The top-priced Te Mania Angus bull has headed to the Murrindindi Station, Yea, following a strong clearance at Wednesday's stud sale at Hexham.
The bull, Lot 7, Te Mania Tough T1284, was bought online via Auctions Plus by James Cameron, Yea, for a sizzling $41,000 after a burst of competitive bidding.
The August 2022-drop bull weighed 674 kilograms and was sired by Te Mania Legend L646 and out of Te Mania Lowan P465.
The sale topper recorded TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation figures of +12.5 square centimetres eye muscle area, birth weight of +5.6kg, 200-day weight of +56kg, 400-day weight of +114kg and a 600-day weight of +146kg.
Speaking to Stock & Land after the sale, Mr Cameron said his new bull had "everything".
"He was a well-rounded bull and his numbers were good," he said.
"I liked the way he looked and carried himself."
Mr Cameron said he was looking for a bull with length and good growth figures.
He said he would use the bull to breed versatile cattle that could either be sold as weaners, or finished on for beef, depending on the season and prices.
The top-priced bull would be run with a mob of autumn-calving Angus cows at the Murrindindi Station, from May.
Mr Cameron also bought two other bulls at the sale which he said would be used to complement Lot 7's breeding.
It was the second year the Yea farmer had purchased at the Te Mania stud sale after his father, Stewart Cameron, had bought bulls from the stud for many years.
Of the 170 bulls offered for sale on Wednesday, 160 were sold, to an average price of $12,400.
The sale compared to a total clearance of 160 bulls in 2023 where the top-priced bull sold for $110,000 and the average was $15,075.
Despite the drop in average price, Te Mania Angus co-director Tom Gubbins said he was "very happy" with the sale.
"It's good putting all the bulls up and seeing happy buyers and lots of repeat buyers and people chasing our principles - using data and EBV values to benefit their herds," he said.
"It's really exciting to see that people agree with what we're doing here."
He said Te Mania clients came looking for the figures on the bulls but when they arrived, they were impressed by the bulls' phenotypes.
The co-director described the stud's breeding as an "art" and said "genetics is the science".
Mr Gubbins said the top-priced bull stood out before the sale.
"There were a few that stood out but it just depends on what is out there in the marketplace and what people want," he said.
He said 2024 was a "challenging" year to sell bulls.
"People have run out of money a little bit in the beef job," he said.
"It's been up and down but obviously there is a very, very upward price prospect at the moment but if people don't have money in their bank, they can't buy even if there is an upward prospect."
Mr Gubbins described Te Mania as a "sire creator".
"We breed sires that do go on to become sires," he said.
The stud had 1,700 joined Angus females and a complementary embryo transfer program at their operation.
Roger Henwood, Winton, QLD, bought 13 bulls at the sale.
He said his grandfather bought him his first Te Mania bull for his eighteenth birthday, almost 20 years ago, and that he had been buying bulls from the stud since.
Mr Henwood said when it came to the bulls he bought, he was most concerned about how much they would "push the scales down".
"I'd a really good look at them that morning," he said.
"I don't follow the figures as much as I used to."
He said the 13 bulls will be run with a mob of heifers at Winton to breed heavy feedlot steers.
"The Te Mania name really helps sell them," he said.
Guest auctioneer Brian Leslie sold the Te Mania bulls, the twenty-seventh year he had done so.
He said the sale was "extremely solid" with bidding from QLD, NSW, SA and throughout VIC.
"There was a lot of bidding online and a good percentage doing that," he said.
"The consistency of these bulls is incredible and the temperament of them is incredible.
"People can buy with confidence here and they're really practical bulls.
"This is a [breeding] program that's been working for many, many decades and I think people can buy with confidence here and they did today."
