This year’s autumn bull sales in Tasmania promise to be bigger and better than ever before with a quality line-up of young sires offering good value buying.
The round of sales kicks off with an open day on Sunday, March 25 which will showcase the stud bulls on offer as part of Tasmanian Angus Week.
The seven participating studs are all within about a half-hour drive from Launceston in northern Tasmania.
Roberts Ltd stud stock manager Jock Gibson said this provided Angus buyers with an excellent opportunity to inspect the catalogued bulls prior to sales and select something which suits their operation.
“Grouping the sales together in one week makes it convenient and cost effective for buyers travelling from the mainland and King and Flinders Islands to stay for several days and have a look at all the bulls that are available,” he said.
“Generally bulls in Tasmania are considered good-value buying compared with a lot of the mainland sales which certainly attracts people here.
“This year’s selection is a top quality offering of bulls equal to or better than what was for sale last year.”
Each stud has different freight arrangements but most subsidised the trip to Melbourne and the Bass Strait Islands to assist buyers.
Mr Gibson said the Stewart family from Dunlop Park Angus stud have chosen to host their open day and sale a little earlier and will offer 12 bulls using the helmsman system on March 21, at 11.30am.
The Archer family’s Landfall Angus stud will celebrate the 70th year since the stud’s inception in 1948 by Robert Archer, with a sale of 50 specially selected pregnancy-tested-in-calf females on Sunday March 25, at 4.30pm.
Landfall Angus co-principal Frank Archer said after the success of last year’s first female sale they decided to introduce it on an annual basis.
Last year’s inaugural Landfall female sale achieved a total clearance and averaged more than $4000 with a top of $8000.
“We are now calving down 1500 registered cows so we can hold a female sale without it impacting on our overall herd quality,” Mr Archer said.
“The selected females on offer are cows we consider suitable for producers looking to add some quality females to their existing herd or alternatively as foundation cows for people looking to start out in registered breeding,” he said.
The cows are in-calf to industry-leading sires from both Australia and the United States including Landfall Keystone, Landfall Leonardo, VAR Discovery, Ayrvale Bartel E7, EF Complement and GAR Sunrise.
“Every year we travel to the United States and travel domestically and select bulls that we feel will fast-track our rate of genetic gain,” Mr Archer said.
“It helps us to continually strive to achieve our breeding objectives and these bulls are the same bulls that we have selected for use in the Landfall herd,” he said.
On Monday, March 26 at 2.30pm, Landfall will also offer its catalogue of 174 bulls which range from 18 months to 20 months of age.
“We think the selection of bulls provides buyers with a good representation of the Landfall type, with moderate maturity, good muscling, sound structure and a quiet temperament,” Mr Archer said.
“We are also very commercially orientated so the bulls are fully grass-fed and supplemented with silage which is made on-farm.”
Cluden Newry will also offer 74 paddock-reared bulls on Monday, March 26 at 11.30am.
For the first time this year, stud principal Jock Hughes will use video technology to sell the bulls.
“All the bulls have been videoed, and the footage is available on our website,” Mr Hughes said.
“So rather than the bulls going through the sale ring, the videos will be played, we’ve just done it this way for sale day logistics.”
Fertility and structure is a key focus of the Cluden Newry stud with all cows independently assessed each year and culled accordingly.
“Our cows must rear a calf annually within a tight calving period,” Mr Hughes said.
“We place selection pressure on the females for the commercially relevant traits of fertility and longevity.”
On Tuesday, March 27, buyers have five sales to choose from - Chale Angus at 10.30am, Dobson Cattle (who also have Charolais and Red Angus) at 12pm and Richmond Hill at 2pm.
Also on Tuesday, Tamaroo and Mont Bello will have a joint sale at 4pm at the Powranna Selling Complex.
Other breeds on offer in the upcoming round of Tasmanian bull sales include the Lintwood Limousin sale on March 24 at 1pm, the Slopes and Roland Simmental and Black Simmental sales are on April 3 while Woodburn Murray Grey stud will host a sale on May 7.
