DESPITE ex-Tropical Cyclone Joyce making its presence felt on the day, the Landmark Mt Barker Blue Ribbon Breeders Sale was another roaring success with prices topping at $3020 for a line of PTIC Angus heifers.
Constant rain throughout the sale added an extra element for the Landmark selling team to deal with, but auctioneer Harry Carroll and his team handled it well, not breaking stride to post a terrific result.
Despite the downpour, buyers was more than happy to drag their hands out of their rain coats to bid up on a quality offering of females with 778 selling under the hammer for a $1786 average and a gross of $1.389 million.
When the first pen sold for $2980, those on hand knew that this sale would not be dampened by any amount of rain.
Shepwok Downs, Gibson, was the star of the sale with a draft of 48 Angus PTIC heifers bred on Kogody Angus stud bloodlines clearly outselling anything else in the line-up.
It was the first time that Shepwok Downs owner Michael Whiting had sold at the Blue Ribbon sale and it is fair to say he might be back again given the results.
The 48 pure Angus heifers offered by Shepwok averaged $2820.
Mr Whiting said he targeted the breeders sale because he wanted to value add the heifers and he certainly achieved this aim.
All but eight of the 48 Angus heifers offered sold to the Bairstow family, Arizona Farms, Lake Grace, who, to say the least, took a liking to the line-up.
They weren’t to be outdone when bidding on the heifers and in the process they paid the top price of the sale when a line of 10 made $3020.
Luke Bairstow said they were looking for a new bloodline to use within their significant Angus herd and were also looking to replace some older cows that had been sold.
“We are mainly Coonamble blood and these heifers will complement what we are breeding nicely,” Mr Bairstow said.
All the Angus heifers offered by Shepwok were 18-20-months-old and were due to calve from March 2 to May 1.
The remaining purchases by the Bairstows of Shepwok cattle included $2980 for a line of 10 and $2960 a head for 20, split into two pens of 10.
The other line of eight Angus heifers from the Whiting family sold for $2020 to RA Musulin.
p Mated Angus heifers
Regular vendors Warren and Glen Forbes, Dundeal Holdings, Narrikup, were back again with their usual quality draft of PTIC Angus heifers.
These heifers were mated to an Angus bull and are due to calve from March 1 to May 5.
The Dundeal heifers topped at $2520 when two lines of 10 were bought by the BJ Panizza Family Trust and SJ Panizza Family Trust, Albany, at that price.
Volume buyer DT Barker also took a liking to the Dundeal heifers paying $2320 for a line of 10, while CT Hambley went to $2180 for a line of 10.
Falcinella Bros, Pemberton, were also active on the Dundeal line-up, taking 10 heifers at $2100.
Local buyer Wallacup Farms was also keen on the Dundeal heifers buying a line of seven for $2200 and a line of 10 for $2040.
Another regular sale vendor, the Smith family, Baboo Pastoral Co, Green Range, returned this year to offer another top line of PTIC Angus heifers.
Bred on purely Coonamble bloodlines, the heifers attracted plenty of interest topping at $2320 for a line of 10, which were bought by DT Barker.
The Baboo heifers were all mated to low birthweight Coonamble bulls sired by well-known Coonamble sires, including Z3, Z6 and W31.
They are due to start calving on March 1 and finish on April 30 and the heifers come from a herd of 300 breeders run by Baboo and were vaccinated with Pestigard and for Bovilis and have had a 7in1 shot.
Another line of 10 Baboo heifers sold to $2120 and were bought by WA College of Agriculture, Denmark, while TS & KH Mier paid $1900 for a line of 10 from the Green Range property.
The Gatti Sawmill had a nice line-up of Angus heifers that were mated to an Angus bull and due to calve from March 1 to April 30.
These heifers topped at $2220 when bought by DT Barker, who also bought a second line of Gatti heifers for $1980.
MK Sounness & Son, Mt Barker, also had lines of Angus heifers on offer with these mated to an Angus bull from the Coonamble bloodline and due to calve March 16 to May 24.
Waroona outfit, Murray River Farms was a clear fan of the Sounness offering, taking two lines of nine each at prices of $2020 and $2000.
A line of 10 second cross PTIC Angus heifers offered by Trevelys Pty Ltd, Tingledale, sold for $1960 to TD Robinson.
