*21 of 42 bulls sold to a top of $5000 (twice), av $3535
Despite the tough seasonal conditions, the Riga Angus stud's quality line-up of yearling bulls were well-supported by both repeat buyers and new bidders.
The Mansfield-based stud offered 42 bulls at its fourth annual on-property sale, and sold 21, hitting the top price of $5000 twice for an average of $3535. A further four bulls were sold after the sale.
The first top-priced bull was Lot 7 in the catalogue, Riga Pantomime P19, snapped up by long-running Riga client, Black on Green. Bill Parsons purchased the young bull on behalf of his daughter-in-law Rachel Parsons, who runs a commercial herd of about 300 Angus breeders at Maindample.
Sired by Wattletop Franklin, the bull is ranked in the top five per cent of Angus Breedplan for all indices as well as growth, gestation length and scrotal size.
"We thought he was a very balanced bull in both structure and Breedplan figures and would be suitable for use over heifers as well as the main cow herd," Mr Parsons said.
Also attracting a lot of interest at the sale was Lot 21, Riga Perfect P73, which provided prospective buyers with an opportunity to purchase Landfall genetics. Riga Angus bought a flush of embryos from Landfall which were sired by EF Complement from Landfall Joyle D30, a female who is still breeding successfully at Landfall.
Riga Angus stud co-principal Vera Finger said of the 11 embryos implanted, nine live calves were born.
"As we are retaining the daughters and using the remaining yearling bulls in our stud, we thought it was a great opportunity to offer some outside genetics to our clients," she said.
After some spirited bidding, the quality young bull, which recorded growth figures of +51 for 200-day weight, +95 400-day weight and +127 600-day weight, was sold to Kevin Finger and Sons, Moyhu. They also purchased another two bulls at $3000 each.
Running 300 commercial breeders on their hill country, Mr Finger said they had been buying bulls from Riga for many years and continued to be pleased with their performance, particularly ease of calving.
Making the trip over from Millicent in SA was new buyer Double Scotch Pastoral, who purchased Lot 32 in the catalogue for $4500. Sired by Wattletop Franklin, the bull, Riga Private P95, recorded figures in the top 10pc of Angus Breedplan for growth and net feed intake (feedlot).
Other buyers on the day keen to select bulls sired by Wattletop Franklin included the Thompson family from Leongatha who paid to $4500, while Lot 20, Riga Parader P60, was secured by the Campkin-Smith family at Tarwin Lower.
The next highest selling sire line included sons of Esslemont Lotto with Lot 6 going to the Drummond Family at Granya for $4000. They also took home another bull.
Mrs Finger was very pleased with the result, given the dry conditions being experienced across much of Australia, with buyers coming from the local area as well as SA, NSW, Gippsland and north-east Vic.
"The sale bulls were weaned early and have been on a stringent feed ration and they presented beautifully on the day with many commenting that they looked the best they ever have," she said.
The sale was conducted by Glasser Total Sales Management.
