Confidence in the Millah Murrah Angus herd was put to the test last Thursday and if the strength of bidding on the 170 lots was an indicator, it passed with flying colours.
Millah Murrah owners, the Thompson family, Bathurst, and co-owner, Trent Walker, Culburra, SA, sold all lots offered to a $140,000 top and $29,730 average in what is considered a world record average price for a sale exceeding 100 females.
The 96 cows with calves averaged $36,445, 14 PTIC cows sold to $45,000 to average $21,786 and 60 PTIC heifers sold to $80,000 to average $24,367.
The $140,000 lot, Millah Murrah Flower N30, was also the dam of one of two $100,000 lots, Millah Murrah Flower R95. The other $100,000 lot, Millah Murrah Flower S121, was bred from Flower P10 and sired by Millah Murrah Quartz Q29, a son of Flower N30.
N30 was also the dam of Flower R118, which made $80,000, the maternal granddam of Flower S13, and Flower S47 (via her sire, Quartz Q29), both of which made $90,000.
Another granddaughter, via Quartz, Flower S61, was one of two lots to make $70,000, the other being Paratrooper P15 daughter, Millah Murrah Prue S166.
In the PTIC heifers, Rado S267 made $80,000 and Prue N151 made $70,000. Both Paratrooper daughters.
Flower N30, by the $80,000 Millah Murrah Klooney K42, was offered as a half share in embryo production, while full physical possession of her and her bull calf, by Rector R53, remains with Millah Murrah.
N30 had already grossed more than $40,000 in embryos.
MILLAH MURRAH PREVIOUS SALES:
Her new owner, Lisa Clune, Edengate, Manjimup, WA, put together a draft of females to begin a new stud. She runs a cattle and horticulture operation and her 13 lots that averaged $45,692, also included the $60,000 Millah Murrah Rado S51, by Quartz.
"At the end of the day I've got a great passion and I just want to get in quietly," she said.
Meanwhile, the first of the two $100,000 females, Flower R95, by Paratrooper P15, sold to Chris Paterson, Heart Angus, Tamworth.
R95 was flushed as a heifer and again post calving and offered with a Rector R53 heifer calf. This was one of six lots sold to Heart Angus to average $36,000.
Related reading: Who was at Millah Murrah female sale? | Photos
The second $100,000 female, Flower S121, sold to Coolie Angus, Merriwa, as one of three to average $67,333 and included the $70,000 Millah Murrah Prue S166, by Paratrooper P15.
S121, by Quartz Q29, was offered with a standout Rector R53 son.
Sarah and Jamie Edmonds, Coolie Angus, previous buyers at Millah Murrah, were shopping for donors.
"Ross' genetics are really foolproof for a stud like ours," Mr Edmonds said.
Their $70,000 Prue S166 was from Kruse Time daughter, Prue N151, a granddaughter of Prue F141, who was also the dam of the $190,000 Prue M4, who topped Millah Murrah's 2017 female sale.
Trevor Nash, New Turee, Cassilis, took 10 lots to $90,000 to average $43,300, while Rosemount Pastoral, Newbridge, paid to $26,000, twice, for six lots to average $23,333.
New Turee's $90,000 was for Flower S47, by Quartz Q29 and from LD Capitalist 316 daughter, Millah Murrah Flower Q31. S47, with a Rector R53 heifer calf, was flushed as a maiden and had Winton Lad 6H, VPI Lord Patriot, Henry VIII and Woody W100 in her pedigree.
Tivoli Angus, Merriwa, bought two to $90,000, for the Millah Murrah Nugget daughter Flower S13, to average $48,667; Springwaters Angus, Boorowa, bought four to $40,000 to average $32,500; Hyline Angus, Bathurst, bought six lots to $40,000 to average $27,333; JT Angus, Scone, bought six to $46,000 to average $23,667; Young Stud, Rosabrook, WA, bought six to $22,000, three times, to average $19,667; and Blackjack Angus, Brandy Hill near Seaham, bought four to $30,000 to average $26,500.
As an emotional Ross Thompson absorbed the result, he said a lot of effort went into the stud's genetics and he saw everything the stud used.
"Some of those results were just fantastic - lot 11 (N30), that was wonderful recognition of her and her daughter," he said.
In explaining the offering, he said it was a "whole different feeling putting up a set of cows ... they're our capital and there's a whole lot of emotion in them".
The sale was run by Elders, interfaced online via Elite Auctions, with Paul Dooley, Tamworth, and Elders studstock's Ross Milne, as auctioneers.
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