Wild Bear Hereford stud tops Herefords Australia National Show and Sale

The bull, Lot 55, Wild Bear Stranger S007, offered by Wild Bear Hereford stud, Meadows, SA, was introduced by the auctioneer as one that had garnered a lot of pre-sale interest, and after an intense bidding war between two keen buyers, eventually sold to Ian and Anne Galloway, Cootharaba Hereford stud, Roma, Qld, with the help of their Elders stud stock agent Andrew Meara, Brisbane.

Overall, 118 of the 160 bulls offered sold during the sale to average $12,067.

The $75,000 price tag was the highest Wild Bear had ever received for one of its bulls, with its previous top price being $12,000 at a previous Wodonga sale, in which they've offered cattle at for seven years.

Wild Bear stud co-principal Ben Davies said he was "amazed" watching the bidding war and was rapt with the top price from a new buyer.

"We thought he was a good calf but that was another level," he said.

"The way it's done here at Wodonga no one knows how it's going to go on the day, people keep their cards close to their chest.

"He's a calf we've taken great pride in, he's got a beautiful phenotype, great muscle pattern with really great neck extension and a really strong dataset to make him up so it's pretty exciting.

"We've been in it for over 10 years now and it's [stud co-principal] Katelin's and my passion, we've been doing it together and it's very rewarding."

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He said the calf performed well, after placing third in its class at the show the previous day.

Its March 2023 Hereford Breedplan estimated breeding values included +5.7 kilograms birth weight, +35kg 200-day weight, +64kg 400-day weight, +97kg 600-day weight, as well as +2.9 centimetres scrotal size, +6.3 square centimetres eye muscle area (EMA) and +1.3 per cent intramuscular fat (IMF).

The July 2021-drop bull was by home-bred cattle, including its sire Wild Bear Powerhouse P010 and mother Wild Bear Angeline N005.

Mr Davies said they collected 300 straws of semen from the bull and had strong interest from other Hereford breeders.

"We bred the sire and the dam of this particular bull again so we're starting to see our genetics flow through which is really good to see going forward," he said.

"We had good interest early on from various studs [on Lot 55] so I wanted to make sure he was fit and sound for purpose."

Mr Galloway said the bull would fit well into their existing program.

"In Queensland we look for a slick-coated, real muscley bull," he said.

"He's a big, strong, red-eyed bull with a good coat type, pigmentation, a lot of strength and body with good muscling right throughout."

The Galloways sell about 45-50 Hereford bulls privately each year and plan to join bull to a specially-selected group of cows.

It's their first time purchasing from Wild Bear and Mr Galloway said he picked the bull after seeing him in the ring the day before at the event's show, expecting to pay half of what he did.

"I thought I'd be able to buy that bull for about $30,000 but I always like getting what I want and the agents know that," he said.

Their stud was established 96 years ago and they often attend the Herefords Australia National Show and Sale to purchase cattle.

"A Magnum bull we sold for $42,000 is well represented among the pedigrees here, so really our cattle are bred on through here," he said.

"I think it's still the national Hereford sales place, you can go to private sales but really this is the national one."

The second top-priced bull of the sale was a bull by Mawarra Hereford stud, Longford, which made $60,000 to James Higgins, Curracabark Hereford and Angus stud, Gloucester, NSW.

The bull, Lot 163, Mawarra Valley S198, had EBVs of +5kg birth weight, 200-day weight of +38kg, 400-day weight of +74kg, 600-day weight of +103kg, EMA of 7.5sqcm and IMF of 0.4pc.

The bull was sired by Kanimbla Power Town P067 and out of Mawarra Minerva 170P204.

Mr Higgins said it was the bull's phenotypical qualities that interested him.

"[I liked] his visual muscle quality, soundness, structure and general constitution," he said.

"He had very nice data to follow up with and consistency through the pedigree."

He plans to join the bull to his polled cows.

"Hopefully he'll keep the momentum up," he said.

Logan Sykes, Mawarra, said it was a great result selling a bull for that price tag, and particularly that it was going to a stud.

Mr Sykes said the bull had been a stand out for its dataset and carcase.

The third top price of the sale was made for the grand champion bull of the show the previous day, Lot 138, Glendan Park Soprano S115, by Glendan Park Hereford stud, Kyneton.

It was sold to Chris Lisle, Tummel Hereford stud, Walcha, NSW.

The bull was sired by Allendale Jackal P176 and out of Glendan Park Moth G142, and recorded EBVs of +6.1kg birth weight, +47kg 200-day weight, +81kg 400-day weight, +119kg 600-day weight, +5.7sqcm EMA and +1.0pc IMF.

Mr Trovatello said they were very happy with the bull's price and that it was going to a good home.

"You come to these events and anything over $30,000 you've got to be happy with, so we're very happy with that," he said.

"Chris has been a supporter of the breed pretty heavily and bought a couple of bulls off us in the past as well, so we're pleased to see it go to a repeat buyer in a good home."

Mr Trovatello, who is also the event's committee chair, said with a significantly higher number of bulls offered this year than last, the sale went "about as expected".

"[It's] maybe a bit lower than expected but given there's more for sale we weren't expecting the highs of last year for a couple of reasons," he said.

"[With] the price of beef cattle in general, it's expected the prices will be back a bit.

"The good bulls [still sold] well and the top-priced bull at $75,000 is a great result, it's definitely nothing to sneeze at."

Mick Forrell, Ceato Poll Hereford stud, Uranquinty, NSW, said his expectations were doubled when his first bull ever entered into the show, Lot 97, Ceato Techno S500, sold for $12,000.

Mr Forrell said his stud started when his friend encouraged him to take on a couple of cows, and he decided to enter one into the show.

"I haven't got a farm but [Kymarney stud principal] Scott Lewington was kind enough to lend me a couple of cows and bulls out of his place and that's about it," he said.

"He's got really low birth weight and really high figures, if people asked me I said I was happy with $6000 but wouldn't it be great if it doubled and went to $12,000."