Coolana Angus
*820 of 1046 female Angus lots, sold to $22,000, av $3276
AUSTRALIA’s largest ever Angus dispersal sale at Coolana, Chatsworth, produced a successful outcome for Mark, Anna, Max and Ben Gubbins and family.
Over last Thursday and Friday, 1046 lots went under the hammer, and 820 sold for an average of $3276. There were 184 registered bidders, plus more bidding through AuctionsPlus. Buyers were from every Australian state except WA.
The Coolana stud was established by Mark’s parents, John and Jenny, with Mark taking over in the mid-1980s. Since then, he and Anna grew the herd, with bull sales growing from a handful up to 285 last year. The stud still has one autumn and two spring bull sales to go.
Of the 17 top-performing cows selected by Coolana for their annual embryo transfer program, 16 sold, av $5844. They included the $22,000 top-priced female, Coolana Tearful G216. Damian Gommers, Mandayen stud, Keith, SA, bought the 2011-drop cow by Sitz New Design 458N and out of Witherswood Tearful X31.
The Branson family, Banquet Angus, Mortlake – fresh off their own bull sale that saw their bulls top at $52,000 for a youngster purchased in utero from Coolana’s 2015 female sale – bought Coolana Annabel F071 by Ardrossan Equator D19 for the second top price in this run of $12,000.
Both Mandayen and Banquet featured very prominently in the offering of PTIC autumn calving recipient females as well, collectively paying the $4500 top price five times.
Combined with the spring calving recipients offered later in the catalogue, 56 recipients av $3071.
In the autumn-calving females, all 78 cleared, av $4846, and a $12,000 top.
Mr Gommers also bought this section’s top-priced lot, Coolana Tearful G129 – a full ET sister to his later purchased top-priced donor cow. He also paid the second top of $11,000 for Coolana Nightingale K039.
The draft of spring calving cows extended over both sale days, and 459 of these 521 lots cleared to $10,000, av $3522. Sam King, Bowmont, Tatyoon – who dispersed his Hereford stud in February – purchased six of this draft including the $10,000 top-priced Coolana Tearful L108, a daughter of Sydgen Black Pearl.
The 319 heifer calves completed the live cattle offering. Ranging from mid-March to mid-October 2016 drop, they had a 60pc clearance rate and averaged $2049.
The older autumn drops were more sought after, with Coolana Nightingale M51 achieving the $9000 top heifer price. This Sydgen Black Pearl daughter was purchased by Peter Collins, Merridale Angus, Tennyson.
Corry’s Glen Angus at Bundook, NSW, purchased 30 of these heifers, taking their herd up to 120 head. They paid to $3500 five times, av $2217. Two semen packages in Booroomooka Bartel K274 and Bald Blair Debonair D34 will help build up their Angus herd.
Perry Gunner and Peter Colliver, Stoney Point Angus, SA, purchased 53 lots including 35 spring calving cows (av $4257) and 18 heifers (av $2083).
Alec Moore, Weeran Angus, Byaduk, accompanied by his manager Tim Wright, purchased 47 lots for their 640-cow herd, plus Mr Wright purchased 12 lots on his own account.
Mr Moore has worked with Mark Gubbins for 25 years and said the sale was a great opportunity to make use of the hard work he and Anna had put into the herd.
“We have sold off some under-performing stock and have now been able to replace them with top stock from the heart of the Coolana herd,” Mr Moore said.
Under guidance from cattle consultant Dick Whale, Rowley and Tracy Bennett, Fernhill Angus, Corowa, NSW, secured 46 lots. They paid $4500 each for two elite donor cows then paid to $6000 for 44 spring-calving cows.
“You get very few opportunities to attend a genuine dispersal sale such as this, so we decided we would get fair dinkum,” Mr Bennett said. Now about a third of their 300-cow herd is strongly influenced by Coolana bloodlines.
Mark Stoney bought 37 spring-calving cows for their 500-strong Angus herd at Sugarloaf Noms, Burnook.
Mr Gubbins said the four days of sales had been “...a huge undertaking by the whole team...and in the end, it is a huge relief.”
“We kept expectations very basic and in line with commercial reality and we’ve done a lot better than that. It is a very encouraging result and obviously we thank everyone who has supported us over the last four days and the last 40 plus years,” he said. “While it is the end of an era and the closing of a chapter in Coolana’s history, it is also the opening of another one for [our son] Max in what will now be a commercially run operation.”
Elders Mortlake conducted the sale and the auctioneers were Ross Milne, Paul Dooley, Ronnie Dix, Nick Gray and Ron Rutledge.
