Davis family's Coonamble Angus bull sells for $72,000 record at Bremer Bay

They say records are made to be broken but they weren't just broken by the Coonamble stud last week they were shattered as prices hit a high of $72,000 and the sale averaged $14,550.

Given the position of the cattle market and the results of bull sales already held this year, the writing was on the wall for the Davis family to achieve a big result, but I don't think anyone thought it would be this big given they had also increased their offering by 31 head on last year.

By the conclusion of the sale three new State records had been set after it broke one of its own from last year and reclaimed two others which had been broken this cattle selling season.

The sale now ranks as the highest ever grossing bull sale in WA breaking the record it set last year while it reclaimed the titles of the top sale average record for a bull sale in WA and the highest price achieved for a bull at auction in WA.

With a registered buying list tallying 75 at the sale and another 85 registered bidders logged in to AuctionsPlus from WA, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, there was plenty of competition throughout the increased catalogue, with the majority of bulls attracting buying support of at least three bidders.

From the opening call of Nutrien Livestock auctioneer Tiny Holly, the buyers who had travelled from as far away as Geraldton in the north to Condingup in the east, weren't afraid to place their fingers in the air and bid up on the bulls they had marked and as a result Mr Holly rarely started a bull below $8000.

When the final bull left the ring and the numbers were crunched, those at the sale like last year couldn't quite believe what they had just witnessed.

The numbers showed the Nutrien Livestock selling team had cleared 129 of 133 bulls offered under the hammer to 61 different buyers, which included 34 buyers who purchased multiple lots, for a massive gross of $1.877 million, which was up 37 per cent on last year's figure and to the $14,550 record breaking average that was up $1128 on the stud's 2021 sale.

In comparison, in last year's sale the stud offered and sold 102 bulls for an average of $13,422.

While there wasn't a 100pc clearance under the hammer like last year, the four bulls which didn't attract a bid at auction quickly sold post sale to further improve the stud's result.

But it was not only the sale numbers that impressed, it was again the fact the impressive result was built on the back of the buying support of mainly commercial cattle producers keen to continue to improve their herds and having seen the benefits of using Coonamble genetics.

Of the 129 bulls sold under the hammer only six sold to stud operations.

After the sale, when asked about the result Mr Holly's first words were quality attracts and quality sells.

"It was an unbelievable result for the Davis family and the WA stud industry in general," Mr Holly said.

"It was a solid and consistent sale from start to finish, which was supported strongly by commercial producers in the main.

"The Davis family offered a range of bulls suitable to everyone's wants and types and they certainly were rewarded.

"The bulls presented in fine order and this allowed buyers to operate with confidence right through the catalogue.

"The sale was again well-supported by regular buyers who returned and continued to seek out bulls with great figures and great shop front windows.

"The top end bulls sold above expectations.

"We never thought we would pick up $72,000 and $45,000 as the two top prices.

"It was great to record a sale average of $14,550 however while saying that the Davis family were equally as happy to see buyers be able to purchase bulls for their herds from $5000 to $10,000.

"After last year's huge sale this was a must for them and was the main reason why they increased their offering significantly.

"It was certainly a proud day to be an auctioneer, but also it was a proud day for the company and the Davis family to achieve a result like this.

"The result is a credit to the Coonamble stud and the Davis family."

The impressive sale figures weren't just the result of a couple of high priced bulls but rather a number of bulls selling to strong values.

In the sale there were 32 bulls which sold for $20,000 or more, with four making in excess of $30,000, while another 21 made between $15,000 and $20,000.

In last year's sale there were 13 bulls to sell for $20,000 or more and 21 between $15,000 and $20,000.

With buyers spoilt for choice due to the catalogue being packed full of top notch bulls carrying strong bloodlines and great figures there were a number of bulls which could have attracted the attention of buyers.

But there was certainly one that stood head and shoulders above the rest in the eyes of a number of buyers and that was Coonamble Frontman R501 in lot 24.

When the soft, deep, upstanding 700 kilogram bull entered the ring Mr Holly took an opening bid of $25,000 and from there the price quickly rose above $50,000 as a handful of buyers fought it out to take home the bull, which was described by the selling agent to be the best ever offered by Coonamble.

Eventually it came down to two buyers as the price hit $70,000 and it was Nutrien Livestock Great Southern manager Bob Pumphrey, who held his nerve and landed the $72,000 blow to secure the bull, for return buyers the Bairstow family, Arizona Farms, Lake Grace.

When it came to the top-priced bull Mr Holly said to achieve the $72,000 top price was a fantastic result and shows the stud is prepared to meet the market and provide high quality bulls to the WA industry.

