Buyers bid up for ‘ready to work’ Angus

In a somewhat subdued sale, 10 bulls were sold at the fall of the hammer to $5750, averaging $3775.

First progeny of O’Neills Black Bandolier, O’Neills Frontiersman and O’Neills Geronimo to be offered for sale in Australia were within the catalogue of 23 autumn- and spring-drop Angus bulls.

Repeat buyer Steve Berkefeld, Mount Schank, paid the sale’s top price of $5750 for lot 3 Glentanner Design.

The March 2017-drop bull, sired by Bushs Easy Decision 98, weighed 882 kilograms and had an eye muscle scan of 94 square centimetres and intramuscular fat scan of 4.2.

“Glentanner Angus bulls have done the job in my beef cattle herd over the past five years, being very good value for money and ready to go straight to work,” Mr Berkefeld said.

Lot 8, Glentanner Geronimo, progeny of O’Neills Geronimo, was bought by IGN Paton & Co, Corryong, Vic, for the sale’s second-highest price of $5000.

The Patons also took home lot 14 at $3000.

Costello Rural, Corryong, Vic; NJ&DM Facey, Millicent; and Arthur Facey, Millicent, each bought bulls at $4000.

While disappointed, Brad Lucas said he had expected a tougher-than-usual sale result due to seasonal conditions in areas other than the South East of SA and Vic’s Western District.

“Even though we’ve had a great season down here, you don’t have to go too far north before you see things have turned pear shaped,” he said.

The absence of pastoral orders and a regular order from Qld put a bit of a dent in the end result, but Mr Lucas said he was more than happy with the presentation of the bulls which were ready to go straight to work, and is confident the remaining bulls will sell over the coming weeks.

Southern Australian Livestock, Mount Gambier, conducted the sale with auctioneer Miles Pfitzner.