Southern Charolais Breeders Group sale
27 of 31 bulls sold to $10,000 (twice), av $4426
Gippsland buyers returned as a force at the 14th Southern Charolais Breeders Group sale yesterday (Wednesday) and helped boost both the clearance rate and prices achieved.
Overall, 27 of 31 the bulls offered sold to $10,000 (twice) and averaged $4426, which event chairman Ken Manton, Clarinda Charolais, Hansonville, said was about $1000 on last year’s average.
One East Gippsland buyer bought the first of the equal top-priced Charolais bulls. Peter and Helen Bowman, Wulgulmerang, fended of heated bidding to secure Lot 2, Waterford Ka Boom (AI) (P), offered by Deborah and Sapphire Halliday, Mount Macedon.
Ka Boom looked every part the show cow, with impressive size, muscle and softness. The April 2014-drop bull’s weight of 908 kilograms and eye muscle area (EMA) scan of 138 square centimetres were both the biggest figures of the sale catalogue.
Sapphire said Ka Boom was on Waterford’s 204 show cow and he had consistently out-weighed his litter mates by 50-150kg. He was grand champion Charolais at the Royal Melbourne Show at 16 months – when his EMA scanned 135sqcm, which she said was the same as most two year-old bulls.
She said those attributes were combined with a terrific structure and topline, and he was out of one of the stud’s top cow lines Wildflower, which has longevity, fertility and good milk.
Mr Bowman said he wanted good and quiet stock, and Ka Boom fit the bill. The family’s herd of about 200 head includes Angus, Hereford, Charolais and a few South Devons, and Mr Bowman said the Charolais bull he had at home had worked very well in their operation. He also breeds his own bulls to use in the operation, and the family purchased two Waterford females at the sale.
He sells young stock at the Hinnomunjie weaner sale each year and fat cattle at Bairnsdale.
The other bull to reach $10,000 was Lot 27, Chenu Klassy (P), which was knocked down to Peter Fogden, Boulview Charolais stud, Loxton, South Australia.
Mr Fogden said his sole purchase of the sale was for his teenage children, who were continuing the stud their grandparents had started. The stud has 40 breeding cows and the family has sold all the bulls on offer this year.
The return Chenu client was impressed by the September 2014-drop bull’s full polled status, good depth and muscle pattern. The Chenu Guiness son had the highest weight and EMA of the four bulls Chenu offered. It weighed 788kg and had an EMA of 129sqcm.
“He’s been a stand-out calf the whole way through,” Bec Keely, Chenu Charolais, Bridgewater, said.
“He’s always had great muscle, temperament and conformation.”
Mr Fogden said the bull would be used in the children’s stud and in the past they had used Charolais over Santa Gertrudis and Red Angus for vealers to be sold to feedlots.
Mr Manton said the bulls sold very well and the relocation of the sale to the Yea saleyards for the first time this year had worked very well.
He said there was confidence in the beef industry and a growing appreciation for the Charolais breed and all that it could bring to cross-breeding operations.
He said about half of the bulls went to Gippsland producers, including many with vealer operations, and the rest went into SA and the north and north-east of Victoria.
The biggest volume buyer Glenshiel Pastoral Company was from Gippsland’s Butchers Ridge. They purchased five bulls to $4500 twice, av $4000. With three bulls each were J&M Polkington through Leongatha, av $3667; and account Broderick, Yea, av $3500.
Demand eased for the females, with 11 of 15 sold to $3750, av $2627. The top-pried female was 2013-drop cow Airlie Luna J661E (P), which had been Aid to LT Ledger last October.
