*Total clearance of 118 bulls to $50,000, av $16,246
A large crowd in person and online of repeat buyers saw stud records smashed at the autumn Moyle Pathfinder Angus sale on Wednesday at Gazette.
Buyers from wide areas across three states bid with a strong local contingent of producers to push the top price to $50,000 and a sale average of $16,246 on a total clearance of 118 head.
The sale smashed the 2021 autumn edition when a total clearance of 104 bulls sold to a top of $21,000 while averaging $11,144.
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Pathfinder stud principal Nick Moyle said it was a fantastic sale and "solid all the way through".
Mr Moyle said buyers were bidding across the sire groups.
He said the top bull was a son of Kenny's Creek Intensity L123 and had moderate birth weight figures with plenty of growth and thickness.
"He's an easy doing bull with a huge rump on him and he'll go on and produce some fantastic females," he said.
The April 2020-drop bull weighed 1040 kilograms and was +10 square centimetres on his eye muscle area (EMA) and +146kg for 600-day growth.
Buyer of the top priced bull, Pathfinder Lakewood R861, was Goolagong Angus stud principal Heath Tiller, Crystal Brook, SA.
He said they had been coming to Pathfinder since they started the Angus stud six years ago.
In 2014, they branched out into Angus from previously running a Santa Gertrudis stud and now run about 450 stud cows.
Mr Tiller said the bull would be used this season over a mixture of heifers and cows.
"It's not often you get a bull with the sheer capacity, good feet and phenotype and the data to back it up," he said.
"He's one of the best bulls I've come across and I can't wait to get him home and put to use and get calves on the ground."
Nutrien auctioneer Gordon Wood said it was an outstanding result.
He said the top priced bull was phenotypically one of the best Angus bulls he had seen this year.
The bull had "very good, but not over the top, solid data," he said.
"He was a great genetic package."
He said the bull had a beautiful presence and was very hard to fault.
Mr Wood said that even with a $16,000 average there was some "real value particularly in the spring bulls" in the catalogue.
"There were plenty of bulls making $8000 to $14,000, and commercially that's cheap these days," he said.
Mr Wood said the Victorian sale was just $200 ahead of the Pathfinder sale a week earlier in South Australia.
"They were very similar sales and it shows that the Pathfinder program is very commercially orientated, and focused," he said.
Two bulls came in next at $32,000 each with the first being lot five, Pathfinder Beastmode R64, purchased by regular buyers at Pathfinder, David and Rob Grdon, Condah.
The February 2020-drop bull was by Baldridge Beast Mode and came with breeding values in the top one per cent for 200-day growth at +71kg, 400-day at +122kg and top 5pc for 600-day at +152kg.
The Gordons said the bull was correct with great structure.
The buyers also bought lot 25, Pathfinder Phoenix R165 that had a +11 EMA along with 400-day of +117 and 600-day of + 152kg, for $24,000.
Lot 59, Pathfinder Rock R321 by Rennylea R519, also made $32,000 and also went to Frank and Andis Sorraghan, Wagga Wagga, NSW.
This year's purchase was a step up for the Sorraghans who paid the top price of $21,000 at the Pathfinder 2021 autumn sale.
This year's bull weighed 986kg and was catalogued as an "easy doing heifer bull" with figures of +58kg for 200-day growth, +114kg for 400-day and +152kg for 600-day.
Gippsland-based Jackson Pastoral kicked the sale off buying lots 1 2 paying $24,000 for lot 2, Pathfinder Leah R26, a bull with figures of +125kg for 400-day and +165kg for 600-day weight.
They paid $20,000 for lot one, Pathfinder Rock R343 by Rennylea L519. Kerr Family Pastoral, South Australia, paid $27,000 for lot four, Pathfinder Newly R549, by Te Mania Newly.
The same purchaser paid $22,000 for lot 10, a son of GAR Prophet, and $18,000 for lot 27, sired by Rennylea L519.
Bell Pastoral paid $26,000 for lot eight, an April 2020-drop bull by Te Mania Newly.
Lot three sold for $26,000 to C K Jarrad and was sired by Rennylea L519 and had a +9.8 EMA.
The Point Pastoral paid $24,000 for lot 50, a son of Baldridge Beast Mode, with a top 2pc for 200-day growth of +64kg.
Another bull to make $24,000 was lot 79, Pathfinder Newly R821 bought by Mt Napier.
Alanvale Farms, Broadwater, paid to a top of $20,000 for a draft of 11 bulls.
The top lot was lot 17, Pathfinder Keystone R126, a Landfall Keystone son.
Another volume buyer that purchased via AuctionsPlus was Paraway Station, with six bulls to a top of $14,000 twice.
