A high country Hereford breeder was forced to withdraw half of his 2024 sale bulls after hound hunters chasing deer entered his property with their dogs, causing the cattle to become "wild and flighty" in the lead up to the on-property auction.
Nunniong Herefords stud principal Phillip 'Bluey' Commins withdrew 28 Hereford bulls from his autumn sale, offering only 36 future sires, after the cattle had numerous encounters with hound hunters in the area while joined to their dams.
Mr Commins said the incidents happened on both freehold and leased property near Ensay.
"We had our stud cows over in the Angora Range and the hound hunters ran their dogs through there while these bulls were on their mums," Mr Commins said.
"The cows and the calves became wild, and it took forever to calm them down.
"We had 64 bulls to start with and we had to remove half of those bulls because of how stirred up the bulls were."
Hound hunters are unable to enter private property without the permission of the landowner in Victoria, however, Mr Commins said the hunters "found ways to work around that", despite his attempts to stop them from accessing his farms.
"The hunters let the dogs go at the top of the hill and the dogs run right down into the herd of cows, and cause the deer to run into the middle of the cattle, causing the calves to break out and the hounds to take off after the calves," he said.
"It causes damage to my fences and it puts the wind up the cattle, causing them to become flighty and petrified of anyone, and makes them very hard to handle them.
"This problem is getting worse every year, and even though it's on private property, hunters use the excuse that their dogs strayed onto my place."
Mr Commins said the incident was followed by one of his most challenging bull sales to date, recording his lowest sale clearance since he started the stud 30 years ago.
The stud sold just nine of 36 bulls to six buyers on Tuesday, recording a top price of $5000 and a sale average of $5000.
"It's pretty hard to look to the future after a result like this, but at least the top price was pretty consistent," Mr Commins said.
"Every bull went to repeat buyers, so that does assure me that I'm doing something right."
He said the best of his remaining bulls that were passed in would be retained and used in his commercial herd, while surplus bulls remained available for private sale.
Ensay graziers and long-term Nunniong buyers Phil and Kerry Geehman, Ensay, were among the six buyers, buying two bulls, Lots 5 and 12, for $5000 each.
"We trust the bloodlines and love the way the bulls stand up for our crossbreeding, they really seem to work," Mr Geehman said.
"We run a dash of Shorthorn through our Hereford line and these bulls work really well in that environment."
For the last six years, the Geehmans have sold their calves at Bairnsdale as weaners, as opposed the majority of other graziers in the area who sell their calves at the Ensay Mountain Calf Sale each March.
"We don't start calving again until April, so the cow gets a good break, and we just need a bit of frame, muscle and weight to sell them a bit earlier at 9-10 months," Mr Geehman said.
"We've worked really hard to get the weight into the calves over the last few years, and that's worked really well for us."
"I take very little interest in the database system for these bulls, I really watch for how the bull looks and stands, and the weight for age of the bull."
The April and May 2022-drop bulls purchased by the Geehmans weighed more than 800 kilograms on sale day, and will be joined to their herd of 200 breeders in April.
Among the other buyers were return clients Peter and Jenny Hall, Loch, who bought Lots 22 and 35 for $5000.
Tony and Joanne Predergast, Swifts Creek, bought one bull for $5000, while RM & EM Connley & E Coulthard, Bingo, Omeo, bought two bulls for the same price.
One bull was knocked down to a buyer at Glen Innes, NSW, operating on AuctionsPlus.
Elders Stud Stock auctioneer Ryan Bajada, Wagga Wagga, NSW, said the sale was reflective of prime and store market cattle prices.
"Wagga Wagga's cattle market was 30-40 cents a kilogram cheaper the other day and they quoted all categories down by that much... if that doesn't scare someone, I don't know what will," he said.
"The sale result reflects the uncertainty in the industry, however, the bulls did look good and presented really nicely on sale day."
Bryce Eishold
Bryce is a senior journalist with Australian Community Media's Stock & Land where he reports on all aspects of agriculture. Bryce is also the president of the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Email Bryce at bryce.eishold@stockandland.com.au.
Bryce is a senior journalist with Australian Community Media's Stock & Land where he reports on all aspects of agriculture. Bryce is also the president of the Rural Press Club of Victoria. Email Bryce at bryce.eishold@stockandland.com.au.
