*Total clearance of 97 females sold to $28,000, av $5247
Murdeduke's first open auction female sale was a roaring success, recording a full clearance and selling to four states.
The warm weather on Monday did not stop buyers attending the sale at Victoria, although a large portion of interstate buyers utilised the online bidding process.
The top price didn't come until Murdeduke K304 went into the ring.
She was the Wilson family's feature lot of the sale due to her presence as Murdeduke Quarterbacks granddam, a young stud sire purchased by Agri-Gene privately this year.
K304 was hotly contested by studs in attendance.
The six-year-old matron was eventually secured by a syndicate of Crawford Angus, NSW, Little Meadows Angus, WA and Merridale Angus, Tennyson.
Her estimated breeding values (EBVs) placed her in the top 1 per cent of the breed for days to calving (DTC), and in the top 10pc for carcase weight and gestation length (GL).
"It's not just about good bulls, it's finding good cows, and she's what we were after for our programs," Peter Collins, Merridale Angus, said.
"She's bred well to all sorts of bulls, which is the sign of a great matron to us.
"The cow will go into the flush program shortly and then be promoted at our field day."
The second top-priced female was also secured by Crawford Angus - Lot 31 - a five-year-old Millah Murrah Doc daughter out of the Jedda cow line with a Nic Nat bull calf at foot.
Lot 31's EBVs placed her in the top 1pc for GL and 10pc for multiple traits including retail beef yield, milk and 600-day weight.
"We wanted to secure the best two cows of the sale to increase our genetic pool as well as introduce new cow lines," Luke Graham, Crawford Angus, said.
"We're also wanting to increase our numbers due to the season.
"It was lucky that when Peter couldn't get there we were able to get his son Brodie to assess the cattle for us."
Andrew Sloan, Nutrien, picked up some of the featured donor cows offered by the Wilson family for a commercial buyer from Scone, NSW.
Murdeduke stud principal Lachie Wilson was thrilled with the result.
"It's a big vote of confidence in our program, it's a really good sign we are doing the right thing," Mr Wilson said.
"You go through a lot of cows to get a good one and to last to the age these girls have is a mean feat and we hope people get success out of these cows like we have."
The online presence was a great addition to the sale with over 70pc of the lots receiving bids, and over 100 people viewing the sale.
It proved dividends for another commercial volume buyer from Colac, purchasing 16 lots for an average of $3844.
Another volume buyer was J Bistow, Colac, who bought 10 females.
