Gandy Angus bull tops at $17,000 at Boyanup

Seventy sensational bulls were paraded into the ring at the saleyards to catch the attention of buyers and onlookers.

Buyers were able to select from the Gandy family's broad range of genetics, as well as 11 additional PTIC females on offer.

Sale supporters, both new and returning, travelled from as far north as Badgingarra, with an immense amount of support from the South West region in an attempt to secure the Gandy genetics.

Buyers pushed the top-price to $17,000 for a stud sire and the bull average to $8977, which was up $1227 on last year's sale average and an average of $5250 for the PTIC females.

The registered buyers' list grew this year to 65 potential bidders at the sale, as well as support from AuctionsPlus, ensuring the bidding throughout was non-stop.

With an improved outcome on last year's sale and the help of the live video stream for online buyers to see the livestock, the sale sold to a 93 per cent clearance of bulls and a 73pc clearance of PTIC females.

Sales auctioneer, Nathan King from Elders stud stock was pleased with the positive result of the sale for the Gandy family.

"Traditionally Gandy bulls have a lot of meat and muscle and the bulls on offer today were more like the old tradition," Mr King said.

"It was a very positive result today for the family.

"There were plenty of heifer bulls that were well-structured.

"The bulls being the weight they were at the ages they were, in terms of feed efficiency proves that they are good doing types as well."

The sale's top prices were achieved relatively early in the catalogue, with lot 22 being a crowd favourite and selling for the sale's top price of $17,000 to loyal return client Anthony McDonald, Kuloomba Farming, Esperance.

Gandy Beast Mode S278 is an April 2021-born bull, weighing 944 kilograms and sired by Diamond One Beast Mode Q149 (AI) and out of Stonedale Tour Of Duty N16 (AI).

This brilliant bull had a +3.5 scrotal size in the top 10pc, +1.0 retail beef yield (RBY), +4.4 birthweight and +49 for 200-day weight and +89 for 400-day weight, putting it in the top 5pc and +116 for 600-day weight placing it in the top 10pc.

Mr McDonald said he has been buying bulls from the Gandy family for more than 10 years.

"The top-priced bull had good figures as well as his conformation and how he looked," Mr McDonald said.

"He had good eye muscle, good growth and he was also one of the younger bulls in the sale.

"I've had my eye on that bull for quite a while now."

Mr McDonald runs an all Angus herd at his Esperance property and will be putting his purchases in with his existing bulls.

"We have about 25 bulls that we will put over our stud herd of about 400 breeders," he said.

"I'll use a lot of my younger bulls to join with the females and then keep the old ones as spares this year."

Mr McDonald's heifers calve at the start of March and his cows calve in early April.

He went on to buy the third top-priced bull in lot 16, 2021-drop Gandy Geddes S138, a son of Varilek Geddes 7068 and out of Diamond Tree Bartel L36 (AI).

Gandy Geddes S138 weighed in at 954kg with a birthweight in the top 20-30pc at +3.1 and +52 200-day weight, it is positive in rib and rump fat EBVs and docility as well as in the top 10-20pc at +22 milk and above average calving ease traits.

Mr McDonald rounded out his purchases with an additional three bulls, Gandy Accelerate S11, Gandy Stellar S186 and Gandy Fireball S94, taking home a team of five bulls at an average of $11,900.

The second top-priced bull that was on display in pen three, sold to Glen Wilkinson, G & N Wilkinson, Badgingarra, for $16,000.

Gandy Exclusive S74 (AI) weighed 960kg and was sired by Musgrave 316 Exclusive and out of Diamond One Bronc P74 (AI).

The 2021-drop bull had +2.2 for birthweight placing it in the top 15pc, along with a +57 for 200-day weight and +104 for 400-day weight and +1.6 for rib fat, also placing it in the top 15pc.

This particular bull's Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) showed a rump fat figure of +0.9, placing it in the top 20pc and in the top 5pc for selection indexes.

Mr Wilkinson said he bought from the stud about five years ago and was pleased with his purchases.

"This particular bull had certain figures we were looking for and had great figures overall," Mr Wilkinson said.

"He has a good shape about him and will improve our Angus herd.

"The sire is an outcross so we will use him over our 350 breeders and the replacement heifers will have different breeding and genetics."

Two tremendous bulls were purchased by Esperance grazier, Wes Graham via AuctionsPlus.

Mr Graham's top purchase for the day was Gandy Geddes S214 (AI) for $14,000.

The 2021-drop bull was used at the Gandy stud serving cows as a yearling and is in the top 5pc with +111 400-day weight and carcase weight EBVs of +88, this sire is also in the top 10pc with +143 600-day weight and in the top 10pc for selection indexes and a 200-day weight figure of +57.

Mr Graham rounded out his sales paying $13,000 for 2021-drop Gandy Stellar S195 (AI).

This bull was also used to serve Gandy cows as a yearling and was in the top 10pc for a +105 400-day weight, +139 for 600-day weight and a +1.7 RBY.

It also ranked in the top 15pc for a 200-day weight and in the top 20pc for carcase weight and +8.2 EMA.

Semini Enterprises also took home a spectacular bull, Gandy Fireball S111 (AI), which sold for $14,000 and was in the top 5pc with an EMA of +11.1, in the top 10pc at +60 for 200-day weight, in the top 15pc at +1.6 for RBY and selection indexes, along with a +76 carcase weight, falling into the top 20pc.

The Neaves family, GA Neaves, Dalkeith, took home one bull for the day, a 2021-drop Gandy Beast Mode S184 (AI).

This bull is in the top 1pc with +68 200-day weight, +122 400-day weight and selection indexes, as well as in the top 5pc with +151 600-day weight, top 10pc with +84 carcase weight EBVs and in the top 20pc with +3.1 for scrotal size and +1.3 for RBY.

