Moorunga Angus stud sells all bulls at first on-property bull sale

In an offering of 23 young sires, Moorunga Angus stud, Dromana, sold all bulls to a top price of $20,000 and an average price of $10,575, with not one bull sold below the $7000 mark.

It was a great result for Moorunga stud owner John Matthies, who said the average price was particularly rewarding.

"I said prior to the sale I'd be happy with an average price above $10,000, and we ended up at $10,575 - which was great," he said.

Mr Matthies, and wife Sue, have been breeding cattle for nearly 50 years, and established the Moorunga stud in 2018, five years after purchasing the Mornington Peninsula property.

In the last four years they - with the help of stud managers Glenn and Susie Trout - have built up their herd with strong genetic purchases from renowned studs, including Anvil, Ireland, Stoney Point, Texas, Banquet and Little Meadows.

And in recognition of this strong genetic backing, prominent Angus studs got in on the buying action on the day, including Texas, who bought one bull for $11,000, Banquet who bought one for $7000, and Adameluca who bought one for $10,000.

The $20,000 top price of the sale was made on the second lot - Moorunga Enhance, an 18-month-old bull that weighed 886 kilograms at its recent scanning, was sired by Sydgen Enhance and out of Anvil Eclypta.

The bull recorded a birth weight of +3.2, and growth figures of +58 for 200-day weight, +102 for 400-day weight, and +128 for 600-day weight.

He recorded an eye muscle area of 115 square centimetres, rump fat of 10 millimetres and rib fat of 7mm.

The bull was purchased by Michael and Sue Turra, Buchan, who had been driving around Victoria and NSW over the last couple of weeks trying to find bulls that meet their needs.

Mr Turra said it was hard to find a "big, thick powerful bull" like Lot 2.

"He's got a good head on him, length, lots of spring of rib, and just everything you can think of," he said.

The Turras sell direct to Greenham's grassfed program, and said this bull, as well as their other purchase, Lot 7, would produce cattle ideal for grass finishing.

"These bulls are going to complement our cows, and produce cattle perfect for grass finishing," he said.

Also from East Gippsland, Peter Richard, Swifts Creek, was the biggest volume buyer of the day, taking home four bulls, for an average price of $8500.

Mr Richard said he was drawn to the stud because of its strong breeding program.

"They've used a lot of good sires," he said.

He said he selected bulls with higher birth weights.

"We run them on quite hilly country, so you need the calves to be a bit bigger at birth so they hit the ground alright," he said.

Mr Matthies said he would have liked for some sires to have made more money at the sale, but the result of their first sale was positive.

He said the stud buyers were particularly satisfying.

"It acknowledges that you're heading in the right direction," he said.

He said females were such a strong focus for the stud, and he wanted his cattle to have "a bit of X factor about them".

Elders stud stock agent Ryan Bajada described the sale as a "monster result".

"This was a big result, particularly given it was their first sale, and no bulls sold below $7000," he said.

"It was great to see the confidence from commercial buyers, and to sell bulls into studs, let alone that calibre of studs, that's a reflection of the stud."