THE first Marble High Wagyu sale has been hailed a success thanks in large part to the spirited buying of NSW seedstock business GeneFlow Pty Ltd.
All told, the Tocumwal operation purchased more than $1.29 million worth of Wagyu at the multi-vendor sale in Toowoomba, accounting for about half of the sale's overall gross of $2,897,500.
Out of the 17 females offered by vendors HP Wagyu, Arubial Wagyu and Macquarie Wagyu, GeneFlow purchased 10 at an average of $129,000.
It started with the first female in the catalogue when HP Wagyu R0137 was knocked down for a sale high $240,000.
The 25-month-old daughter of Mayura L0010 and out of Sahara Park MS Itoshigenami N3 sat in the top one per cent of the breed's estimated breeding values for marble score (3.2) (MS), marble fineness (MF), as well as on the breed's Self Replacing Index (SRI), Fullblood Terminal Index (FTI) and F1 Terminal Index (F1TI).
She went back to Itohana 2's dam Anio 6 who is known for producing A5 carcasses in Japan.
From there, GeneFlow then snapped up the equal-second top sellers at $225,000, the first of which was Arubial S0376.
The 13-month-old daughter of Arubial United P0342 and out of Peppermill Grove L00057 was also rated in the top one per cent of the breed for marble score (2.9), MF, SRI, FTI and F1TI.
Also selling for the equal-second-top-price was Arubial S0661, which was the 15-month-old daughter of Arubial Bond Q007 and out of Wagyu Genetics Dai 2 Kinntou D8513, and was also rated in the top one per cent of the breed for marble score (3.3) MF, SRI, FTI and F1TI.
"The majority of the females I bought had a marble score of three or thereabouts and they were over 300 on the SRI, which is what I have been looking to buy over the past 18 months to two years," GeneFlow director Keith Hay told the Queensland Country Life.
"You don't often find females over 300 in the one spot, so this sale has been fantastic."
GeneFlow's purchases come after the company was the underbidder on the female Sunnyside S0014, which smashed the Australian beef cattle record auction price of any breed, selling for $400,000 at the Australian Wagyu Association Elite Wagyu Sale in Melbourne in April.
"We're just trying to build a very strong presence in Wagyu and Angus from our facilities in Tocumwal and Geelong," Mr Hay said.
"These females will be going straight into an IVF program and the international interest at the moment is really high at the moment.
"You've got to try and buy the best to produce the best."
HP Wagyu principal Cameron Hewitt said while he was confident HP Wagyu R0137 would sell well, he was still blown away with the overall result of the sale.
"When we first decided to do the sale we wanted to put some really incredible stuff up and make it a prestigious sale," Mr Hewitt said.
"We knew she would be the right fit for this kind of sale and as time went on her genomics kept climbing and it got to the point where I questioned if should sell this female.
"However, we decided to put her up and while we predicted she would do well, $240,000 is just remarkable."
At the fall of the hammer, 16 of 17 females sold to a top of $240,000 and an average of $102,969, while the remaining female sold at the sale's end to bring the final average to $99,853.
In the bull section of the sale, eight bulls sold to an average of $62,800 highlighted by a top of $105,000 for Macquarie Wagyu S0181.
The 25-month-old son of Coates Itoshigenami G113, rated one of the most highly performing sire's in the breed, and out of Macquarie Wagyu J435 was rated in the top one per cent of the breed for marble score (2.8) MF, SRI, FTI, F1TI and was purchased by Peter and Shari Knudsen, Chinchilla.
"I think the carcase data on his dam's side really helped him along because she has heaps of marbling and heaps of size," Macquarie Wagyu general manager Anthony Winter said.
"To have G113 over the top of her helps complete the package because that sire just does not miss.
"It is good see that bull going into the Knudsen's operation because I think he will be a great addition to their herd and do some pretty good things for them."
Rounding out the sale was 24 lots of semen straws, which averaged $6707 and topped at $35,000 for two straws from Coates Itoshigenami G113 when it was purchased by Grasslands Wagyu Stud, Tuttle, USA.
A total of 31 registered bidders gathered a the Burke and Wills Hotel, Toowoomba, for Wednesday's live auction sale, while many more followed online via Elite Livestock Auctions.
Billy Jupp
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
Billy is a Senior Livestock Journalist for the Queensland Country Life based in Toowoomba. He has worked for a variety of different ACM mastheads during the past five years including the Namoi Valley Independent, Northern Daily Leader and The Land.
