Top Newcomen Herefords bull headed for NSW stud

Newcomen Herefords, Ensay, offered 47 bulls at its on-farm autumn sale, passing its previous top-price record of $17,000 and setting a new top average of $6657.

Newcomen Herefords stud principal Barry Newcomen there was a lot of uncertainty in the lead up to the sale.

"We had feelings about this sale a month ago that we'd have a lot of passed in bulls but with some rain and the cattle market improving, people seemed more interested and confidence has been growing daily," Mr Newcomen said.

"It has been very trying though - for three years we've had drought - then the fires and feeding has been a big cost but in the end we came out of it alright.

"We had good demand for both horned and polled today and people were prepared to pay for them and we were very pleased with our display of bulls so we must be doing something right."

Four bulls were passed in equating to an 91 per cent clearance rate of the 47 bulls offered.

Three bulls were withdrawn before the sale.

The top-priced bull Lot 3 Newcomen Paris was bought by first time buyer Amos-Vale Hereford stud, Glen Innes, NSW for $20,000.

Amos-Vale Hereford stud principal Mark Campion said he was pleased with its presentation.

"I've been looking for a potential top sire for a while now to fit into our breeding program and when I saw the photos of this bloke I was pretty impressed," Mr Campion said.

"He's a very hard bull to fault and to me he's just a complete bull that has length and depth, plenty of meat and muscle, he stands on great feet and legs and is structurally correct."

The top-priced April 2018 drop bull weighed 948 kilograms and was in the top one per cent of its breed for 400 and 600-day weights, top five per cent for milk and top 10 per cent for eye muscle area (EMA).

"He's possibly one of the top Hereford bulls I've seen in a while," Mr Campion said.

"He'll be joined in October to the pick of about 30-odd Hereford breeders at home."

Thirty-nine people registered to buy bulls at the sale including from interstate, South and East Gippsland, north-eastern and western Victoria.

Volume buyers included Maranoa Pastoral, Tallangatta, Maree Patten, Tallangatta, Evan and Dot Newcomen, Ensay, and Martin and Joanne McNamara, Corryong, who all purchased three bulls from the stud.

Elders Bairnsdale livestock manager Morgan Davies said the success of the sale was underpinned by a strong demand for trusted genetics.

"Everyone is very positive in the current climate which is surprising really but we've had a lot of return buyers of previous years and some new clients which we're really pleased with," Mr Davies said.

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