This is the moment history is made.
When the Australian all breeds bull record was broken.
As the bids climbed higher, auctioneer Wayne York, York Auctioneering, let everyone know the enormity of the situation at Texas Angus' bull sale.
"The world is listening," he said to the crowd.
The record had been broken at that point and thunder had well and truly struck for Texas Angus owners Ben and Wendy Mayne.
Texas Angus Thunderstruck T383 was sold to Robert Mackenzie of Macka's Australian Beef Angus, Salt Ash, for $360,000 at Texas Angus' 54th annual bull sale today at Warialda.
The 12-month-old bull, son of Poss Rawhide and out of Texas Omnia M462, weighed 546 kilograms with a scrotal circumference measurement of 34 centimetres.
Its birthweight estimated breeding value (EBV) was +2.5, with a +66 for 200-day growth, +113 for 400-day, and +158 for 600-day growth.
In its catalogue, Texas Angus wrote it was the second time in its history that it had sold a "true 12-month-old yearling bull".
"We believed Texas Thunderstruck is something very special...and will take the Angus breed to the next level," the catalogue said.
"Texas Angus had exclusive semen rights to Poss Rawhide for the last two years, and Thunderstruck is the first and only Rawhide son to be sold in the southern hemisphere this year.
"Wendy and I have never been this excited before about the potential of where this young sire could go and what he can do for the Angus breed."
"I didn't know it was an all breeds record that had been broken. We were just here to buy a bull that suits our operation," Robert Mackenzie said after the sale.
"It just so happened that someone else also saw the value in this bull.
"Our commitment to our commercial herd is to strengthen the foundations, to take our operation further and further into the future."
Mr Mackenzie said three key philosophies were part of the decision-making process: pedigree, phenotype and performance.
"We want to push that soft, easy-doing, good fleshing ability as well as he'll compliment our herd and will be able to take us to the next level," Mr Mackenzie said.
"It's given confidence to the people that trust in our females and our breeding that we are committed to delivering a quality product, year in and year out. This is for our customers."
Jack Mackenzie said, "As a young bull, he shows all the attributes into a really handy bull for the future, and we look", forward to seeing what he can do for us.
In 2021 Macka's Australian Beef Angus bought Texas Iceman R725 for a then-record price of $225,000, along with the $55,000 Texas Top Gun and Poss Deadwood, who topped the American Angus bull sales last year selling for US$900,000.
Read the full report from Texas Angus' 54th annual bull sale right here.
