ONE of the first sons of United States bull, Varilek Geddes 7068, to be offered at auction in Australia was the headline maker at Glatz's Black Angus stud's 15th annual Cattleman's bull sale on Wednesday at Avenue Range.
After strong pre-sale interest, the lot 17 bull, Black Angus Geddes R605, was elevated in sale order coming into the ring after lot 3.
After an opening bid of $20,000 the action quickly rose to the $38,000 sale high- a new stud record.
It sold to the Tiller family, Goolagong stud, Warnertown, who also purchased the highest priced bull at Glatz's bull sale in 2019.
Nutrient stud stock's Richard Miller, who assisted the stud in their selection, said the Tillers were looking for a sire with both exceptional phenotype and figures.
Geddes R605 had been a stand out.
"To have that low birth and really, really high calving ease all in the top 10 per cent of the breed lined up with top 10pc of growth, that is pretty unique," Mr Miller said.
"He was only a young bull, 18 months of age and pushing 800 kilograms so he is the right maturity pattern but the beauty is he is a bull that you can use over heifers or cows."
Mr Miller said Geddes R605, which was out of a Lawsons prefix dam, was also a very eye-appealing bull.
"Every time he pulls up he pulls up square and he gets his head up- that is important, you want to enjoy looking at the cattle that you breed," he said.
The sale featured some of the strongest stud buying for SA Angus week with three other bulls destined for stud duties in NSW, Qld and WA, but the sale's success was underpinned by buoyant commercial orders.
Two of the stud purchases were sons of Glenloch-JK Makahu, which the Glatz family bought in 2018 from Qld and which has bred some outstanding cattle.
The Laurie family, Knowla Livestock, Moppy, NSW secured lot 3, Black Angus Makahu R5, which Mr Glatz rated as the best Makahu son he had bred to date, for $28,000.
Hewitt Cattle Australia, which owns pastoral properties in Qld and NT, bought another impressive Makahu son in lot 6 for $26,000 for their bull breeding program.
After a massive nearly lift in average in 2021, Ben & Samantha Glatz and their sons Dylan and Jack, enjoyed another big rise while also offering and selling an extra 15 bulls.
Testament to the consistency of the offering they notched up a total clearance of their 74 bulls for a sensational $16,918 average- up $3257 on 2021's result.
Last year's top price buyers, BJ&DJ Pitt, Coonawarra, were back and secured lot 4, Black Angus Kiwi Jack R15, a son of New Zealand sire Storth Oaks Jack J7, for $30,000.
Several volume orders helped ensure a total clearance but the buyer taking home the most bulls was Nicolai Farms, Marcollat.
The first-time buyers bought nine bulls to establish a quality Angus herd at their Tresant property, Stewart Range, paying to $22,000 three times and averaging $18,555 for them.
Two long-time clients, Chesrex, Kingston SE and Wheal Farms, Thornlea, each put together seven bulls and paid to $18,000. They averaged $15,000 and $14,000 respectively for their buys.
Hill Waters Farms, Lake Mundi, Vic, also bought in the top end of the catalogue with four bulls averaging $19,750.
The draft featured 20 bulls from the Stoney Point stud, Meningie.
Stud principal Perry Gunner and manager Peter Colliver had generously offfered Mr Glatz a chance to select these in April last year and prepare them for the sale.
This helped boost Glatz's Black Angus offering after a large proportion of the stud herd was lost in the Blackford fire, including many 2020 drop calves.
Mr Glatz said the family was "extremely happy" with the sale result and were pleased to hold the it back on-property after moving to the Woonallee complex, Furner, in 2021 in the aftermath of the fire.
Having a large crowd in attendance back on our home turf, including 33 individual purchasers was particularly pleasing.
- BEN GLATZ
"Having a large crowd in attendance back on our home turf, including 33 individual purchasers was particularly pleasing," he said.
"Our long-term clients were very strong again with additional support from new interest on site and via AuctionsPlus.
"The beef industry is in great shape and our whole family were proud to share the day together with such a fantastic group of clients, agents and friends."
Nutrien SA stud stock manager and auctioneer Gordon Wood said it was "without a doubt" the best offering Glatz Black Angus had put up for sale.
"They have hit the real sweet spot with frame and carcase and of course the docility in these cattle is amazing and the data set was right," he said.
"In any sale at the moment there is a push towards that calving ease, relatively low birth weight with high growth and we saw those bulls were the ones buyers were after, especially anything that was high carcase weight and high eye muscle area with fats."
Nutrien Kingston SE conducted the sale.
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