Yarrawonga Corvette genetics influential in three Santa Gertrudis records

Not only that but Yarrawonga Corvette H730, the Ekka's 2014 grand champion Santa Gertrudis bull, was the grandsire of the double-polled Glenn Oaks Sterling S314, which had set the breed record at $175,000 a week earlier.

The buyers wrapped in raincoats and Drizabones to ward off driving rain at Yarrawonga's on-property sale on Wednesday were treated to a three-way bidding duel from the moment the first of 190 bulls, Yarrawonga S316, entered the ring.

Beginning at $30,000, auctioneer Michael Smith had plenty to work with for the lot 7 bull brought up to the start of the catalogue, going up in $10,000 steps to $100,000 before escalating to $20,000 bids.

Hardigreen Park Santa Gertrudis Stud, Wallabadah, NSW, was the first to pull out, at $220,000.

Shane and Helen Hatton's bid of $240,000 for their Diamond H stud at Chinchilla was their last, after the partnership of RL Pastoral Co, Kyogle, NSW and Nioa Pastoral Co, Allora put in a winning bid of $250,000.

Immediately after the new quarter million dollar benchmark was set, Hardigreen Park secured lot 1, Yarrawonga S156 for $180,000, which would have been a breed record price minutes earlier.

Hardigreen stud manager Col Patterson outlasted Tom and Anna Dunlop, Munnabah Santa Gertrudis Stud, Coolah, NSW, for the lot 1 bull.

Mr Dunlop said he'd blown his budget to go as high as he did, loving the bull's volume and yield.

He had intended replacing Yarrawonga Fireworks with the new bull but instead ended up taking Yarrawonga S876, lot 97, home for $22,000.

"I was pretty happy in the end, and the other bull will do a lot of good at Hardigreen Park," he said.

Yarrawonga co-principal Andrew Bassingthwaighte said it had been "absolutely mind-blowing" to receive so much support from around the country.

"To have two bulls that you really would love to keep, that you've retained semen in, to be able to sell them and have them make the amount of money they deserve, because of where the market is at the moment, is really incredible and a really wonderful feeling," he said.

"The Corvette lines have been coming through - (today's sale makes) three bulls now over $150,000 that go back to Corvette."

The new record-holder, Yarrawonga S316 was sired by Yarrawonga Impact, who has Yarrawonga Corvette as his sire, while Corvette was the sire of the second-top-priced Yarrawonga S156 throught IVF.

"The bull at Scott and Wendy Ferguson's sale the other day was a Corvette grandson as well," Mr Bassingthwaighte said.

"We've always loved him - he's probably more of a modern Santa bull on carcase and fat cover, but he seems to be working, and working well for a lot of other clients as well.

"The IVF work we've done is really paying dividends."

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Successful purchaser Rob Sinnamon said he'd had his eyes on the genetics since giving Corvette the breed grand championship at the Ekka in 2014.

"I tried to buy him off Andrew then, so it's nice a couple of generations on to be able to buy a grandson," he said.

"We certainly expected the bull would create a lot of interest today, just because of the genetics involved along with his raw performance.

"He's a bull that has a lot to offer, not only the Santa Gertrudis breed but he's industry aligned and commercially relevant.

"Bulls like that don't come around that often of that quality so in conjunction with Nioa, we were delighted to secure the bull today."

The top-priced bull weighed 868kg at 22 months, P8 and rib fat scans of 15 and 10mm respectively, an eye muscle area of 137 square centimetres, a scrotal circumference of 43cm, and morphology of 90pc.

The second top-priced bull sired by Yarrawonga Corvette from Yarrawonga H3, aged 24 months, weighed 984kg, had P8 and rib fat measurements of 16 and 12mm, an EMA of 146sq cm, a scrotal circumference of 40cm and morphology of 88pc.

The 190 bulls sold for a full catalogue clearance grossed $3,926,000 and averaged $20,663.

Breaking that down, 167 classifed bulls sold for an average of $21,407 while 23 commercial bulls made an average of $15,261 and a top of $35,000.

Last year, the sale grossed $2,424,000 and averaged $15,245 for 159 bulls, setting the then-breed record of $150,000 for Yarrawonga Katmandu R236.

Volume buyers included Harry and Erica Perrett, Cattle Downs Pastoral Co, Wandoan, taking home 15 bulls for an average $11,600, Rob Caskey, Durella, Morven, selecting 13 bulls for $13,846 average, and W&K Freeman, Meeleebee Downs, Wallumbilla, with 11 bulls bought for an average $20,000.

Kel Freeman said she was very grateful for stud breeders such as Yarrawonga producing bulls of such quality.

"They have been doing the job for us for a long time," she said. "We use them in a cross-breeding program as a terminal sire."

Patience was the key to bidding at Yarrawonga for Harry Perrett, who said the sale had enough bulls available to be able to buy at value.

"They're good bulls - we use them and Waco genetics in our commercial Santa Gertrudis herd," he said.

AuctionsPlus had 684 people viewing and bidding throughout the afternoon, with online bids being made on 146 of the 190 lots.

Some 345 online bids were made and 33 were sold to online buyers ranging from Toowoomba, Meandarra, Winton, Taroom, Western Australia, Stanmore, and Theodore.

The top price paid online was $32,000 by Bonniegar Pastoral Co at Meandarra.