Mandayen Limo sells at $42k

The success also continued in the Angus breed, reaching $40,000 for Lot 40.

The stud sold 35 from 37 Limousin bulls, to an average of $12,857 and a gross of almost $450,000, while 68 from 70 Angus bulls on offer were sold to an average of $14,382 and a gross just shy of $980,000 with the sale finishing at a staggering $1,427,971.

This was up from 2021's Limousin top price of $18,000 and average of $11,290 and Angus top of $26,000 and average of $10,465.

The top price bull for the Limousins was Mandayen Kingmaker R65 - a son of Oakleigh Kingmaker K5 and out of Mandayen Nicky's Prize K41.

It was bought by Mount Pleasant Limousins, Forbes, NSW, for $42,000.

The bull had estimated breeding values of +30 for 200-day weight, +51 for 400-day weight and +74 for 600-day weight, which were all in the top 5 per cent for the breed, while its scrotal size of of +0.2 was in the top 1pc.

It also scored +1.6 for eye muscle area and +0.2 for rib fat.

Mandayen retained a 25pc semen share for in-herd use.

Topping the Angus bulls was Mandayen Paratrooper R477, sired by NMMP15 Millah Murrah Paratrooper P15 and out of MANL437 Mandayen Abigail L437 - with it bought by by McCarthy Livestock, Luncindale.

Its figures showed great calving ease and growth, with an eye muscle area of +6.8, an intramuscular fat score of +2.0 and a rib fat score of +0.7.

The bull showed estimated breeding values of +53 for 200-day weight, +97 for 400-day weight and +123 for 600-day weight.

Mandayen also retained a 25pc semen share for in-herd use.

Jack Whitty, Mount Pleasant Limousins, Forbes, said he and his parents and fellow stud principals - Sherrie and Luke Whitty - were pleased to take home the top price Limousin.

"He is everything we're looking for going forward in our stud," he said.

"We were definitely chasing a homo polled and homo black bull and he ticked all the boxes both on and off paper.

"We also had our eye on Lot 18, who I thought was a really good bull as well and potentially a stud sire prospect, but when we got here and had a look at the bulls phenotypically I thought Lot 2 had that little extra. He was more of a traditional type of Limousin and was exhibiting a good muscle pattern."

Although they were not expecting to spend $42,000 at the sale, Mr Whitty said the bull was worth the money.

"At the end of the day, when you get to your limit and you're nearly there, you're better off to pay a little extra to get the animal that's going to improve your program as quick as possible than miss out," he said.

"And that's what we think this bull is going to do for our herd at Mount Pleasant.

"We're definitely going to use him in-herd, most probably over our predominant cow herd and then we will push him as an AI sire potentially as well and try and sell a fair few straws privately."

In just their second time buying from the stud, Mr Whitty said he thought Mandayen was one of the best Limousin studs in the country and had kept a keen eye on the stud throughout the past 12 months.

"We bought Mandayen Titus back in 2013," he said.

"He was the second highest price bull from Damian and I think we paid $13,000 back then.

"He was probably one of the best sires we've ever used and left a real mark on our herd.

"We're just really happy with the direction Damian's bringing his cattle - he's probably been at the forefront of Limousin genetics and has a big focus on docility which is a lot like our herd at Mount Pleasant.

"That's why we've sort of stuck with his genetics in a way and we've come back again this year for the top bull."

Stud principals Damian and Mandy Gommers said they were over the moon with the day's result.

"We know the beef industry is in a good spot," Mr Gommers said.

"To average what we did in Limousins and the Angus bulls today was really good and get a really good top price bulls in both we're over the moon."

Looking ahead for the stud, Mr Gommers said he had new sires, bought two years ago, with calves that were setting new benchmarks.

"We've also been focusing on data," he said.

"We've got some really good bulls with some really good data, which people are starting to chase not just phenotype data as well.

"Hopefully in the next few years we'll put all of that together."

With an unconfirmed Australian price record for Limousins reached during the sale, Mr Gommers said it cemented his clientele's confidence in the stud.

"If it's an Australian record we're over the moon to have that title," he said.

"But more importantly I think it shows confidence in our program.

"We've got a very loyal clientele who have been with us for a long time.

"We had a lot of repeat buyers this year but also a lot of new Angus clients as well which shows that I think."

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Speaking on behalf of top price Angus buyers, McCarthy Livestock, Ronnie Dix, Elders Lucindale, said Mandayen had exactly what they were looking for.

"We're looking for predominately heifer bulls when we came here with low birth weight and high growth," he said.

"Bulls with low birth and high growth are sort of 20 to 25 or 26 thousand anyway, so we saw it as an opportunity up here with his genetics to buy a couple of stud bulls and we would look to milk them and AI all of our heifers this year.

"So instead of getting 30 or 40 good heifer calves out of both of them, we should end up with 200 or 300.

"We're not spending a hell of a lot more to get a stud bull and we'll get a genetic improve straight away.

"We only hold cattle for eight or nine months of age so it's pretty key we get as much growth as we can in that time."

Spence Dix & Co auctioneer Jono Spence said Mandayen's Limousin program was well regarded nationwide for docility, carcase merit and softness.

"We had a lot of bidding on AuctionsPlus and people on phones from literally all over Australia on the Limousins because people are wanting those stud bulls and we saw a lot of repeat buyers including a couple that have probably bought bulls here for over 20 years," he said.

"In the Limousins the bulls that were most popular were homozygous polled and homozygous black.

"In the Angus, I think buyers were looking for softness and carcase merit, but also, calving ease and curve bending growth.

"Damian has invested a hell of a lot of money into cows and cow families.

"He has gone and found the very best cow, for example the Coolana Nightingale cow or some of those Millah Murrah cows like the Prue cow family.

"He's invested in them and he has bred up from them and from those he's added the more performance and data orientated sires.

"He's really looking at the cattle rather than just breeding them on the data.

"Damian is very gifted cattleman, and he will continue to improve the data set and I think this stud will continue to gain popularity."

Auction duties were shared by Mr Spence and Elders Vic Stud Stock manager Ross Milne.

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