Victorian Angus stud disperses as owners look to diversify

Ayrvale Angus principal Richard White founded the stud in 2005 with the purchase of four stud cows with calves at foot and said the decision to disperse his 99 stud females would open the door to new opportunities at the Waubra property.

He said the "time was right" to step back from the stud and focus on other areas including cropping, hay and commercial cattle.

With the national cattle herd at a two-decade low, Mr White said the dispersal sale would give both stud and commercial breeders "a good opportunity to add phenotype, as well as boosting the genetic performance of their respective herds".

The White family started breeding near Ballarat in 1858 with the original Ayrvale Farm at Cardigan, 15 kilometres west of Ballarat, given a land title in 1878.

Originally, the family started out as dairy farmers and supplied milk to the Ballarat Goldfields.

In an attempt to adapt to the challenging Victorian conditions, the family introduced Angus cattle to cross breed with dairy heifers and continued dairying for some 100 years.

Mr White said the females on offer at the sale would be "ideal for any stud of commercial operation also looking to buy stud cows to breed their own bulls".

The herd genetics can be traced back to sire lines such as Te Mania Bartel B219 and dams including Eaglehawk Jedda B32, along with five flush sisters to Ayrvale Bartel E7 and Ayrvale Bartel E8.

The stud has bred cattle whose traits sit in the top end of the percentile bands, including the breeding of semen sires Ayrvale Bartel E7 and Ayrvale General G18.

Highlights of the female auction include Murray Proceed M204 heifers and Chiltern Park Moe M6 progeny.

Esslemont General L115, purchased from Western Australia by the stud in 2017, has been joined to a number of females on offer.

Mr White said the stud would hold a spring bull dispersal sale along with selected yearling heifers reading to join in October.

"We've been breeding stud animals for 15 years and I've also been working full-time and over the time we've taken up more land so we decided to change direction," Mr White said.

"As of right now we've got some of the highest indexing animals in the breed and I guess it's been a pretty quick and intense ride so we want to ease back a little bit.

"Two of the females in the sale are number one and number two in the country for HBR heavy grain index so we expect strong interest from interstate buyers."

The June 19 sale will be conducted online with two inspections days at the property to run Friday and Saturday, respectively, this week.

Have you signed up to Stock & Land's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's important to Victorian agriculture.