SALE SUMMARY
2018 2017
Offered 87 90
Sold 87 90
Top $15,000 (x2) $15,000
Av $8080 $6828
STERITA Park Angus stud, Lucindale, raised the bar for SA Angus Week sales with a spectacular $8080 average.
There was frenzied bidding from the packed gallery from the moment the first bull entered the ring until the fall of the final hammer at Monday’s sale.
This gave the DiGiorgio family a total clearance of the 87 pasturefed bulls and lift in average of more than $1200 on 2017.
It bucked the drift down in average of many other sales.
The catalogue comprised a wealth of high performing United States, New Zealand and Australian genetics, with the eye-appealing cattle with carcase quality backed by some outstanding Breedplan figures.
Commercial buyers stretched their budgets to $8000 to $10,000 with $5000 the lowest any bull sold for.
Leigh and Scott Winser, Benara Pastoral, Mount Gambier, were easily the biggest buyers, securing 17 bulls averaging $8765.
This included the first of the $15,000 sale-toppers, lot 8, Sterita Park M87.
The AI-bred son of Rab-Jr Editor 3046X was one of the heaviest bulls in the sale.
The rising two-year-old weighed 946 kilograms.
M87 was also in the top 10 per cent for both the Angus Breeding Index and Heavy Grass Index.
The equal top price bull came at lot 57, Sterita Park M143.
It was a son of KM Broken Bow, a US bull that has bred well for Sterita Park, including producing the 2017 sale-topper.
“Broken Bow has been sensational for us, bulletproof for calving ease but with growth,” stud principal Nanni DiGiorgio said.
M143 was snapped up by Patrick Ross, Prairie Glen, Lucindale.
Neil Engler, Bengalee Angus stud, Penola, was also in the thick of the action, securing an ET-bred son of Matauri Reality 839 for $14,000.
Bulls sold far and wide from the South East to western Vic, Kangaroo Island and central Australia.
The Smith family, Tieyon Station, via Alice Springs, NT, secured 10 bulls for a $7300 average.
Long-time supporters Hillcrest Pastoral Company, Avenue Range, left their mark on the sale, buying seven bulls for a $8429 average.
CC Seymour & Co, South Killanoola, Bool Lagoon, bought five bulls for a $7400 average.
Stud principal Nanni DiGiorgio said it was a fantastic result and gave the family confidence they were on the right track with their cattle breeding.
“It is pleasing we have a lot of great clients that keep coming back to support us,” he said.
He said the bulls that had run on the same lucerne pastures as 2017 were 50 kilograms to 60kg heavier, due to the good season.
Landmark stud stock manager Gordon Wood, who waved the gavel with Richard Miller, said it was just rewards for the best lineup of cattle he had stood over at Sterita Park in 11 years.
“From an eye appeal perspective they were easy-fleshing, easy-doing cattle with the ideal maturity pattern that people are looking for in modern Angus,” he said. “But they also had the data – the ideal combination of calving ease and performance and carcase figures.”