The commercial offering in the third annual SA Charolais sale was met with good demand at the Strathalbyn saleyards on Friday, while it was a tougher day for stud sires.
Nine bulls were offered in the multi-vendor sale of which two sold at $9000 and $5000, both offered by Petar and Simone Bond, Blackstone Charolais, Meadows.
Blackstone Quartz Q82 made the top price in the sale, with good weight for age attracting the attention of a number of bidders.
An October 2019-drop, the AI-bred sire was the youngest in the catalogue, and had exceptional growth figures of +14 for 200-day weight, +34 for 400-day weight and +40 for 600-day weight, and was +14 for milk, +2.2 for scrotal size, +1.5 for eye muscle area, +2.5 for rib fat and +3.2 for rump fat.
The 810 kilogram sale-topper was knocked down to Michael and Julie Osborne, Ryeview Charolais, Millicent.
"When we pulled up yesterday for a quick look, Julie said "that one" the second we got here, as soon as we saw the bull," Mr Osborne said.
"It has really good figures, his weight in particular is impressive, and weight pays."
"He will be a great addition to our stud, and we may get a few Shorthorn cows to trial him commercially as well," Mr Osborne said.
This is the second year Blackstone Charolais have entered bulls into the sale, and while they acknowledge it was a "tough day", were pleased to sell both their sires.
The other sire, Blackstone Qantas Q78, weighed 780kg, sold at $5000, bought by Clint Endersby, Pro-Stock Livestock, bidding on behalf of a Fleurieu client,
The beef job is very strong at the moment and that's clearly what we saw commercially.
- GORDON WOOD
Online bidding from Princess Royal Station buoyed the commercial offering in the sale, with the Burra-based feedlot buying more than 20 commercial females and steers across seven lots.
All up, 11 commercial lots were offered, with only one lot passed in.
Top commercial price was made for one Simmental cow, 614kg, with a Simmental-Charolais October-drop calf at-foot, 229kg, offered by Scharwyn Charolais, Loxton, knocked down to Princess Royal at $3260.
Two Charolais cows with September/October-drop calves at-foot from the same vendor made $3230.
Nutrien stud stock auctioneer Gordon Wood was pleased with the commercial success at the sale, but said bidding "hit the wall" in the stud section.
"Leading up the the sale we had quite a bit of interest on the commercial females in particular, and even the weaner calves, the beef job is very strong at the moment and that's clearly what we saw commercially," he said.
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While the 2020 SA Charolais sale was cancelled due to seasonal conditions, Mr Wood said the 2021 commercial offering was the largest in the sale's short history.
"The commercial side is well and truly up for this sale, there was a good diverse offering from weaner steers through to mature cows and calves," he said.
"With the bull sale, we had a good number of buyer registrations, but most of then were here for the commercial lots.
"It was nice to hit (a sale top of) $9000, he was the pick bull of the day, with tremendous growth for age - he was a soft and easy-fleshing sort of bull, with good data behind him too."
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Claire Harris
Journalist at Stock Journal. Hailing from South East Queensland, Claire moved to SA at the start of 2019. She is passionate about agriculture, cooking, sport, and line dancing, and loves a good long road trip.
Journalist at Stock Journal. Hailing from South East Queensland, Claire moved to SA at the start of 2019. She is passionate about agriculture, cooking, sport, and line dancing, and loves a good long road trip.
