A packed gallery of buyers upped the ante at Sterita Park Angus stud's 13th annual sale on Monday at Lucindale ensuring the average lifted more than $1300 on last year's result.
In a total clearance 88 high quality bulls featuring top Australian and United States genetics sold for a $8290 average.
The $17,000 highest price- also a new stud record- was paid for lot 5, Sterita Park P135.
The 930-kilogram soft, easy doing bull was a son of Rennylea Edmund E11 who has produced many high price progeny for the DiGiorgios over the past few years.
Buyers Rob and Cindy Savage Chesapeake Pastoral, Lochaber, described P135 as a "stand out".
"It is a good thick, good balanced bull but with plenty of growth for age," Mr Savage said.
It was one of their four buys.
Another sale highlight came at lot 21, Sterita Park P44, which vendors the DiGiorgio family generously donated the proceeds from to the Lucindale CFS Group.
The 852kg bull made $14,000, the equal second highest price, selling to Benara Pastoral, Mount Gambier.
Lucindale CFS group officer Patrick Ross said the donation would make a huge difference enabling them to add mobile phone boosters to their seven fire trucks and also automatic vehicle locators to keep track on fire ground.
"Volunteers are often off on call for up to 12 to 14 hours and their families are always anxious about them so it mean they can keep in touch- this will be great peace of mind," he said.
"The other thing missing and that we have been asking for for some time is automatic transponders on the trucks. If we can do this it will be a catalyst for further improvement across the state."
Southern Cross Farms, Tintinara, secured the other $14,000 bull in lot 15, Sterita Park P72, which was in the top few per cent of the breed for eye muscle area at +8.7.
They put together seven top-end bulls for a $9857 average.
But it was Benara Pastoral who led the volume buyer charge putting together 20 bulls for a $9350 average.
Another long-time client the Bainger family, Hillcrest Pastoral Company, Avenue Range, took home eight bulls for a $7375 average.
Despite the sale heights, which saw 18 bulls knocked down at $10,000 or more there were still plenty of opportunities for those with lesser budgets.
Many of these were among the 15 spring 2018-drop bulls which were six months younger than the main draft.
They sold to $8500, averaging $6100.
All these Sterita Park bulls certainly produce cattle that tick every market be it vealers, feeder cattle, bullocks or female replacements- it is an absolute credit to them.
- Richard Miller
Sterita Park stud principal Nanni DiGiorgio said the result was beyond his expectations but also a reflection of the faith their clients have in their bull breeding program.
"Given it was a very dry summer and they only run on dryland lucerne they (the bulls) weren't lavished with feed but they had enough and they tend not to need huge amounts of feed to show off their genetic potential," he said.
Nutrien Livestock stud stock auctioneer Richard Miller said the exceptional Breedplan figures across a range of traits matched the bulls' phenotypes.
"If you came to buy one or two bulls or even six bulls there was a lot of bulls you could select from to meet your requirements," he said.
"All these Sterita Park bulls certainly produce cattle that tick every market be it vealers, feeder cattle, bullocks or female replacements- it is an absolute credit to them."
Nutrien conducted the sale with Mr Miller and Gordon Wood the auctioneers.
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