The Angus breed's dominance of the state's beef industry was on show in SA Angus Week with more than $9 million splurged on new sires.
But it was also the first time in more than a decade that some bull sale averages year on year had come back by as much as $2000-$3000, largely driven by plummeting beef returns in 2023.
Of the 1028 Angus bulls offered at 19 SA auctions or online sales in the past fortnight, 918 sold for a $10,109 average.
Unsurprisingly the clearance rate was also back on last year when 1043 of 1096 bulls averaged $12,306.
Bulls sold to nearly every state in Australia.
Their Lot 3, Nampara Powershift T134, sold to Hewitt Agribusiness, Brisbane, Qld for its bull breeding program. They were also the underbidder on last year's $67,500 sale topper.
Stuart Hann said the support from their SA and Vic commercial clients was "very humbling", especially the willingness of many to retain similar budgets to 2023 for their picks.
"The average could have been 25 to 30 per cent better than we thought it would be in an ordinary season, which Nampara has felt the effects of too," he said.
"We had a pretty ordinary (first-cross) ewe sale and the (pregnancy-tested in-calf) heifer sale wasn't looking either but luckily the market had started to turn by then."
He said they were pleased with the direction of their breeding program, producing Angus bulls with a "bit more frame while retaining muscle expression".
"We latched onto a bull (Atahua) Freedom who gave us Liberty L21, which bred us last year's top price bull and for the past two years we have had (Texas) Powershift sons average about $20,000," he said.
Mr Hann said it was difficult to measure the impact of their showring success at both Melbourne and Adelaide Royals, but said it "was starting to work".
One of Angus Week's first sales, Yerwal Estate was one of the strongest and included the second highest price paid of $53,000.
Stud co-principal Regan Burow said it was "a lot stronger" than he thought it would be and he was blown away with the price - smashing their $15,000 best price for an Angus previously.
"We had a number of new buyers come through from near and far that had never been and seen our cattle, which is a credit to Connie (Burow) and the marketing she has been doing," he said.
He said it was great to see some of their outcross genetics click with their herd.
"It is fantastic to see the decisions that we are making with our genetics are really starting to hit the mark on both type and data, being able to produce cattle with both is not an easy thing," he said.
Also memorable in SA Angus Week was the Nickolls family, Bull Oak Well stud, Pinnaroo, setting a $40,000 record at their newly purchased Willalooka sale complex, The Basin.
Nutrien SA stud stock manager Gordon Wood said it had been another successful Angus Week.
"In SA we don't seem to be able to quite get to the $150,000 to $200,000 prices paid for bulls in the eastern states but we still saw some strong prices at the top end," he said.
"The success was how consistent many of the sales were with a lot of bulls making $8000 to $11,000 - it is a good price for both the buyers and those selling bulls."
Mr Wood said pastoralists had been active buyers and bid on even more bulls.
"Often if no one else is bidding, people start second guessing their choice so that quick bid to start things off gets bidding under way," he said.
He also noted a few "savvy" buyers had bought additional bulls in the belief they could be dearer in 2025.
