DAVELLE South Devon stud, Jamestown, set a $7050 stud record at its second annual Opportunity Sale on AuctionsPlus on Thursday last week with a bull which ticked plenty of boxes.
The March 2013-drop Davelle United Yale J12 had an eye muscle area ranking in the top 5 per cent of the breed at +2.7,impressive growth, and a great coat and colour.
He was also outcross genetics, being an AI son of United States sire MJB United 333U.
The sale topper was bought by Colin Chevalley, Chevalley, Tenterfield, NSW, to be used in his Brahman, Hereford and Charolais crossbreeding operation.
He said he liked to add South Devon for their maternal traits and retained all South Devon-cross females, which were great mothers.
He also bought a young cow at $1200.
Buyers from four states logged on for the offering by Davelle stud principals David and Rochelle Leese, who have been breeding South Devons for 14 years and run the state's only registered and performance recorded herd.
In the breakdown, seven bulls averaged $3293 - a lift on the first sale, and all four autumn calving females sold to $1500, averaging $1300.
The $5500 second-top price was paid for black Davelle Black Ice J5, used in the stud during spring, bought by Tom Lawson, Paringa Livestock, Yea, Vic, for his Stabiliser program.
Black Ice's terrific phenotype was matched with some tremendous figures with all indexes in the top 1pc and a raw IMF figure of 6.5pc.
The volume buyer with four bulls at $2500 was Scott Nix, Boyup Brook, WA, who said he had success putting extra softness into cattle, which the market now demanded.
The top-price female at $1500 was a six-year-old due to calve to Davelle UB Right On H26, in which the stud has just sold semen in to New Zealand. She was bought by Neil and Yvonne Hagger, Waitinga, Keith.
Stud principal David Leese said the AuctionsPlus sale format allowed buyers flexibility and enabled anyone to bid anywhere in Australia.
He said the sale had a number of highlights, including Black Ice going into a progressive, long-standing stud which would give them a great lift in profile, and the ability to sell good herd bulls for their reserve prices.
"We want cattle breeders to give our South Devons a go at fair and reasonable prices for fully registered performance- recorded cattle that will make a difference in their herds,'' he said.
Mr Leese said there was strong demand for South Devon cattle from chefs and the general public because of their superior eating quality. They have been supplying steers and heifers to Richard Gunner Fine Meats for a number of years.
* Full report in Stock Journal, December 4, 2014 issue.
Catherine Miller
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
