Red hot prices at Little Meadows sale

A top line-up of young Angus bulls, a growing client list and continued strong signals in the beef industry all combined to push all the important sale figures skywards.

A long list of old and new buyers competed vigorously on the extremely even line-up of bulls to push prices to a high of $14,000 and in addition to the top-priced bull another two bulls sold for $10,000 or more.

With the registered buying list going well beyond last year's 32 buyers before the sale conducted by Delaney Livestock Services and Landmark commenced, the writing was on the wall for an extremely positive sale for the Golding family and this was certainly the case when the final numbers were crunched.

Selling at the sale for the first time Glasser Total Sales Management auctioneer Miles Pfitzner had no trouble drawing bids from the list of 59 new and old registered buyers to push prices to the $14,000 high and help lift the average by $2231 and the gross by $117,000 on last year.

All 40 bulls offered in the sale sold for an average of $6863, in comparison to last year when the stud offered 40 bulls and sold 34 for an average of $4632.

As part of the catalogue the Goldings offered 14 bulls aged 17-19 months and they were really the strength of the sale and sold to exceptional values.

These 14 sires averaged $6643 and topped at $8250.

Of the 59 registered buyers a total of 29 purchased bulls meaning many went home empty handed and of these 29 buyers, 13 were new buyers to the stud.

Mr Pfitzner said overall it was a very strong sale which was solid throughout.

"The final result was a reflection of the bulls on offer, they presented extremely well and were a credit to the Golding family," Mr Pfitzner said.

"Not only was the presentation great there was also a good range of genetics from across Australia to choose from.

"Close to a third of the catalogue was made up of bulls in the 17-19mo age bracket and these sold extremely well if not a bit dearer in comparison to the older sires.

"Another pleasing aspect was the strong interest from the Eastern States which is a good indication the Goldings must be doing something right with their breeding program."

With more registered buyers than bulls on offer, the sale was fast and furious throughout and buyers knew they had to dig deep if they wanted their first choices.

This was certainly evident when Little Meadows King Kong K47 entered the ring in lot four.

After some sustained head nodding and eye winking from around the ring, the upstanding sire, with plenty of thickness and growth, was knocked down to return buyers Wally Holland and son Kenny, W & LM Holland, Mayanup.

The classy bull, which was described in the catalogue as structurally faultless, was by Little Meadows Cohen C75 and out of the stud's top cow Little Meadows Edwina D4 (an Ardrossan Direction W109 daughter).

Not only did the bull impress on the eye it also had the EBVs to match with figures of +52, +87 and +119 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, +11 milk, +111 mature cow weight, + 71 carcase weight, +5.4 EMA, +0.6 rib fat, +1.1 rump fat, +0.5 retail beef yield and +1.5 IMF, which ranked it in the top 5-10pc for all growth traits and carcase weight.

It had indexes of +$106 Angus breeding, +96 domestic, +108 heavy grain and +$104 heavy grass.

Wally Holland said he liked everything about King Kong K47 and described it as the perfect little package.

"He is nice solid bull with a great hindquarter - he's like a little wombat," Mr Holland said.

"He also had a handy set of figures as well."

The Hollands, who currently run 100 pure Angus breeders and are looking to increase this number to 130 head in the next few years, will use the bull to breed replacement females.

When it comes to marketing their calves this year the Hollands sold a line of 33 steers at an average of $1275 a head into Landmark's live export order to Russia in January.

The operation's remaining steer calves, which were outside the weight range for the order, and surplus heifer calves will be sold to a feedlot in coming weeks.

The second top price in the sale was $12,500 and it was Fernwood Knight K7 in lot five which commanded this price after return buyer Wes Graham, WJ & FJ Graham, Dalyup, sent in the final bid at this value.

The big, thick, growthy Knight K7 was by Little Meadows Elgin E4, which was the top-priced bull at the stud's 2011 sale.

It had the EBVs of +48, +86 and +119 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, +17 milk, +102 mature cow weight, +69 carcase weight, +4.2 EMA, -0.7 rib fat, -1.0 rump fat, +0.7 retail beef yield and +1.5 IMF, ranking it in the top 10pc for 600-day weight and carcase weight and top 15pc for 200 and 400-day weights.

It had indexes of +$105 Angus breeding, +97 domestic, +109 heavy grain and +$104 heavy grass.

