GANDY Angus took centre stage for the first time last week when stud principals Kim and Lex Gandy offered their first bull sale under the new stud prefix on-property at Manjimup on Friday.
The catalogue was full to the brim of the glossy, well-muscled sires familiar to loyal clients of the Gandy family, with the added perk of a yearling offering alongside the rising two-year-olds.
All up Gandy Angus offered 68 sires at auction, split evenly between the two age groups.
The sale topped at $11,000 for an impressive March 2016-drop bull in lot eight.
Breaking it down, the 2yo bulls fetched a lower average than the 2017 sale at $6735 and the yearlings averaged $4837 to average $5955 combined, bringing the sale into line with the average value paid at auction for most Angus bulls in WA so far this year.
Elders auctioneer Nathan King said it was pleasing to see the returning support of long-term buyers of the Gandy family’s cattle.
“This year was buyers lucky year with a big offering of quality bulls, plenty of which sold for very reasonable values,” Mr King said.
“Of course the bulls at the better end sold for stronger values as they deserved but there were plenty of bargains sold on the day.”
Mr King said he thinks the future looks bright for the Gandy family.
“They have a quality, young female herd and they’ve continued to focus on investing in quality bloodlines and genetics which will only mean good things for the future potential of Gandy Angus,’’ he said.
“The yearlings offered at this sale had outstanding figures which just goes to show what the future generations of progeny at Gandys can achieve.”
The stand-out bull in the catalogue, according to the bidders on the day, was Stonedale Bushranger M450, a 902 kilogram son of Diamond Tree Bushranger K92, which was hammered down at $11,000 to long-time buyer of Gandy cattle, the Phillips family, Kanangra Grazing, Manjimup.
The opening bid was taken at $5000 but the scale and strength displayed by the young bull as it strode around the ring was enough to entice the Phillips family to make the final bid.
Lyndsay Phillips attended the sale with her family and said the visual presence of the Bushranger son caught their attention.
“He’s a big, soft and fleshy bull with plenty of muscle and that’s what you want in a good bull,” Ms Phillips said.
“We liked him once we saw him in the pen and he paraded nicely in the sale ring too but we also liked the Bushranger bloodline and wanted to get our hands on some of those genetics.
“Bushranger is a new bloodline to us so we ended up buying a couple more of his rising 2yo sons later in the sale which we’re happy with.”
Their top-priced selection was a moderate birthweight bull, weighing in at 33 kilos at birth, with growth EBVs of +42, +77 and +99 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.
The Phillips also bought one yearling later in the catalogue, in lot 54, which was a son of KCF Bennett Southside, which they bought with one bid at $4000 and thought it was a bargain considering its figures.
“The Bushranger bulls we bought on visual appraisal mostly but the yearling had outstanding figures and we just couldn’t pass him up,” Ms Phillips said.
Stonedale Southside N90 hadn’t even reached its first birthday but nonetheless tipped the scales just shy of the 600kg mark after weighing just 35kg at birth, ranking in the top 1 per cent of the breed for 200 and 400-day weight EBVs at +59 and +110.
It also had figures in the top 5pc for 600-day weight (+138), scrotal size (+3.4), carcase weight (+81), retail beef yield (+1.9) and domestic index (+$125).
The yearling brought the Phillips family tally of purchases to four, making them the volume buyer on the day.
The second top-priced bull was Stonedale Tour of Duty M441, the strapping young March 2016-drop sire in lot 10 which sold to return buyers Lance Ockwell and Lisa Roche, DR & DJ Roche Family Trust, Pemberton, for $10,750.
Sired by RB Tour of Duty 177, the bull had a birthweight of 39kg backed up by impressive growth and carcase figures.
It ranked in the top 1pc of the breed for retail beef yield at +2.4, and also had growth EBVs of +54, +95 and +125 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights ranking it in the top 5-10pc of the breed, with other EBVs including +19 milk (top 15pc), +68 carcase weight (top 20pc) and +6.1 EMA (top 25pc).
Ms Roche and Mr Ockwell described the bull as very well proportioned.
“He had all the figures we like in a bull as well as the conformation, temperament, birthweight and bloodline to go with it,” they said.
“This bull will go in with our more established breeding herd at Pemberton to breed heifers for future breeders.
“Our herd is based on Diamond Tree genetics which are working very well for us but the Tour of Duty bloodline is new to us so we look forward to see how it goes.”
The Roche operation also bought a yearling with the same sire details for $6000 later in the day to complement their top-priced purchase.
Coming in at the third top-priced value of the day was another son of RB Tour of Duty 177 which sold to RH O’Modei & Sons, Pemberton, for $10,250 aided in the bidding by Landmark Margaret River agent Jock Embry.
Lot two was a February 2016-drop calf with a birthweight of 37kg and a sale weight of 1010kg.
The upstanding sire had a swag of figures to encourage the bidding which started off at $8000, ranking in the top 1pc of the breed for retail beef yield with an EBV of +3.2, backed up by figures including +54, +100 and +128 for 200, 400 and 600 day weights, +18 milk, +74 carcase weight, +7.5 EMA, +$123 domestic index and +$123 heavy grass index.
Mr Embry said the focus for the operation was on depth of body with an aim to produce quality future breeders with softness and thickness.
Following the Phillips family in the volume buying stakes, the O’Modei operation joined three other buyers who went home with three sires apiece.
RH O’Modei & Sons averaged $6083, Bagoias Farms averaged $4583 and AT & M Aihakis, Pemberton, averaged $4917.
The top-priced yearling sold to Jim Fox, JS Fox, Pemberton, when he made the successful bid for the sire in lot 27 at $8750.
An AI son of Lawsons Harvard H205, the young bull had a frame score of 7.8 and tipped the scales at 566kg, only having just reached its first birthday earlier in the week.
It ranked in the top 5pc of the breed for the Angus breeding index (+$139) and in the top 10pc of the breed for domestic and heavy grass indexes (+$122 and +$129) as well as IMF at +3.0.
Mr Fox said he liked the good straight line and muscling of the young bull.
“I like the idea of buying a young bull to go into the herd with an older bull so there is no fighting in the paddock,” he said.
“This bull has good bloodlines and figures across the board as well as the quality carcase traits you can see in the pen.”
Gandy Angus stud principal Kim Gandy said he was pleased with the result of the sale given the decision to hold it wasn’t made until November last year.
“It was a late decision but we were happy with what we were able to present,” Mr Gandy said.
“We’re grateful to our loyal clients who have continued to support us.
“We’re starting again with a young herd so we really appreciate the support.”
Mr Gandy said the Gandy Angus team will continue to focus on building the quality and pedigrees in the herd.
“I think we probably will offer yearlings again in future sales,” he said.
“At this sale people were more interested in the 2yo and I think it will take a bit of time for people to come around to the idea of buying yearling bulls but there certainly is merit in buying younger bulls and we’d like to provide our clients with that option in the future.”