Pinora Angus bull sale at Heyfield underpinned by volume buyer

The Ferguson family bought 11 Angus bulls at the on-property sale on Wednesday, with their top-priced purchase, Lot 32, Pinora Seamus S46, knocked down for $11,000.

Pakenham-based stock agent Anthony Delaney, Delaney Livestock & Property, represented the family at the sale and said his clients had purchased bulls from the stud for close to two decades.

"Trading as CT Ferguson, the bulls will end up on their operations south of Sale and a fair portion will head up to their breeding programs in the high country around Omeo and Benambra," Mr Delaney said.

"Operation-wise, they run a self-replacing Angus operation where they breed, background and finish."

In total, the Fergusons bought five bulls for $6000, two bulls for $8000, and single bulls for $7000, $9000, $10,000 and $11,000.

Buyer Courtney Ferguson said her family purchased on average about 10 sale bulls from Pinora each year and bought their first bull from the Sundermanns 19 years ago.

Thirty-38 of the 49 bulls offered at auction sold to a top price of $13,000 to average $7840 with 11 passed in.

Pinora Angus stud co-principal John Sundermann said the auction was underpinned by repeat buyers.

"We're a little bit disappointed but that's the way of the beef industry at the moment," he said.

"We had a cracking sale last year and while we sold 40 bulls, the average was back about $4000 and that's something we were sort of expecting before the sale.

"In saying that, the Fergusons have been terrific supporters of us for many years and they started off buying two or three bulls, and now they have a lot of cattle around and have supported us all the way through."

The stud is run by Mr Sundermann and his wife Dianne, and his brother and sister-in-law John and Trish and 94-year-old mother, Shirley.

"Our clients are very loyal and we're forever thankful for that," Mr Sundermann said.

"An example of this is Dick Chester's family who bought at our first sale 55 years ago, and now Dick, who is from Glenmaggie, bought at our sale today so we've had them from the first to the last sale."

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The top-priced 720-kilogram bull, Lot 9, Pinora Shaw S77, was bought by brothers John and Iain MacLachlan, Glencoe Angus, Sale, via agency Nutrien Greenwood.

The July 2021-drop bull was the first son of Pinora Quail Q25 and out of Pinora Eulong P56.

The brothers also bought Lot 6, Pinora Shamus S61, for $11,000.

John MacLachlan said his family had bought bulls from Pinora for many years.

"We love their temperament, we love their milk, we love the after sales service - you can't beat it, and my father started this tradition with Don Sundermann and it's followed through with John and Kelvin," he said.

"My mum even went to school with Mrs Sundermann senior, so there has been a massive family connection.

"We run a breeding and fattening operation and our steers are sold between 18 and 24 months of age."

Mr MacLachlan said his herd consisted of 550 breeding females and bulls purchased at Pinora Angus would be used over mixed-aged cows in his family's autumn-calving breeding program.

Nutrien South East stud stock auctioneer Peter Godbolt said the auction was reflective of many other bull sales.

"The average has come back a bit and it was a bit reflective of the market," he said.

"However, people have a lot of faith in the Pinoa program because a lot of clients who came here bought two or three bulls, and in some cases up to eight or nine bulls."

Among other volume buyers was Chesterfield Pty Ltd, Glenmaggie, which bought four bulls for $6000.

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