These heifers were mated to a Lawson’s Angus bull and due to calve from February 28 to April 30.
p Mated beef heifers (other breeds)
Other heifer lines to make over the $2000 mark included two Red Angus heifers offered by Shepwok Downs that sold for $2020 to Waters Avondale Grazing, while seven PTIC Murray Grey heifers offered by P & R Rosenthal sold for $2020 to AP Collins.
The two-year-old Rosenthal heifers were mated to a Limousin bull and due to calve from February 12 to May 11.
Another line of seven Murray Grey heifers from the Rosenthals sold for $1820 to Brett Harms, while a line of eight Murray Grey heifers offered by MI & DM Twentyman, Nanarup, sold for $1800 to AP Collins.
The Twentyman heifers were mated to a Murray Grey bull and due to calve from March 6 to April 21.
p Mated Angus-Friesian cross heifers
There were two vendors that offered first cross heifers and they included the Houden family, The Southden Trust, Redmond, who offered 37 in total.
These 22-26mo heifers were bucket reared and mated to Angus bulls and due to calve from March 1 to April 31.
These topped at $2400 when bought by the BJ Panizza Family Trust, who paid that amount for 10. The Panizzas then purchased another line of six for $2120, while RA Adam & Co and FV Hortin & Sons, Torbay, took the other lines for $2200 and $2080 respectively.
The remaining line of 11 Angus-Friesian heifers was offered by Dundeal Holdings and these were also snapped up by FV Hortin & Sons for $1800.
These heifers were bucket reared and mated to an Angus bull and due to calve from March 1 to May 3.
p Mated Angus cows
Again there was a large line-up of various age Angus cows with the top price here set at $2140 for a line of eight offered by the Blyth family, Manypeaks.
This line of second calvers was mated to an Angus bull and due to calve from April 12 to June 14 and was bought by Narribri Pty Ltd.
A line of three third calvers with the same calving date and also offered by the Blyths went to MC & AG Taylor for $1980.
Aside from the heifers offered earlier in the sale the Twentyman family also offered older Angus cows with a line of 10 selling for $2020 to Murray River Farms.
These were second calvers and mated to an Angus bull and due to calve from February 25 to May 7.
Another line of 11 second calvers from the Twentymans sold for $1760 to Merri Merri, while NR & LP Wilson purchased a line of 10 third calvers from the Blyths for $1880.
Willowbank Agistment, Benger, offered good numbers of PTIC Angus cows and these topped at $1860 when a line of nine fourth to fifth calvers made $1860 selling to Harbour Downs Pastoral.
p Mated beef cows (other breeds)
There was good values paid in this section of the sale, with a line of three Speckle Park-Angus cross PTIC second calvers topping the PTIC cow section overall selling for $2520 to Marlo Farms, Gnowangerup.
These cows were mated to a Limousin bull and were due to calve from February 20 to May 10.
Also selling well was a line of Lincoln Red cross cows that were PTIC and fifth calvers and mated to a Charolais bull with calves due on March 4 to June 6.
These cows were offered by R & HM Turner, Tone Bridge and sold to Waters Avondale Grazing for $2020.
A draft of five PTIC Murray Grey cross rising second calvers offered by P & R Rosenthal sold for $1800 to DJ & H Mostert.
These cows were mated to a Charolais bull and due to calve from February 12 to May 11.
Nine Red Angus second and third calvers that were mated to an Angus bull and due to calve from February 20 to April 10 were offered by Willowbank Agistment and sold for $1700 to Waters Avondale Grazing.
p Unmated first cross heifers
Several lines of unmated first cross heifers were offered and these topped at $1600 twice.
The first time that amount was paid was for a line of 11 Angus-Friesian cross bucket reared heifers offered by RG Woodward & Co, Narrikup.
These 12-18mo heifers were bought by Goodonga Farms, Manjimup.
The other line to make $1600 also came from the Woodwards and included 13 that were also bought by Goodonga Farms.
HD, AL & NJ Lindberg, Denbarker, offered a line of six 15mo Angus-Friesian cross heifers that sold for $1320 to GH, KL & DA Williams, Denmark, for $1320.
A further two lines of seven and four heifers respectively from the Lindbergs sold for $1280 to TD Robinson and $1280 to Timothy Robinson.