Guilford Poll Hereford's bulls sold to King Island farm

Vellekoop commercial farmer Adrien Vellekoop and his brother Simon purchased three bulls at the Guilford Poll Hereford autumn sale.

They manage about 1000 breeders at their commercial coastal farm on King Island and were looking for quiet bulls with birth weight under +5.5 kilograms.

"We like to hedge our bets a bit," he said.

"We like to make sure that they look alright, and our cattle are up more in the coastal area where they have to fend more for themselves, we like to have the birth weight under 5.5.

"We didn't need lots so we only bought three, we only bought three the previous day at the Quamby [Plains stud sale]."

READ MORE:

YavenVale Herefords, New South Wales, bought the top-priced bull, Lot 4, Guilford Stockman S077.

Guilford Poll Hereford stud principal Philip Davie said the bull shone in his EBVs.

The May 2021-drop bull was sired by Guilford Petroleum P24 and out of Guilford Queenie K22.

Its February 2023 Hereford Breedplan EBVs included +6.7 kilograms bw, +48kg for 200-day weight, +87kg for 400-day weight, +125kg for 600-day weight, as well as +4.3 centimetres scrotal size, +5.2 square centimetres eye muscle area and +1.8 per cent intramuscular fat.

"The few top bulls sold very well," Mr Davie said.

"[Lot 4], he was very good, he was in the top 1pc for 400 and 600-day weight and in the top 1pc for rib and rump fat, top 5pc for IMF and top 20pc for EMA.

"He said that while the sale went well, he was slightly disappointed with the clearance rate.

"The sale went quite well, clearance wasn't as good as I would've liked so I was perhaps a bit disappointed with the clearance," he said.

"We had a lot of repeat buyers but also a few new ones.

"We just try to breed good bulls with good thickness and length and doing ability, and high performance, very good weight for age."

Nutrien Ag Tasmania livestock agent Cooper Lamprey said the heifers sold to "very strong competition" and the stud quality overall was exceptional.

"[The sale had] exceptional quality, presentation was very good, data is improving," he said.

"It was a tough enough sale but that was to be expected with the prices of yearling cattle coming back.

"It would've been nice to see a higher clearance rate but people aren't too interested in buying bulls this year."

He said lower clearance rates could be due to people building cow numbers up over the past few years, and only needing to replace numbers this year.