BELMORE stud principals Andy and Sally Withers may be celebrating their 50th year breeding stud Shorthorn cattle but it was their loyal clients who received the gifts at the stud's ninth annual bull sale.
On Thursday, the penultimate SA bull sale for the season, held at the Stoney Point sale complex near Naracoorte, produced some tremendous value buying through the catalogue.
In the breakdown, 31 bulls sold of 46 offered to a $20,000 high and averaged $8709, with more than a third of these selling at the $5000 upset price.
The clearance rate improved soon after the auction with another five bulls sold.
In previous years the Withers family have had a couple of guest vendors at their sale but this year Belmore bulls made up the entire offering.
It was fitting a Belmore client of more than 30 years, Tom Butler, GM Butler & Sons, Lochaber, secured the $20,000 sale topper, Belmore Tremain R110 at lot 1.
The 21 month old was the heaviest bull in the catalogue at 916 kilograms and described by Mr Withers as a "beautifully balanced bull".
Tremain had an eye muscle area of 129 square centimetres and also had an impressive balance of EPD figures ranking in the top 1 per cent of the breed for weaning weight, yearling weight and mature weight and top 3pc for rib eye area.
The sale topper was one of seven sons of Royalla Tremain M260- the 2018 Dubbo National Show & sale champion which Belmore purchased in partnership with Morton Shorthorns, New Zealand for $40,000- in the sale.
Several lots later at lot 4, Mr Butler and his agent, Elders Naracoorte's Alan Thomson- paid the second highest price of $19,000 for Belmore Gigabytes R165, a son of Yamburgan Gigabytes M1052.
Also 21 months old, the 878kg bull had an outstanding raw eye muscle area of 140cm2.
Many of the bids during the sale came from AuctionsPlus including the Greenfield family, Billa Kalina Station via Port Augusta who led the volume buyers with six bulls to $10,000 twice for a $6667 average.
Thirteen buyers went home with one or two bulls while Hillcrest Pastoral Company, Avenue Range, bought three bulls to $14,000 for a $11,667 average.
Mr Withers was pleased to see every bull sell to repeat clients- one as long as 45 years- and bulls heading as far afield as Toowoomba and Emerald in Qld.
"It was a bit disappointing to pass in quite so many young bulls, they were good solid bulls but the top end sold well... the beef industry is in wonderful shape," he said.
In October last year the stud relocated from Exmoor, its home for more than 40 years.
Mr Withers said this had presented some challenges preparing the bulls with only limited yard facilities at their new bull raising property, Little Belmore.
"They have only been fed a supplementary ration since the 9th of January but they are ready to work," he said.
Elders auctioneer and stud stock manager Tony Wetherall said the lacklustre demand did not reflect the high quality of the catalogue.
"The genetic stability of the bulls and evenness of the types shows they (Belmore) have been breeding and doing a good job using top genetics for a long time," he said.
Elders and Nutrien were joint selling agents.
RICH HISTORY CREATES STRONG FOUNDATION FOR BELMORE
For Andy Withers the connection with Shorthorn cattle runs deep with his family running them commercially in the western Division of NSW for five generations.
But it was in late 1971 Mr Withers began his foray into stud cattle with the purchase of three cows and heifer calves at foot from his uncle Edwin Withers at Nalpa Station, Strathalbyn.
They were added to 36 cows registered through the breed's SFA system from their commercial herd.
For the first eight years the stud was based at Belmore Station, about 100 kilometres north west of Wentworth, NSW, but in 1979 Mr Withers and his wife Sally sold the station and relocated to Exmoor at Naracoorte where the stud remained for 42 years until last year.
Over the years Belmore's genetics have been used widely herds across Australia and semen has been exported to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.
The stud has sold many high priced bulls including $42,000 high paid for Belmore Oregon L35 in 2017.
"The Shorthorn breed has some wonderful traits, excellent growth, brilliant meat quality and quiet, easy care cattle and generally they have been very easy to sell ove the years," he said.
"There are multiple people at the processing end that want Shorthorn cattle."
Mr Withers said he had been given some wonderful encouragement in his early years from other stud breeders including the late Don Barkley from Newbold stud, Gawler River and the late Tom Ashby from Bundaleer stud, Gulnare, along with Lionel Manchee from Yamburgan stud, Narrabri, NSW.
The biggest stud breeding highlight for Mr Withers was when Belmore Washington N6, won interbreed champion bull at the 1992 Royal Melbourne Show.
"It was the first time a junior bull of any breed had ever won it," he said.
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