Mr Graham, who has been buying bulls from the stud for close to 20 years, said Knight was a very nice, correct, growthy bull.

"His main attraction was his skin, it is beautiful and has a real glossy finish which is a trait I look for," Mr Graham said.

"He also has above average growth.

"I was losing bidder on his sire in 2011, so I was keen to get hold of him, as his sire has been throwing good calves alround the place and they are the type that appeal to me."

Mr Graham runs 1800 breeders and retains the majority of his heifers as replacements while his steer calves go to a feedlot and have been going through the Coles Finest program with great success.

The third bull to sell for double figures was Fernwood Kapri K3 in lot three when it was knocked down at $10,000 to regular Little Meadows buyers Brad and Michael Telini, G & RM Telini, Dardanup, who run 450 breeders comprising of pure Angus cows and Angus-Limousin cross cows.

Brad Telini said it was the first time they had ever paid this value for a bull but were more than happy to for this sire.

"Our agent Mal Barrett, Elders Boyanup, had inspected the bulls prior to the sale and believed this bull was the best bull in the catalogue and on inspection we agreed," Mr Telini said.

"He is a stylish bull with good growth, fats and EMA and his docility is exceptional.

"He is also a different bloodline for us which was something we were chasing."

The bull will be used over Angus heifers in the operation to breed replacement females.

Knight had EBVs of +38, +69 and +90 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, +15 milk, +82 mature cow weight, +54 carcase weight, +5.1 EMA, -1.0 rib fat, -1.3 rump fat, +1.1 retail beef yield and +1.0 IMF.

The operation turns its steers off as trade or export cattle, while any excess heifers not kept as replacements are sold as weaners.

Just shy of the $10,000 mark was Little Meadows Killarney K3 when it was purchased at $9750 by Matt and Quita Hannay, The Hill Angus stud, Glenn Innes, New South Wales.

Mr Hannay said they came over to WA in mid-January looking for a growthy sire and a heifer mating bull for their stud.

"We visited seven Angus studs on the trip and picked out the Little Meadows sire as we believed he would be a good heifer bull and would fit into our breeding program," Mr Hannay said.

"He has a good balance of EBVs, very good conformation, excellent muscling and a strong maternal pedigree."

The AI-bred son of Carabar Docklands D62 had EBVs of +46, +89 and +115 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, +17 milk, +65 carcase weight, +4.8 EMA, +1 rib fat, +1.4 rump fat and +1 IMF.

The Hannays are no strangers to WA genetics as they have used them for a number of years in their stud.

"The cattle out of WA just have more bone, constitution and growth," Mr Hannay said.

"Constantly our better performing cattle are the ones out of our WA blood females."

Regular buyers the Hough family, 5HP Grazing, Esperance and Owen Hopkins, HM & OE Hopkins, Busselton, were the volume buyers in the sale, both taking home three bulls each.

Mr Hopkins averaged $7000 across his team of three and paid to a high of $8000 for Little Kracker K46.

Kracker K46 was by Little Meadows Full Throtle F18 and had EBVs of +50, +85 and +107 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, +68 carcase weight, +4.5 EMA, +1.2 rib fat, +2.0 rump fat and +1.5 IMF.

The Hough family averaged $6250 and paid to a top of $7000 for a Little Meadows Hamersely H17 son which had growth EBVs of +48, +86 and +105 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.

Denmark producers RT & ME Cyster bid up early in the sale and paid $8250 for a May 2014-drop Full Throtle son, while Willow Hills Farm, Burekup and Treeton Lake, Cowaramup, both paid $7750 for single selections.

The top price in the younger bulls was $8250 for Little Meadows Kingswood K107 when it was secured by Lincoln Downs, Boyup Brook.

The September 2014-drop calf was a son of Full Throtle and growth EBVs of +48, + 85 +107 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.

The operation also paid $8000 for a May 2014-drop Full Throtle son early in the catalogue

Vasse producers PH & JJ Leiper also took a liking to the young bulls in the catalogue and purchased two at $6000, while JP Giumelli, Dardanup, also secured two young bulls at an average of $5875.

Others to purchase two bulls in the sale were G & S Batley, Busselton ($6750 average); Paul Thompson, Boyup Brook ($5750); Tomlinson Ag, Kalgan ($5625) and Dwalganup Grazing, Boyup Brook ($5250).