SA Angus Week 2020: Nampara muscles its way to magical $8577 average

In one of the pick sales of SA Angus Week, all 58 bulls offered by the Hann family averaged $8577 - up more than $1500 on 2019.

The average was the stud's second highest ever, only surpassed by 2017 which included the SA record priced Angus bull, Nampara Liberty L21, which made $85,000.

In this year's sale 17 bulls broke the $10,000 mark including the lot 2 sale topper which made $24,000.

The heaviest bull in the draft at 1060 kilograms- and one of the heaviest bulls on offer in SA Angus Week- Nampara Altitude P77, impressed many including buyer Greg Fisher, Clover Ridge, Marcollat.

The March-2018-drop was a son of Texas Mount K002 who also sired last year's sale topper.

Elders southern livestock manager Laryn Gogel said the eye-appealing bull would fit in well with Clover Ridge's large scale commercial herd.

"On the back of losing one of the Nampara sires that we bought here a few years ago through injury, K185, we needed a big bull to follow him up," he said.

"He is going to back up a program that has Nampara written all over it going over those K185 daughters.

"Most of Greg's cattle you see as weaners but he is well conscious that he has to keep the feedlotters and processors on the other end in mind. He is a bull that has growth and should be able to give you enough softness in his calves but carry it into what will be the next level of feeder steers to processing cattle."

Clover Ridge also bought the following lot, Nampara Western Express P136, for $16,000.

Buyer of the top price bull last year, Chris Schinckel, HB Schinckel & Son, Naracoorte, paid $16,000 for lot 4, Nampara Kingdom P210- a son of the $150,000 sire Millah Murrah Kingdom K35.

Kingdom P210 had been used over stud cows and had figures in the top five per cent for 200, 400 and 600 day weight.

The frenzied bidding continued into the bulls which had been used over Nampara's commercial females.

The majority of these 18 bulls were elevated in the catalogue after lot 4 and averaged $9806.

TFI Rural was the sale's volume buyer securing six bulls for a $8500 average, including a Texas Mount son at lot 31 for $12,500.

JF&EA Girke, Penola, secured four bulls for a $8500 high.

Western Vic buyers were also strong among the nearly 50 registered bidders including Lyndhurst Pastoral Company, Casterton, who secured four bulls to $8000, averaging $6500.

Nampara stud's Stuart Hann was very pleased with the result.

"We weren't really sure how the sale would go this year so we dropped back our numbers but kept the quality up and I think we were rewarded for that," he said.

He said the cattle market had" turned" in recent weeks on the back of widespread rain in the eastern states

Nampara sold pregnancy-tested-in calf commercial heifers at the Mount Gambier feature female sale earlier this week for an impressive $2233 average- at least $400 more than similar Angus females made at Naracoorte just a few weeks earlier.

"The bull job is really on a roll and our clients could see they will get good money for their next lot of calves with the 40 to 50c/kg rise in the job in the past couple of weeks so they weren't afraid to spend a bit more," Mr Hann said.

Elders auctioneer Ross Milne said it was a "good fair sale to suit all budgets".

"It was great to see good money at the top end, a lot of bulls made over $10,000, but in saying that as we moved through the draft there was good value from $4000 to $7000 - that is all you can really hope for in a sale," he said.

"The cattle have good muscle and they are good bodied, good deep cattle - that is what the Nampara program is all about."