THE first son of Australia's number-one sire Ardrossan Equator A241 achieved the $12,000 top price at Glatz's Black Angus stud's Cattleman's Bull Sale.
But it was the strength of the maternal genetics which convinced the buyers to go the distance for the bull Black Angus Equator A241 H11. His mother and grandmother are highly regarded matrons in the herd and have bred well.
Malcolm and Breda Cash, Dollar Angus stud, Casterton, Vic, had inspected both these females and some half-sisters recently while doing their homework on a new stud sire.
Unable to be there on sale day the Cashs bid over the phone for Lot 4 through Landmark's Albury, NSW, seedstock auctioneer Kevin Norris.
"The maternal power of the cow added to the value of the bull," he said. "It is often overlooked but the female genetics are terribly important to breeding consistently good cattle."
At 920 kilograms at 22.5 months of age the sale-topper was one of the heaviest bulls in the draft and had tremendous shape and length.
With his sire, Equator A241 a Breedplan trait leader for growth it was no surprise the bull was in the top 5 per cent of the breed with 200-day weight +50, 400-day weight +91 and 600-day weight +118.
Interest has been shown to export his semen.
The second-top-price bull at $10,500 was also sold for stud duties, going to Neil Engler, Bengalee, Penola. Black Angus Dreamer H88 was by a homebred Black Angus sire but had four of Australia's elite cow families in his pedigree.
The Baker Group, Furner, was the underbidder on the $12,000 and $10,500 bulls.
In a very satisfying result Ben and Samantha Glatz sold 57 of their 64 March/June 2012-drop bulls for a $4360 average - a jump of $400 on the 2013 sale result, with two more bulls sold at auction.
A noticeable feature was the consistency of the offering and good presentation of the bulls.
There was a wealth of genetics including the first sons of United States sire Connealy Final Product to be offered in Australia. They sold to $6000.
A few intermittent showers failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the large crowd with 53 registered bidders packing the stands. They were spread over a wide geographical area from the Adelaide Hills, Mid North and South East to many parts of Vic.
* Full report in Stock Journal, February 27, 2014 issue.