*Total clearance of 153 bulls sold to $40,000, av $16,072
A COMPETITIVE crowd from around the nation has bought up big at the 52nd Lawsons Angus sale in Yea, with a number of bulls passing the $30,000 price mark.
The-top priced bull was Lot 140, Lawsons Quantum R238, who was bought for $40,000 by Shane and Jodie Foster, Boonaroo, Corndale.
Jodie Foster said the bull would add great value to her own Angus stud operation, along with another bull she bought at the sale for $26,000 - Lot 30, Lawsons Quantum R652.
"My husband and I were sourcing the best quality bulls we could find out of the sale," Ms Foster said.
"Both bulls were by Quantum which was a new bloodline for us and they both had genomics done on them so we could be really confident that the data wasn't going to shift."
Lot 140's estimated breeding values included +5.2 birth weight, +64 200-day weight, +111 400-day weight, +139 600-day weight, and an intramuscular fat of (IMF)+3.8.
The sale saw a total clearance of 153 bulls sold, with an average of $16,072.
Ms Foster said they had bought the top-priced bull - Lawsons Charlie - from the stud a few years ago which saw some wonderful genetic results, which in turn encouraged them to come back for this year's sale to purchase a different bloodline.
"The bulls we bought ticked all our boxes, and they're the sort of balls that we can use over at our 500-head cow herd that will then produce the sort of bulls that our commercial clients are looking for in this area," she said.
"We want to utilise them within our program again, breeding towards the grassfed industry, so we need something that has good carcase that can fatten easily on grass and turn off early in their lifespan."
The consistency across the board showed not only with the high prices, but from the large, diverse crowd who showed up to buy.
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The second-highest priced bull, Lot 1, Lawsons Romulus R1217, was also highly sought by buyers, being eventually sold to regular buyer Fergus Whitehead, Tooma, NSW.
"We've been going to Lawsons since around 2006 and we back their breeding program and direction the herd's going in," Mr Whitehead said.
He is intending to undertake an artificial insemination program for his heifers.
"When you look at the numbers of Lawsons Romulus and his phenotype and his performance in the feedlot trial, we couldn't go past it," he said.
"He has a low birth weight of +3.6, high growth of +150 on 600-day weight and is curve bender, with excellent carcase data, with his eye muscle area in the top 3 per cent and IMF in the top 6pc."
Mr Whitehead said the bull's moderate frame, excellent structure and temperament made him a stand out in the pens.
"This, with Lawsons scale and years of performance recording, coupled with his Vytelle feed efficiency trial data, means his genetic package should produce lower-cost, high-performing progeny for our herd," he said.
Lawsons stud co-principal Harry Lawson said a crowd of around 150 people had reacted kindly to what was on offer.
"It was the best sale I've ever had," Mr Lawson said.
"We had a much bigger crowd, post COVID with a lot of our clients making the trip again, which has been a bit hard the last couple of years."
He said buyers travelled from all parts of the country to their property near Yea for the sale, especially a core group of progressive clients.
"The clients that support us are genuinely really good, smart farmers - anything from people with a very small herd to the established bigger herds," he said.
"The bulls were the most consistent bulls that are really for sale in the industry and I think that our buyers understand the difference of our genetics in terms of carcase potential.
"These guys are also getting amazing results targeting grassfed brands, especially in southern Australia like King Island, Flinders Island and through to Tassie but equally, they're getting really good results in the feedlot."
The reputation of what was on offer really shone through the diverse areas that buyers came from with some coming from as far as the Northern Territory.
Mr Lawson estimated buyers from NSW, Tasmania and Victoria all roughly received a 20 per cent share of bulls.
"There was a few headed to the NT, Queensland and SA as well, so pretty exciting... and we actually had WA buyers trying to buy but they weren't successful," he said.
"Hopefully they'll be able to buy in our next sale."