Local Boyanup buyers, K & AL Payne, trailed closely behind paying a sum of $12,500 for the first bull to sell on the day, Gandy Moe S204, a son of Diamond One Moe Q63 (AI) and out of Stonedale Bushranger M410 (AI).

The Anning family, M D & L Anning, purchased lot 21, Gandy Fireball S148 for $12,000.

This bull is a son of GB Fireball 672 and out of Diamond One High Weigh Q7 (AI).

Securing one bull at the sale was G & S Bately & Sons, Wilyabrup, paying $11,500 for Gandy Exclusive S44 (AI), Deehan & Son purchased Gandy Exclusive S40 (AI) for $11,000, M Martin & Bluebell Pty Ltd paid $11,000 for Gandy Foundation S127 (AI), while

T & J Salmeri, Boddington, left with Gandy Geddes S126, (AI) for $10,500 and J & G Gilbert, Pemberton, also took home Gandy Exclusive S100 (AI) for $11,000.

Like the past four years, Alcoa Farmlands, Wagerup, was again the volume buyer in the bull offering and secured prime Gandy Angus genetics.

Alcoa Farmlands' Vaughn Byrd and Richard Gardiner successfully bid for and won a team of 11 bulls at an average of $6500.

Sale summary:

Their top-priced bull was the $9000 Gandy Kaiser S307.

The 2021-drop bull, sired by Diamond One Kaiser Q59 (AI) and out of Diamond One Innovation P120 (AI), was in the top 5pc with +10.5 EMA and +2.1 RBY as well as in the top 20pc at +1.4 rib and +1.0 rump fat.

Mr Byrd said they had been supporting the stud for some years now and they liked the results from the Gandy bulls they had purchased in the past.

"We were selecting for bull type as well as their figures," Mr Byrd said.

"The bulls we chose all had quite strong carcase traits which we were selecting on as well."

Mr Byrd, mates 4000 Angus breeders with the exception of 400-500 Murray Greys that they are currently breeding out to have a straight Angus breeding herd.

"We will market both our steer and heifer calves from April, all the way through to June," he said.

"We also have an additional 600 grassfed yearlings that will go to Harvey Beef."

Also eager to secure the Gandy genetics was LT Armstrong & Sons, Tutunup, which purchased three bulls at an average of $12,000, to a top of $13,000 twice.

The first bull to achieve $13,000 was Gandy Beast Mode S161 (AI) which is in the top 10pc at +1.4 birthweight and in the top 20pc for its +56 200-day weight and +102 400-day weight.

Gandy Crackerjack S99 (AI) was the second bull they paid $13,000 for and is in the top 10pc at +10 EMA, in the top 20pc with +2.5 birthweight, +58 200-day weight, +2.9 scrotal size and selection indexes.

The Armstrongs rounded out their sale's haul with Gandy Geddes S21 (AI).

The Venables family, FG & LV Venables, Cookernup, a keen buyer of the Gandy genetics, took home a team of three bulls to a top of $11,000 twice, averaging $9,000.

Gandy Fireball S91 (AI) was the first to achieve the Venables top price with a top 20pc +8.1 EMA and +1.1 rump fat and selection indexes.

Second to achieve the $11,000 mark was Gandy Crackerjack S149 (AI) which is in the top 1pc at +13.3 EMA and top 10pc at +1.8 RBY.

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The Cookernup buyers rounded out their sales with Gandy Beast Mode S303.

Also putting together a team of three bulls was Yarralena Grazing, Cranbrook, paying to a top of $12,500 at an average of $10,000.

Its top priced sire was Gandy Foundation S171 (AI) which fell into the top 5pc for its +2.3 RBY.

The female offering was dominated by Peter Cowcher, CAS Cowcher & Son, Willandra Simmental & Red Angus stud, who managed to secure a team of seven PTIC purebred Angus cows.

Mr Cowcher paid a top of $7000 and an average price of $5286, with his top-price - a PTIC stud female the last pen of the day, Stonedale Bushranger M410 (AI)(TW), the mother of Gandy Moe S204 (the lot one bull that sold for $12,500).

Stonedale Bushranger M410 (AI)(TW) is sired by Jarobee F119 (AI) out of Diamond Tree Bartel J1 (AI) and is in calf to Gandy Geddes S214 (lot 25) due from March 6, 2023.

Mr Cowcher said he was in the very early stages of building his own Angus stud.

"We were looking for some females to build on our small existing herd," Mr Cowcher said.

"Those female phenotypes were excellent, they had good feet, plenty of capacity and softness as well as good Breedplan figures.

"We are very happy with our very even line of Angus females."

Mr Cowcher said the cattle were sound structurally and were exactly what they were looking for.

"Our commercial herd at the moment is Simmental, Red Angus cross," he said.

"In the near future we aim to develop a commercial line of Simmental Angus cross cattle.

"We have about 30 Angus females at the moment."

Mr Cowcher said at this stage they were looking to build towards 60-80 Angus females over the next two seasons.

Equally very happy vendors at the conclusion of the sale were Kim and Lex Gandy.

"We really want to thank our supporters, buyers and underbidders through our rebuilding stage," Mr Gandy said.

"Their loyalty through our rebuild is greatly appreciated and we are very thankful.

"The outcome of the sale was good considering the time of year, because no one is under any pressure to buy a bull at this time of year.

"We are breeding the bulls to peak at 600-days and we are introducing and focusing on muscle and marbling."

Mr Gandy said they were at capacity with females at their property, hence why the females were included in their bull sale this year.

"We thought we would see how they would sell and they sold quite well," he said.

"We will most likely be including females in our sale in the future."