"The top price bull is certainly the best bull I have ever seen sold in WA," Mr Holly said.

"When I saw him in the paddock in April he stood out from everything else and he has just kept going forward since then.

'He is a real credit to the Davis family's breeding program."

Luke Bairstow said they were extremely happy to be able to secure R501 because as a sire it was exactly what they were looking for.

"Bob picked him out early and has kept an eye on him for a while now and he has always impressed," Mr Bairstow said.

"We only saw him for the first time today and he definitely caught our eye as he is just what we look for in a sire.

"Structurally you can't fault him, he is a very balanced bull.

"He has great smoothness and depth and has the body we want.

"We also liked his pedigree, firstly because he will be a new bloodline for us on the sire's side while on the dam side it goes back to Coonamble D94, who has been in the pedigree of other bulls we have purchased from the stud and have done well for us."

The ET-bred, August 2020-drop bull is by US sire AAR Frontman 3132 and out of a Coonamble Elevator daughter, Coonamble L329.

Not only did the bull impress on the eye and have a presence in the ring it also had a good balanced set of estimated breeding values (EBVs) to match.

It ranks in the top 4pc of the breed for retail beef yield (RBY) (+2.2), top 7-12pc for 200, 400 and 600-day weights (+59, +108 and +137), top 15-20pc for carcase weight (CWT) (+77) and foot angle (+0.84) plus top 20-30pc for mature cow weight (MCW) (+114), milk (+21), scrotal size (SS) (+2.5) and feed efficiency (NFI-F) (+0.0).

When it came to R501's EBVs, Mr Bairstow said it had a good set of balanced numbers without being too extreme.

The Bairstows will use R501 both naturally and in an AI program over second and third calvers which have predominantly Coonamble Elevator and Hector bloodlines with the aim of breeding replacement females and bulls for their own use.

Mr Bairstow said this year they have kept 250 heifers for their herd.

"We also aim to sell about 220 heifers as replacement breeders to other producers while on the bull front we usually keep 15 to 20 bulls a year we breed to use in our herd," Mr Bairstow said.

Along with purchasing R501 the Bairstows, with the assistance of Mr Pumphrey purchased another two bulls at $28,000 and $24,000.

They bid $28,000 for Coonamble 38 Special R40 which is an AI son of Baldridge 38 Special.

Mr Bairstow said the 726kg R40 would be another new bloodline for their herd and it was a good all round bull which would hopefully add to the depth of their herd.

R40 ranks in the top 2pc for claw set, top 11pc for foot angle and top 20-30pc for calving ease direct (Dir), gestation length (GL), 200 and 400-day weights, EMA, rib fat, P8 fat.

The Bairstows purchase at $24,000 was Coonamble Ashland R18, which is by GAR Ashland.

Mr Bairstow said they purchased a couple of GAR Ashland sons last year and were happy with them and so they picked this one up as a backup.

R18 ranks in the top 4pc for P8 fat, top 11pc for CWT and top 6-13pc for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, while it is also in the top 8-11pc for the Angus breeding ($A), domestic ($D), heavy grain ($GN) and heavy grass ($GS) indexes.

Mr Bairstow said they continued to return and buy at Coonamble because the bulls were structurally very good and what you see is what you get as the bulls are presented on a grassfed basis.

"They are also good long bulls, which is what we want as we are wanting to add a bit more length to our breeders and they have good temperaments and softness which are also key traits we look for," Mr Bairstow said.

"The Davis family are also very good people to deal with and we take on a lot from what they say."

All up the Bairstows will calve down 1280 head this year in March/April and they aim to sell their steer calves each year in the Nutrien Livestock Angus weaner sale in January at Mt Barker.

This year they sold 450 nine to 10-month-old steers in the sale to a top of $2275 and an average of $2190.

Along with the $72,000 top priced bull there were another three sires, which made $30,000 or more including the sale's second top-priced bull that sold at $45,000 and the third top-priced that sold at $34,000 which both sold to Sheron Farm Angus stud, Benger, which was the losing bidder on the top-priced bull.

Sheron Farm manager Steve Elliot said it was the first time they had purchased bulls from Coonamble but they had previously used Coonamble Elevator semen and had purchased cows from the stud's reduction sale.

"It was a very good line-up of bulls and we had three picked out which we really liked, these two and the top-priced bull," Mr Elliot said.

"Both bulls will be new bloodlines for us and they also both had good docility and excellent feet figures which is important to us.

"Although we missed out on the top-priced bull we are still very happy with the two we secured as they are both very good bulls that will help move our herd forward.

