Outstanding prices for southern studs

A Peninsula Banks bull selling for $43,000 is a standout so far for Canterbury bull sales, with buyers often shying away from big spenders.

Careful farmers are not getting carried away by auction fever as lower sheep incomes and running costs remain high, while a lingering drought has pushed up costs.

The top price was for a Sudeley Angus bull sold by Andrew and Anna Laing at Springvale.

Nationally, the frontrunner so far is a Shian Angus bull selling for $75,000 in the King’s Landing. In the South Island, a Taimate Angus stallion sold for $70,000 at Ward’s Farm Sale earlier this week.

With just a few sales still to go, other southern standouts were $28,000 by Martin Farming Angus and Hereford in Tasman’s Wakefield, $20,500 by Meadowslea Angus in Fairlie and $22,000 by Monymusk Herefords in Te Anau.

Brent and Anna Fisher’s Silverstream Charolais and Herefords stud at Canterbury’s Lake Ellesmere sold a Charolais bull for $24,000.

PGG Wrightson genetics representative Simon Eddington said the Sudeley bull caught the eye of several bidders among a catalog of other good bulls on display.

He said there was good demand for their bulls, with the sale being complete.

“There were a few good ones that could have come close as well, but they just loved it. Kaharau of the North Island bought him.”

Kaharau Angus, run by Pete and Penny Hoogerbrug at Rimunui Station near Gisborne, is to hold its own sale on Monday.

Mr Eddington said online bids had been made for the Sudeley bull and Bidr had been active at some sales.

Hemingford Charolais, near Culverden, sold a good number of bulls as a result of online bidding, he said.

“Farmers feed themselves and do different things. It’s a day away and quite often a flight with some of these bulls going to the North Island, so it’s a cost to get there and a cost to get home. They’re either going to get a rep for Take a look at the bull and have to trust the stud who knows what he’s doing anyway.”

Sudeley averaged $11,100 from all 55 lots sold, with Meadowslea averaging around $7,100 from 59 bulls sold from 73 lots and Martin Farming selling 28 of 29 bulls to average $8,500 dollars for Angus bulls and seven of nine Hereford bulls sold for an average of $790.

Among others, Hemingford had almost a full clearance, while Central Otago’s Earnscleugh Herefords sold a $20,000 bull to average $6,900, Lees Valley’s Beechwood and Richon Herefords had a top of $10,000 for an average of $6,280, Orari Gorge Herefords from Geraldine a great. of $18,500 to average $6780 and Okawa Herefords of Mid Canterbury sold a bull to $15,000 to average $7600.

Mr Eddington said there were reasonable results given the additional costs for dry farm feed and higher overall costs.

He said farmers were still looking for good genetics but were careful about buying them.

They were doing their homework before the sale and taking a good look at the bulls at home to see if they could make it another season. Farmers who might buy two or three bulls normally may not buy an extra one, he said.

“They’re just being cautious about what they buy. Buyers go to the sales with quite a price in mind, and Sudeley was strong…but generally they’re back to last year, probably $1000-1200 for most of them. That’s not bad considering the flip side is that they have places to put their money at the moment, like the dry conditions and stock feed have been. They have X amount of money and it happens like this.

Many buyers were looking for bulls in the $6000-$8000 range.

Mr Fisher said their top priced Charolais bull, lot 18, sold to Rimu Partnership in Taumarunui. “It’s been a tough old year for a lot of people, so we’ll take that as a win. It’s been really good.”

They sold all 49 Charolais bulls on offer to average $8460 and 12 of 15 Herefords sold to a top price of $10,000 to Okare Station in Wairoa.

He said many of their bulls went to repeat customers in the North Island as a result of online auctions and buyers at the farm sale.

Mr Eddington said some sales had rebounded and others were similar to last season.

The overall quality of the bulls was as good if not better than last season and they were in good condition despite the dry spell.

Te Mania Angus are having their sale today and their Stern Angus sale is tomorrow.

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