THE telephone at Garren Park has run hot since its latest purchase made its way through the gates last August.
Garry and Karen Hedger, Culcairn, NSW, thought Meriden Poll Heavyduty would have potential before it even set foot on the ground, and were delighted when he lived up to his pedigree.
"When I saw him on paper I thought 'this bull could be worthwhile', so we asked for some photos and some more data and Garry hopped in the ute to go to the sale at Scone, NSW, and came back with a bull," Mrs Hedger said.
"We always like, where possible, to see the bull and the female they're out of because that tells you a lot of what they're going to breed on."
The 1125-kilogram apricot bull is a homozygous polled French pure-bred Limousin, and was the top priced bull at last year's Northern Limousin Breeders' Sale – a value buy, Mrs Hedger said.
"We picked him because of his breeding value and performance. He's an extremely placid bull.
"We had him out with the cows in the paddock and we had to do a couple of things so we just drove up to him and put a halter on him and tied him up to the tree – he hasn't even been broken in properly before."
Aside from his docility, the Hedgers hope he will pass on his high, French-style muscling patterns to his progeny, with the first drop hitting the ground in mid-2015.
The latest acquisition will be on show at Beef Week on January 28, along with about 20-plus rising two-year-old bulls up for sale this year.
The 2015 sale team is cosmetically different to previous years.
"This is the biggest number of black bulls we've had for sale so far, Mrs Hedger said.
"We usually only have a few black bulls and this year half of them are.
"We bought a heterozygous single-polled black bull from Froghollow Limousins several years ago, and most years he's given us predominantly apricot calves, but two years ago they were mostly black calves, so those have come through this year's draft."
And although clients tend to prefer apricot-coloured bulls, the Hedgers are happy to see what the market thinks of the black sires this year.
"We're very pleased with them. There's nothing different but colour, they've got that soft, well-muscled carcase that Limousins are characterised by," Mrs Hedger said.
Sons of Canadian-bred Ivy's Underpressure will also be up for grabs, along with sons of American-bred Wulf's Extractor and Wulf's Spring Loaded and selected Australian sires.
According to the NSW studmasters, all the progeny on offer possess the key traits Garren Park breeds for: "muscle, milk in the cows, and docility".