"Coonamble has probably the best genetics in WA and if these bulls were sold in the Eastern States they would have made $100,000 plus so we couldn't be happier to secure these bulls as we believe they are really value for money."

Making the $45,000 price tag was an AI-bred, April 2020-drop Baldridge Beast Mode B074 son, Coonamble Beast Mode R203 in lot 45.

Mr Elliot said R203 was a well put together bull with a very soft, short skin.

"He also had the 400 and 600-day weight and MCW figures where we want them and plenty of milk," Mr Elliot said.

R203 ranks in the top 2pc for foot angle, top 3-5pc for 200, 400 and 600-day weights, top 3pc NFI-F, top 4pc CWT, top 8pc MCW,top 9pc claw set and top 14pc milk.

Achieving the $34,000 third top price when sold to Sheron Farm was Coonamble 38 Special R23 in lot four.

Mr Elliot said R23 also had lovely soft skin and was well put together.

"He has a low birthweight, which we're looking for as we wanted a bull to use over heifers and first calvers but it also still has good growth numbers across the board," Mr Elliot said.

The March-2020 born R23 is ET-bred by Baldridge 38 Special and out of Coonamble L283, which is a daughter of VAR Reserve 1111.

R23 ranks in the top 4pc for claw set, top 5pc for Dir, top 6pc P8 fat, top 9pc birthweight, top 12pc GL, top 14-27pc for 200, 400 and 600-day weight and top 15pc rib fat.

Both bulls will be used as back up sires in Sheron Farm's AI program with R023 set to be used over mature cows while R23 will be used over heifers and first calvers.

The fourth bull to make more than $30,000 was Coonamble Maverick R122 in lot 34 when it sold at $31,000 to the Milne family, DJ & M & MDJ Milne, Parmango Farms, Condingup.

The 742kg, April-2020 drop bull is by Coonamble Maverick M310 and it ranks in the top 1pc for P8 fat, top 2pc rib fat and foot angle, top 5pc claw set, top 11pc GL and top 26pc for EMA while its growth figures (200, 400 and 600-day weights) were in the top 60-70pc.

The next best price in the sale was $27,000 paid by Willawayup Farms, Esperance, for lot 56 Coonamble Beast Mode R58, which is in the top 1pc for 200-day weight and foot angle, top 2pc for 400 and 600-day weights and RBY, top 3pc for NFI-F, top 5pc MCW, top 6pc CWT and top 9pc claw set.

The Esperance enterprise also paid $12,000 for Coonamble Leader R213, which is in the top 1pc for 600-day weight and MCW.

There were another seven bulls which sold for $25,000 or more including two which sold for $26,000.

Return buyers the Howie family, SD & AW Howie & Sons, Manypeaks, purchased a Coonamble Next Step N432 son at $26,000 as part of a team of three which averaged $13,333, while GL & RK Dickson, Nannup, went to $26,000 for a Baldridge Beast Mode B074 son.

Those to purchase bulls at $25,000 were the Carroll family, Rayview Park, Kalgan, which purchased one as part of a team of three that averaged $20,333, while the Allegria Park stud, Esperance, Murray River Farms, Waroona, Lester Pastoral Co, Manypeaks and JP & P Davis, Manypeaks, all purchased two sires to a top of $25,000 with their pairs averaging $22,500, $24,000, $24,500 and $19,500 respectively.

Return buyer of six years Rhodes Pastoral, Boyup Brook and Kojonup, was the volume buyer in the sale and had a major influence on the result purchasing nine bulls under the hammer to a top of $20,000 three times and an average of $15,222.

The operation, which runs 850 Angus breeders, bid to $20,000 for Coonamble Junior J266, AAR Frontman 3132 and Baldridge 38 Special sons.

Rhodes Pastoral manager Michael Wright said they were looking for bulls with good shape and constitution, stretch and squareness.

"We were also looking specifically for heifer joining bulls as we will join 200 this season which is 100 more than normal," Mr Wright said.

"We have decided to join more heifers and sell some later as mated females after we pick out what we want to retain."

The operation calves down in April and May and for the past two seasons has sold its calves as weaners to capitalise on the strong markets.

To date they have sold two lines of last year's steer calves totalling 213 head averaging 360kg onfarm direct to a feedlot for an average of $2200.

Other big buyers in the sale were Rutherglen Farming, Manjimup, which purchased seven bulls under the hammer to a top of $10,000 and an average of $6286, while MJ Blyth & Co, Manypeaks, purchased six sires for an average of $14,167 and to a high of $22,000.

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