Quarterway Angus sees several volume buyers take home new bulls

Stud co-principal Trevor Hall said commercial producers on Flinders and King Islands were among the main buyers, but the sale-topper went across Bass Strait to Victorian producer Lake Goldsmith Pastoral, Lake Goldsmith.

David George, Lake Goldsmith, paid $21,000 for Quarterway Scott TLH21S48.

"David and Pauline Bellinger, Flinders Island and Rushy Lagoon, Tasmania, got eight, while the other buyers were mainly locals," Mr Hall said.

"I think they like the structural correctness of the bulls and the constitution we have bred into them," he said.

The bulls had sound feet and produced females with good udders, he said.

"One of our policies is that we want to be kicking cows out of the herd because they are old, not because they fell apart structurally," Mr Hall said.

Most of Quarterway's clients were commercial producers.

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A May 2021-drop, Quarterway Scott was by Texas Horsepower N229 out of Quarterway Niggle N93.

Mr Hall said he was the first of Horsepower's elite run of high-performance sires.

Horsepower N229, which cost $32,000, was being used as a semen sire, with another Texas sire, Reality P224's progeny being the youngest in the sale.

"The sons of Horsepower are the top-line bulls; they are really high performing," Mr Hall said.

Horsepower was in the top 10 per cent of the breed for both fat and docility, which played right into Quarterway's breeding objectives.

"Temperament is key and these bulls are quiet," Mr Hall said.

Scott had calving ease direct (DIR) figures of 1.7 per cent, a birthweight of 4.8 kilograms, 200-day growth of 50kg, 400-day weight of 87kg and 600-day weight of 122kg.

Scott's eye muscle area was 5.9 square centimetres, his rib fat depth measured 1.3 millimetres and rump fat was 2.1mm.

The bull had a retail beef yield of 0.1 per cent and an intramuscular fat of 1.4pc.

Mr Hall said Scott had a "very good spread of data.

"He was sure-footed, a good strong bull with plenty of depth, hindquarter and width," he said.

"When we are looking for stud sires, we look at the herd, not just a one-off bull.

"When you look at the carcase data in the Texas herd you find they have that depth and thickness with a good carcase.

"That's what we want, we don't want frail cattle."

The bulls had come through a very tough winter, he said.

"Last winter was the wettest I have seen in 40-odd years and it stayed wet, we couldn't get onto paddocks to do hay or silage, right up until the end of November," he said.

'We lost all that prime spring growth, because all the paddocks were waterlogged."

He said it was a "real battle" even to keep the supplementary feed up to bulls through July to September.

"They have come out of it with flying colours, which is a testament to their breeding," he said, with "compensatory weight gain" when conditions improved.

"They really powered ahead, with more than three kilograms a day in some of them when they went on irrigation country," he said.

Mr George said the bull was "very smooth through the skin, he is fairly correct, with plenty of power, meat and muscle," he said.

Lake Goldsmith was running a 250-300 cow herd but he said he hadn't bought a bull for two years.

The bull might be used in Lake Goldsmith's stud, as Mr George said his two granddaughters Laura and Katie George were keen to be involved in the industry.

"They are the new girls on the block; it's quite extraordinary, they are only 14 and 10 and showing a lot of interest," he said.

The pair had been showing cattle for two years at local shows.

"We will use the bull on commercial females and perhaps we might pick the odd stud cow, or heifer out, to put him across," he said.

Mr George said he was using "a fair bit" of Merridale blood, as well.

"But I couldn't get a bull this year, everyone outbid me - even Peter Collins (Merridale) suggested Quarterway."

Nutrien livestock agent Cooper Lamprey said it was a very positive sale.

"They are just good, easy-doing cattle, that can handle the wet conditions, as they have good feet," Mr Lamprey said.

Producers at the sale were looking for the replacement bulls that they needed each year.

"The bulls had plenty of condition and shine and were looking very good."

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