SALE SUMMARY
2019 2018
Offered 88 87
Sold 88 87
Top $12,000 $10,000(2)
Av $6950 $8080
BIDS flew at Sterita Park’s Angus bull sale at Lucindale from the moment the first pen entered the ring to the final lot which still made $10,000.
In the first total clearance for SA Angus Week, 88 bulls topped at $12,000 and averaged an exceptional $6950.
The 74 rising two-year-olds averaged $7101 and demand continued for the 14 spring 2017 drop bulls( all embryo transfer bred) which averaged $6143.
The DiGiorgio family are renowned for their annual draft of Angus weaners sold at Naracoorte and it was that commercial focus that saw buyers from Kangaroo Island to western Vic pack the stands.
Benara Pastoral, Mount Gambier, was a big part of the sale’s success securing more than one third of the catalogue, including nine of the first 10 lots.
Their 34 bulls averaged $6735, including two of the eight bulls in the sale to make $10,000.
James and Leticia Gosse, Penola, paid the top money for Lot 32, Sterita Park N39.
The Millah Murrah Klooney son was the heaviest bull in the catalogue at 970 kilograms but it was the two-year-old’s eye appealing phenotype which impressed Mr Gosse most.
He been buying from Sterita Park for about a decade and uses his bulls for two joinings a year to turn off weaners at an early age.
“It is nice and big and a bull that you can put over cows or put over heifers,” he said.
A few lots later the Gosses added Lot 39,a KM Broken Bow son for $10,000.
Interestingly the five-figured bulls were all by different sires showing the depth of the stud’s AI program using leading Australian and United States genetics.
Other volume buyers included Kangaringa Station, Keith, which bought eight bulls to $9000, averaging $6688 and Hillcrest Pastoral Company, Avenue Range, which secured seven bulls to $9000 averaging $6643.
CC Seymour & Co, South Killanoola, Bool Lagoon, snapped up four bulls to $9000, averaging $7750.
Sterita Park stud principal Nanni DiGiorgio said it was a “fantastic” result and was thankful to their many repeat buyers.
“Our main focus is functional commercial cattle so we don’t chase extremes but want a good spread of birth to growth figures and we like to have positive fat (EBVs),’ he said.
“The bulls were very even again which was reflected in the nearly $7000 average but only $12,000 top, but it was also good to see there were still bulls available for people for $4000 to $6000.”
Landmark stud stock manager Gordon Wood said the stud had a strong focus on “fertile, functional” cattle.
“They have a commercial focus and they know what it is to use those bulls over commercial cows and if they don’t stack up they don’t perform,” he said.
“Nanni (DiGiorgio) has being chasing that doing ability for years and years and it is paying dividends.”
Landmark conducted the sale with Mr Wood and Richard Miller sharing the auctioneering duties.
Following the final lot a magnum of 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon donated by the DiGiorgio family was auctioned to support the Ryan family, Lucindale.
Conkar Ridge manager Brett Ryan who has bought many bulls with Hillcrest Pastoral Company at the sale over the years had a serious motorcycle accident in December.
Landmark SA general manager Craig Tapfield generously bought the six litre DiGiorgio Family Wines bottle for $2000 on behalf of the company.
