Princess Royal Station buys Bowman Performance Genetics' top-priced bull

The Neerim South stud offered 71 bulls and sold 61 to a top price of $22,000 and an average price of $7787.

Princess Royal Station, Burra, SA, snapped up Lot 17, Bowman Nashville S118, for $22,000, as well as four other bulls for an average price of $13,600.

Jack Rowe purchased the bulls on behalf of the operation and said it was the first time Princess Royal Station had purchased from Bowman.

Mr Rowe has been busy this autumn bull selling season, having purchased eight bulls at Rennylea Angus, Culcairn, NSW, and another eight at Boonaroo Angus, Corndale, in the last few weeks.

He said he was looking for reliable bulls that wouldn't break down and he had had success with Rennylea and Boonaroo bulls in the past and was keen to see how the Bowman bulls would reproduce.

He said the top-priced bull stood up well, had good stretch in his body, and walked well.

He had picked five bulls in the catalogue before the sale started and was successful in purchasing them all.

He said he was particularly looking at the bulls' intramuscular fat, birth weight and scrotal size.

The August 2021-drop bull was sired by Bowman Nashville N47 and out of Bowman Dream P116.

Its TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation estimated breeding values included +3.5 kilograms birth weight, +52kg 200-day weight, +94kg 400-day weight, +126kg 600-day weight, as well as +2.7 centimetres scrotal size, +9.4 square centimetres and +2.1 per cent intramuscular fat.

Mr Rowe said he had bought more bulls than normal this season given they had retained their heifers and needed more bulls to service them.

The biggest volume buyer of the sale was an operation located 10 minutes from Bowman's farm.

Ben Whiteley, Dryburgh Agriculture, Neerim Junction, purchased 10 bulls at an average price of $6500.

In the last year, Mr Whiteley has transitioned his operation from Speckle Parks to Angus and was buying in bulk at Bowman to continue building up his Angus numbers, which were currently sitting at about 650 head.

He said he was very impressed with the quality of Bowman's offering and was particularly looking for younger, lighter-weight bulls with low birth weights.

"Through word of mouth we heard that Bowman were doing a great job with their cattle and it was a no-brainer [to try them out] as we headed into the Angus world given they're just 10 minutes up the road," he said.

The next-biggest volume buyer was Becxon Agriculture, Shady Creek, who bought five bulls for an average of $6800, while CT Ferguson, Seaspray, bought four for an average of $6750, and the Smith family, who were buying through Elders Bairnsdale, also bought four for an average of $7500.

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Bowman stud principal Glenn Bowman said it was great to see local and interstate buying support at the sale, as well as return and new clients.

"We had some go over to South Australia and Tasmania, and some go up to Bindi in the high country," he said.

"We had some high-profile operations show their support too, which was good to see."

He said the stud was still in its early stages but starting to grow momentum.

"The focus of this year's draft was thickness through genetics, which highlights the importance of genetics in creating muscle and thickness, rather than relying on intense breeding regimes," he said.

"People are just starting to see how these genetics perform and it gives us great satisfaction when buyers return to buy more bulls."