Stock & Land

Hundreds of Booroomooka Angus' top bulls go under hammer in blockbuster sale

A GREAT OPPORTUNITY: 67 sons of Rennylea L519 (pictured), the leading Australian sire, will be on offer at the Booroomooka Angus Bull Sale on Friday, August 14.
A GREAT OPPORTUNITY: 67 sons of Rennylea L519 (pictured), the leading Australian sire, will be on offer at the Booroomooka Angus Bull Sale on Friday, August 14.

Story sponsored by Booroomooka Angus.

IF you're a beef producer then Friday, August 14, is definitely a date you want to mark down in your diary.

In what has been described as "a wonderful opportunity for seedstock and commercial buyers", the Booroomooka Angus Bull Sale will see 231 of the prestigious stud's high quality animals go under the hammer.

Among them will be 67 sons of Rennylea L519, the leading Australian sire who ranks in the top 1pc of the breed for foot structural soundness (FC) and the top 2pc for both quiet temperament and marbling. L519 is also highly proven with tremendous growth, calving ease and doing ability.

High quality sons of other leading sires include Esslemont Lotto, Black Pearl, Fail Safe, Loch Up, Capitalist and the renowned Booroomooka Kingy K9.

Stud owner Sinclair Munro says he is excited for the upcoming sale, which will take place at Keera, the property his family has owned since 1858. He believes the high quality line-up of Booroomooka bulls provides a wonderful choice for the AI, Seedstock and Commercial Industry.

Mr Munro says this year, three Open Days will be held on July 29, August 6, and August 13 .

"This is the rebuilding year for many cow herds. Over 120 of our sale bulls are better than the breed average for calving ease. So, many are suitable to join to heifers," he said.

FAMILY BUSINESS: Booroomooka Angus Stud principals Hugh and Sinclair Munro.
FAMILY BUSINESS: Booroomooka Angus Stud principals Hugh and Sinclair Munro.

The stud, based at Bingara in northern NSW, is home to more than 1000 registered Angus females and sells more than 300 high performing bulls each year.

Booroomooka Angus was established in 1926 and is focused on consistently supplying high quality Angus cattle to customers meeting a range of markets. Integrity, commitment, reliability and innovation are key values of the stud.

The current principals - Hugh and Sinclair Munro - are the fourth and fifth generation producers. They run the Angus stud and commercial cattle on 11,000 hectares across three main properties, Keera, Glen Park and Glenroy.

They have a highly precise and effective breeding program, which relies heavily on data collection and performance records.

"We do a lot of objective measurement of traits that relate to calving ease, fertility, growth, carcase, temperament, structural soundness and doing ability," Sinclair Munro explained.

"All the registered cattle are in the Trans Tasman Angus Cattle Evaluation, which provides a genetic benchmarking report, showing Booroomooka's current genetic position, genetic progress, genetic diversity and gene carrier frequency," he continued.

"These reports are used to make future breeding decisions to produce cattle that meet customer expectations."

Hundreds of Booroomooka Angus' top bulls go under hammer in blockbuster sale
Hundreds of Booroomooka Angus' top bulls go under hammer in blockbuster sale

Major improvements have been made in all traits, particularly in fertility and marbling, and the stud's average on the Australian Breeding Index has increased from $56 to $148 since 2000. Booroomooka is also progressing into more genomic testing.

"Genomics technology improves as more performance and pedigree data is collected by breeders and information from progeny tests such as the Angus Sire Benchmarking Program (ASBP) is analysed," Mr Munro said.

Sixteen Booroomooka Angus bulls, including the $65,000 Frankel and Kingy (sire of 27 bulls to sell in this year's sale), have been part of the ASBP, which aims to improve accuracy of estimated breeding values, as well as build a reference population of modern Angus cattle and analyse performance in hard-to-measure traits.

The performance recording works alongside tough selection pressure on the Booroomooka females to ensure high fertility, maternal efficiency and doing ability.

"The Booroomooka females are required to calve as two-year-olds. They need to be resilient, foraging low quality native grasses on hilly country, and deal with seasonal fluctuations," Mr Munro said.

Hundreds of Booroomooka Angus' top bulls go under hammer in blockbuster sale
Hundreds of Booroomooka Angus' top bulls go under hammer in blockbuster sale

"The key objective of the stud remains to consistently supply high-quality cattle that improve the long-term profitability of its customers," he continued.

"Structurally sound, fertile, quiet cattle with optimum growth and high marbling are key ingredients."

The family's genetics are also tested in the commercial operation at Glenroy, which produces feeder steers and restocker females.

"The commercial herd allows us to analyse the performance of Booroomooka bloodlines, particularly measuring growth and marbling," Mr Munro said.

Booroomooka makes use of reproductive technologies, predominantly synchronised artificial insemination, using Booroomooka and other leading sires. Eighty per cent of the 2020 sale bulls are by Australian-bred sires.

"Australian Angus sires are now world class, and Australian Angus breeders should be very proud of the improvement in the past 20 years," he said.

To make it easier for buyers, all Booroomooka Sale Bulls have been independently evaluated for structural soundness, muscle, temperament and coat type. The bulls have been assessed for frame and have passed a Veterinary Bull Check. All lots will have video footage and if buyers are unable to physically attend the sale, they can bid on Auctions Plus.

For more information on the upcoming sale click here or contact Mr Sinclair Munro on (02) 6723 6622 or 0427 236 622 or email keera@activ8.net.au. Selling Agents Davidson Cameron and Luke Scicluna are contactable on 0428 421 828. Alternatively, visit: www.booroomooka.com.au

Story sponsored by Booroomooka Angus.