High herd fertility bulls on offer at Rosevale Santa Gertrudis spring sale

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As the Greenup family prepare to celebrate their 66th on-property bull sale this year, they remain committed to producing highly fertile, productive Santa Gertrudis cattle that perform in a range of environments.

Now the longest-running on-property bull sale in Australia, David and Sonya Greenup and their family will offer 145 bulls and three pregnancy-tested-in-calf females on Tuesday, September 20, at their property, Rosevale, Jandowae. The sale will also be interfaced with AuctionsPlus enabling prospective buyers from across the country to bid.

According to Mr Greenup, increasing kilograms per hectare, with an emphasis on herd fertility, has underpinned all the stud's breeding decisions for more than 30 years.

He said the Rosevale herd is one of the most extensively and accurately recorded herds in northern Australia.

"Santa Gertrudis Group Breedplan is used to help identify and multiply animals that are genetically superior for a wide range of traits," he said.

"This is resulting in generations of high-performance genetics being stacked on top of each other, resulting in consistently predictable outcomes for the traits that affect beef herd profitability."

Confirming the consistent quality of their genetics, this year's draft of Rosevale sale bulls average an impressive Days to Calving Estimated Breeding Value of -6.9 days with 84 of the young sires ranked in the top 25 per cent of the Santa Gertrudis breed for this trait.

This year's sale catalogue also features 89 bulls ranked in the top 25pc for the Export Production $Index, which is driven by a combination of fertility, growth and carcase traits.

The Export Production $Index estimates the genetic differences between animals in net profitability per cow joined for an example, self-replacing commercial herd targeting pasture grown and finished steers for export.

"$Indexes are very powerful measures, pulling together all of the EBVs that contribute to profitability into one, simple dollar value," Mr Greenup said.

But Mr Greenup also emphasised that as well as improving their performance figures, the stud has continued to concentrate on producing commercially-orientated bulls with proven longevity.

The Greenups have a policy of presenting their bulls off pasture ensuring that they adapt easily to their new homes, no matter the country and or season they go to.

"Due to their fit and healthy upbringing, they also have longer working lives, which makes them pretty good value for money," Mr Greenup said.

"We expect our bulls to get the job done from day one."

Mr Greenup said despite receiving three quarters of the average annual rainfall at Rosevale over a recent five-year period, pregnancy rates in the cow herd have been maintained at 90pc. With seasonal conditions improving in the last year, results in 2022 were higher.

"This type of reproductive resilience is one of the main reasons for the acceptance of our cattle," he said.

"Many of our clients run cattle in harsher conditions than ours so putting pressure on our herd to perform ensures our bulls will deliver results in their herds wherever they are situated."

The Greenup family take a long-term view and has a loyal client base as a result. They currently sell more than 400 Rosevale bulls each year throughout Qld and NSW, with interest also coming from WA, SA and the Northern Territory.

"Buyers often comment on the doing-ability of our bulls in their first season and down the track are often surprised at how big the bulls grow to when they are at maturity," Mr Greenup said.

"These comments don't surprise us as these bulls' Breedplan EBVs predict they have higher growth than their sale weights indicate. Our selection for higher fertility females has created a herd of animals that are good doers with 'efficient motors'."

Mr Greenup said cattle producers don't have to understand all of the data Rosevale has to offer.

"By focusing on the areas of most importance to them, they can select bulls with confidence that due to our balanced approach the rest is taken care of."

Details: For more information and a sale catalogue visit www.rosevalesanta.com.au

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