DEMAND for new outcross genetics help drive prices to a $32,000 sale high during the Simmental Australia National Sale hosted online via AuctionsPlus last Friday
In total 10 of 18 bulls were sold to the sale top of $32,000 and an average of $12,400, while three of four females sold for $4000 each.
Queensland-based buyers Ticoba Simbrahs, Mundubbera, bought the sale-topper in Hobbs Livestock Red Royal, account of Stuart and Kylie Hobbs, Hobbs Livestock, Molong.
The 20-month-old was by NUG Royal Red 324A and from Hobbs Livestock Red Party Girls P5, and had been sashed the junior champion bull of the 2022 Sydney Royal Simmental feature show in April.
Matt Kirk of Ticoba said it was a combination of structural correctness and new genetics which drew him to the elite sire prospect.
"He was a very good package - structurally he is very correct, and his pedigree is something that I don't have... in the red Simmental world it can get very condensed at the quality end," he said.
"He is a complete outcross to anything I have got."
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Running probably 300 commercial Simbrah breeders in single sire paddocks, Mr Kirk said Red Royal will be used in single sire joining.
"We won't look to use him until the spring... and will probably use him as a clean up bull in an AI [artificial insemination] program then he will get a full paddock of 50 cows. This will give us a chance to see what he is producing," he said.
"We probably will look to collect semen, and the owners (Hobbs Livestock) have retained 100 straws of semen so that in itself gives us confidence that he is good enough for them to keep."
In total Hobbs Livestock sold five of six bulls at a hefty $17,400 average.
Ticoba also secured the $18,000 second-top priced bull, Hobbs Livestock Summit S9, also from the Hobbs Livestock operation.
"He is a heterozygous black bull, so we can put him with red cows and there is a strong chance he will through red calves," Mr Kirk said.
"Again he is an outcross, we were looking for something new with a bit of frame - he is young but looks like he will have a bit of growth, with tremendous length.
"It is probably the first black bull we have bought, but we need a number of bulls so I wasn't going to miss him especially being a hetero-black bull."
Ticoba rounded out their purchases with LNA Livestock Shake & Bake S007 bought for $5000 from Luke and Natasha Adams, LNA Livestock, Glossodia. Across the three they paid an average of $18,333.
"He looked like a good commercial bull to me, and he was far too cheap to leave him there," Mr Kirk said.
Three females sold for the top price of $4000 including: LNA Livestock Maternal from the LNA stud which was bought by Janet Newlands Eden Hills Simmentals, Pilton, Qld. Ms Newlands also paid $5000 for LNA Livestock Schooner S009 from the same stall.
Knockando Black Sapphire offered by Stephen and Robyn Vivian, Cowirra, SA, and Bywong Park Beauty R003 from Sandra Lang-Schilg, Bywong stud, Burrumbuttock, were both also bought for $4000 by Longview Agriculture Pty Ltd, Barrabool, Vic.
A sole semen package of 10 straws of the $69,000(CAD) new Canadian sire MRL Playmaker 36G sold for $160 a straw to IE and JC Chappel, Vic account of Savannah Cattle Co, Myponga, SA.
Genetic packages were in demand with all five embryo lots sold to average $1110 an embryo.
The $2150/embryo top-priced lot was four embryos from donor female Davannah Dharma M015 sired by MRL Playmaker 36G which was purchased by a buyer through Hourn and Bishop Qld, Moura.
Western Australian buyer Thomas Spencer of Spencer Cattle Co, Muchea, was active in the embryo lots securing a package of four embryos from the 2022 Royal Canberra Show supreme Simmental exhibit, Summit Charisma Q1, sired by Springcreek Lotto 52Y for $850/embryo. They were offered by Arthur Green of Summit stud, Uranquinty.
A flush in Savannah Zoe P043, a daughter of Savannah Jon Bon Jovi and Savannah Zoe M08, was sold for $6250 to a Queensland buyer through Hourn and Bishop Qld.
Two belt buckles for $2600 and $2625 to Domall Pty Ltd, Moss Vale, and Adam Sciberras of Country Style Simmentals, Eumungerie, respectively.
John Settree of selling agents Nutrien stud stock, Dubbo, said demand was certainly there for new outcross genetics, and vendors that offered live and genetics packages offering that were rewarded.
"The vendors that presented their stock well, and promoted and marketed themselves and their stock - for example Hobbs Livestock and GB Livestock hosted a field day where people went and saw the cattle - were rewarded for it," he said.
