Local producers keen to up their genetics but limiting their purchases were the dominant buyers throughout the Riga Angus' autumn sale held on Thursday.
Tim Finger, co-principal of Riga Angus in Mansfield, welcomed the results of their autumn sale.
He admitted being nervous due to the dry start of the year and found it hard to gauge how the sale would fare beforehand.
"We we're very impressed with what we managed to achieve, considering some of the market hasn't been the greatest space the last two or three weeks," he said.
"Certainly a bit of rain throughout eastern Victoria probably helped us out in that regard."
The stud sold 36 out of 43 bulls offered to an average of $7583 to a top price of $19,000.
That top price went to Lot 9 Riga Ureka U013, bought by Margaret and Neil Buchan, Warrenbayne, one the first sons of sire USA18170041 Sydgen Enhance sons out of dam VKR21S1 Riga Sugarplum S1.
It recorded TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation EBV figures of +5.2 square centimetres eye muscle area, birth weight of +21.9kg, 200-day weight of +52kg, 400-day weight of +99kg and 600-day weight of +127kg.
Tim Finger said the sire line of Ureka had given outstanding performance in his herd and environment.
"It's also performed for our clients, with the great data that behind him," he said.
"He's out of a first-calving heifer, so this bull really did a tremendous job as a first calf and a tremendous achievement on the dam's half as well."
Neil Buchan, who always exclusively bought at Riga Angus, said he paid the top price as he was keen to improve his genetics at his operation.
"We've reached the stage now where we are going to go up a layer in bulls to keep genetics going forward," he said.
"We looked at the top range at Riga Angus, as we had been a bit heavy with heifers on-type for a few years, and they've gotten to the stage where we were looking for better bulls."
Most buyers limited themselves to one or two bulls at the sale, with Karl Finger & Sons, Moyhu being the biggest volume buyer, purchasing four bulls for $27,000 in total.
Karl Finger said he was also keen to restock his bulls.
"It did get dry for a while there, and we were fortunate to get some rain right before the sale so we will look to get these bulls joining with 80-100 heifers," he said.
Local buyers dominated the sale, but Tim Finger said regular clients from NSW and SA were able to pick up a few bulls along the way.
He said he'd been eagerly keeping an eye on the market and worked hard to present bulls so they would be right on sale day for those clients.
"It's good to see it's gone so well for us," he said.
"[Recent rain] has probably put a bit more boost in the market, and a lot of people were saying that they are starting to get grass growing now, giving them more confidence that they don't have to sell off more cattle.
"Therefore they'll spend more money on purchasing a bull so they can join their cows for whatever system they run, whether it be autumn or spring carving, which is good for us."
The second highest-priced bull was $16,000 for Lot 4 Riga United U26, bought by Richard Wale, Independent Breeding Services, on behalf of an undisclosed client.
The sale was run by both Corocon Parker Mansfield and Nutrien, who came on board for the first time at the sale.
