Wattle Grove Speckle Park bulls av $13,250 at Toowoomba sale

Steve and Diep Atkins, Gotcha Speckle Park, Cundletown, NSW, weren't about to let some of the best genetics from Wattle Grove - also based in NSW - leave the state, locking down Wattle Grove News Man for $45,000.

They purchased last year's sale topper, Wattle Grove Ba Da Boom.

Sired by Wattle Grove Paperboy and out of Wattle Grove K7 Louise, News Man was 24-months-old, weighed 864kg, had an eye muscle area of 125sqcm, intramuscular fat of 7.8pc rump and rib measurements of 15mm and 10mm.

At the wrap up of the twilight sale, the Humphries family from Oberon sold all 68 bulls to average $13,250 (up from $12,603 in 2021), while all 25 commercial heifers sold to average $4130/hd.

Gotcha Speckle Park stud principal Steve Atkins said the top-seller was a real standout and they felt like they had to have him.

"He's beautiful. He's the standout bull. His genetics are rare and we wanted to get them. For our female herd, he fits in very well," Mr Atkins said.

"He'll go to a few shows like Sydney and then he'll be with the girls. We think we've bought the best females going around, and he'll be with them. We're a seedstock operation, so we're purely genetics and trying to plan the next generation of what's going to come through."

The second-top price of $36,000 was achieved by the next bull after News Man to go under the hammer, Made For You, selling to B and H Hutton. Sired by Wattle Grove Road Block and out of Wattle Grove 24X Unique, he was 26-months-old, weighed 870kg, had an EMA of 124sqcm, IMF of 7.5pc, and rump and rib measurements of 14 and 11mm.

When it came time to sell the heifers, lot 80 - five PTIC F2 heifers - topped the sale at $5250/hd. Five from six semen packages sold to average $1667 and topped at $4100 for a package of eight semen straws from Codiak Del Ray.

Volume buyer was Loretta Smith from Moura, securing nine bulls to average $11,222.

Wattle Grove stud principal Dale Humphries said he was full of appreciation for his family, the Wattle Grove team and all of the buyers who attended or followed the sale online.

"My proudest moments are looking around, the crew, the family and seeing what they're doing through the week," he said. "I'm rapt to see all these bulls go into commercial market. Thank you to all the buyers and underbidders for supporting us but also supporting the breed."

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