Wattlewood Angus stud had new buyers at its annual bull sale

The Wattlewood Angus stud offered 26 bulls and sold 25 of 26 to a top price of $13,000, and an average price of $6423.

Wattlewood stud principal Fiona Glover said the top bull, Wattlewood Stimulating S57 "ticked all the boxes".

It sold to an undisclosed buyer.

Its TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation estimated breeding values included +4.6 kilograms birth weight, +56kg 200-day weight, +101kg 400-day weight, +134kg 600-day weight, as well as +2.3 centimetres scrotal size, and +2.5 per cent intramuscular fat.

"We're a moderate frame, it just so happened that we had an embryo bull calf in our sale that threw to its sire side and it was a big beast," Ms Glover said.

"His full brother was more my type, he was more moderate-framed which sells in this area.

"I thought this one might've been the backup bull but he's come out trumps and he's a really nice calf, and he's gone to a superb return buyer operation so we're really happy about that.

"He's ticking all the boxes and that's our slogan as well, Lot 21 has a star for everything, he's good for birth and he's got great growth, his indexes are great and his docility too."

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One of the volume buyers, producer Courtney Ferguson had just started her buying season for her Seaspray-based commercial Angus breeding program and bought three bulls at the Wattlewood sale.

She bought four bulls earlier in the day at the Bowman Performance Genetics sale at Neerim South.

Nutrien Delaney Livestock and Property agent Anthony Delaney purchased the bulls on behalf of Ms Ferguson and said the bulls would be part of her heifer retention program.

"We're looking for low birth weight, plenty of growth and the general nice type of bull," he said.

"I like Wattlewood, I think they've done a fantastic job in recent years, they're nice and quiet and they'll work well for us."

Ms Glover said she started the stud with her husband John 20 years ago and prioritised structure and temperament.

"I'm quite happy with how it's gone considering the market that we're in at the moment," she said.

"I'm really humbled by where the bulls have gone, some really good operations and further afield than where we've gone before."

Mr Delaney said it was a "terrific result" for the second annual sale, and it had attracted a different field of buyers.

"Last year's sale was probably a bit subdued whereas this year with what we've seen in recent sales, it's really held its own, there was terrific competition and the bulls presented well," he said.

"The top price was about the same (as 2022), this year we saw a lot more competition for the bulls which we didn't see last year, it was a very subdued bidding gallery last year but this year there was a lot more competition."

Nutrien agent Bruce Peterson said he had followed the farm for 20 years and was rapt to see its progress at this year's sale.

He said Ms Glover created a system to help grade the bulls based on their EBVs.

"A lot of good low birth weight bulls, which sold very well, a lot of them have four or five stars," Mr Peterson said.

"We gave them stars for ratings based on birth and carcase and so forth, it was a grading system that we used and it was a lot better to go through the catalogue that way."

The last bull was sold after the sale for $5000.

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