Arkle Angus buys top Alpine Angus bull at stud sale

The February 2021-drop bull, Alpine 38 Special S021, was a stand-out bull in the sale's 59-bull catalogue, with semen retained by Alpine.

38 Special S021 was in the top 1 per cent for claw set in his structure estimated breeding values, and top 5pc or better for foot angle, gestation length and scrotal size.

He was secured by Western Australian-based Arkle Angus, Munglinup, for a new on-property record price for the stud at $120,000 after competing with an undisclosed online buyer.

Father and daughter Paul and Siobhan Solway flew in from WA the previous day to purchase the bull.

"We originally saw the bull six week ago on a trip through the area, and he was just a stand out phenotypically for us," Ms Solway said.

"Structurally he is just excellent, and he is by 38 Special, who is a sire we have heard some really good things about and we have used him ourselves and like what we see."

The second top-priced bull was Alpine Elevator S049, sold to Cascade Angus representative Todd Aitken on behalf of the Tamworth, NSW, stud for $62,000.

S049 was another February 2021-drop bull, by homebred sire Alpine Elevator M268 and out of the well-known Davis Blackbird cow line.

Elevator S049 was in the top 15pc or better for 400-day weight, mature cow weight, docility, net feed efficiency and structural EBVs.

"We liked the bull for his power and body, combined with a good strong head and eye," Mr Aitken said.

"He has plenty of spring of rib, combined with overall volume and he just gets around with a really good head carriage."

Third top-priced bull was Alpine Next Gen R272, an August-2020 drop Rennylea N542 son, who was purchased by Colin Say & Co through AuctionsPlus for $48,000.

Alpine Angus stud principal Jim Delaney was grateful for all new and returning clients who supported the stud on the day.

"It is always a relief for the sale to be done after months of work and seeing it come together," he said.

"The top-priced bull was a stand out for us and originally we had intended to retain him for longer use at Alpine, but we wanted to keep our numbers at the level we offer for spring.

"We want to sell those bulls to people who will use them and do well with them.

"The stud support at the top end of the sale offering was fantastic, but we still had affordable bulls for all our clients the whole way through the sale."