THE breed's loyal supporters ensured there was plenty to celebrate last week in the 70th year that Shorthorn bulls have been sold in a Naracoorte sale with a strong average and new $42,000 sale record.
The multi-vendor sale has seen several changes in its history from an all breeds sale at the now demolished old railway yards, to a show and sale at the Naracoorte showgrounds, to its current location as an unled sale at the Pathfinder sale complex.
The seven SA, Vic and NSW vendors sold 40 of 42 bulls for a credible $11,050 average to four states and the NT.
Many buyers in the large crowd were from the same families that have been buying for generations.
The first few lots were some of the best buying with buyers taking a while to warm up but the champagne moment came when lot 19, Ronelle Park Sparrow offered by Janelle Johnstone, Lyndhurst, NSW sold for $42,000.
This eclipsed the previous sale high of $35,000 paid in 2022.
This year's sale topper was one of the youngest bulls in the catalogue. The August 2021 drop- was a son of Southern Cross Lonestar and out of Southcote Murial L52.
The 874kg bull's scan data included an eye muscle area of 121 square centimetres and 10mm rump and 7mm rib fat.
The successful buyers were the Thompson family, Bayview stud, Yorketown who had been looking for a new stud sire and couldn't go past Sparrow.
"He is the right maturity pattern for us with beautiful balance and lovely sire appeal which will be very advantageous to our program," he said.
"Figures wise he had what we are chasing hard which is marbling and fat cover and his API $ data of 122.88 (top 15pc)."
Mr Thompson believes Sparrow will end up being a "cheap investment" when his progeny drop.
"We are in a position with our genetics now that if we find a bull that suits phenotypically and the data set is right we just want to buy the bull," he said.
The bull will be used over a couple of embryo donor females and later in the year will be mated with a cross section of Bayview's stud herd.
Mrs Johnstone and her son Trent(who runs Trojon stud also at Lyndhurst) were ecstatic with the result.
"We thought about using him ourselves but he was just too closely related to a lot of females so we thought we would bring a good one down here," he said.
"He has gone to a good home, they have bought from us before and it has worked really well for them over the years."
Ronelle Park also topped the vendor averages with its five bulls averaging $16,400.
The sale's longest continuous vendor, Matt and Toni Ashby and family, Bundaleer stud, Gulnare, had the second highest price bull with lot 25, Bundaleer Sinclair S12 making $24,000.
It was bought by the Roche family, Frankland River Grazing, Frankland River, WA, with Nutrien stud stock manager Gordon Wood doing the bidding.
The 842kg Yamburgan Gigabytes son was in the top 3pc on marbling and top 10pc for fat on the SGI figures.
Bundaleer's six bulls averaged $15,500.
Ron, Jenny, Paul and Alison Pridham, Nentoura stud, Frances, also had a strong sale with their six bulls topping at $16,000 twice and averaging $10,800.
The Williamson family, Caskieben stud, Carisbrook, Vic, had the largest offering. Ten of their 12 bulls sold to $15,000 and averaged $9700.
Fellow Vic vendors the Brook family, Eloora stud, Bulart, averaged $8375 for their eight bulls, including three bulls at $10,000, while Peter Mills, Wynyard stud, Northwood, Vic, sold his four bulls for a $6500 average.
Trojon stud sold their two lots for $8000 and $15,000.
Underpinning the sale's success was a volume order from Mulga Park Pastoral, via Alice Springs, NT, who secured seven bulls at $6000 each.
The South East remains a heartland for Shorthorns and many bulls stayed locally including GM Butler & Sons, Lochaber with three bulls to an $18,000 high and $13,333 average.
Nutrien stud stock's Richard Miller - who was the sale auctioneer - commended the seven vendors on their high quality offerings.
"Every vendor put up a pretty consistent run of bulls and you could see they were even in type in what they were trying to do," he said.
"There was some maturity pattern differences within the stud breeders but there were low birthweight heifer bulls and genuine cow bulls that ticked all the boxes."
He said the top end competition was very strong but said there were opportunities for all 42 registered bidders in the gallery, plus the 44 bidders who logged in on AuctionsPlus.
He also noted that the breed had come a long way in seven decades.
"They were fairly small early maturing cattle 70 years ago but now Shorthorn cattle are renowned for being some of the higher growth British Breed cattle and are predictable cattle that suit all markets," he said.
"You can do the bullock job with them and they feed very well in the Thousand Guineas (JBS brand) feedlot programs - the people that have been with them have stuck with them."
Sale coordinator Rosemary Miller was extremely proud that the Naracoorte sale had reached 70 years.
"It is even more special when the sale continues so successfully being the only multi vendor sale in SA," she said.
"It was a very exciting day for the Shorthorn breed to see the sale barn packed as many more producers are recognising the attributes and financial benefit of the breed."
Elders and Nutrien were joint selling agents.
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