of steers, but the favourable market forced them to sell earlier than usual.

"We probably sell more in bigger drafts to tell you the truth, but the market was good and you don't hold your weaners until you get the whole lot of them in a mob, you sell them when their ready," he said.

TopX Cloncurry selling agent Sam Ritchie said the large offering received a lot of interest coming into the sale.

Mr Ritchie said the steers have the potential to target numerous high grade markets.

"Good breeding with quality bulls and also long term concentration on good breeding into cows are the main factors behind this exceptional draft," he said.

"These steers were some of the best Droughtmaster steers we've offered, with their weight for age, length and bone.

"The market is going in an upward direction at the moment, so that was also on our side."