Elders Springing Heifer Sale delivers some good results

The sale attracted a large crowd to the Boyanup sale complex and seating in the stands was at a premium, with buyers keen to restock their breeding herds with quality replacements.

SALE SUMMARY

While the price ranges reflected the downturn in the beef market over the past 12 to 18 months, buyers competed on their selected lines of heifers through to the final pen showing quality breeding stock remain in demand among South West and lower Great Southern cow-calf producers.

Vendors presented an outstanding catalogue of 521 PTIC first cross heifers with several pundits describing it as the most even sale team they've seen at the sale.

The team of beautifully quiet ex-bucket-reared productive and roomy first cross heifers were either AI or naturally joined to Limousin or Angus bulls with a vet certified maximum 12-week calving.

Another sale feature was 85 per cent of the catalogue was accredited for the Elders Immune Ready program having received two 7in1 vaccines and two doses of Pestigard.

After the 88th and final pen of heifers went into the ring, the Elders South West livestock team auctioneer Pearce Watling had sold all bar one pen at auction (99 per cent) for an overall average of $2169.

Capping off a successful sale was the single overlooked pen of later calving heifers quickly snapped up following the sale to seal a complete clearance.

Numbers offered, sold and clearance were up with the average expectantly dropping from last year's sale where 497 of 508 heifers (98pc) sold under the hammer for an average of $3175.

Elders auctioneer and Donnybrook representative Pearce Watling said an excellent draft of females recorded a strong result at the State's premier sale for mated first cross females.

"Outstanding line-up, a credit to the vendors and the most even catalogue I've seen in my time at Elders," Mr Watling said.

"It was a tremendous result especially in this environment and where the market has been and exceeded expectations on many fronts.

"Angus-Friesian heifers made up the majority of the yarding and sold from $1500 to $2950.

"A small but lovely run of roomy Hereford cross heifers with good pigment topped the sale at $3500 and averaged $2619.

"A select and quality run of Murray Grey cross heifers always attract strong competition and it was seen again this year selling to $2750 and Speckle Parks topped at $2600.

"Agents are very happy with the result and Elders would like to thank all buyers and underbidders and vendors for entrusting their cattle to Elders."

Angus-Freisian

The line-up of 471 Angus-Friesian heifers dominated the breed descriptions, making up 90pc of the sale.

The large team descended from paddocks of 12 individual vendors and at the completion of the run, 465 heifers (99pc) were cleared under the hammer for an average of $2141.

This was down $931 on average compared to last year's sale where 420 of 431 Angus-Friesian heifers sold under the hammer for a $3072 average.

The section's $2950 top price and overall second top price for the sale was paid on two occasions for Angus-Friesian heifers.

First to notch up top dollar was long-time sale vendors the Milner family, Milners Farm, Busselton, with six owner bred Angus-Friesian heifers from their dairy herd, PTIC to a Blackrock Angus bull and due to calve from January 20 to March 30, 2024.

The heifers were knocked down to regular repeat buyers the Dunnet family, OM Dunnet & Co, Nannup, who aren't afraid to bid up on their selections with this year's sale no exception.

Buyer Kim Dunnet said in his opinion, the Milner's first pen was the best line of Angus-Friesian heifers he had seen at the sale in quite a few years.

"I did rate them for their frame, conformation and evenness," Mr Dunnet said.

"I love the Limousin mating for milk-fed vealers but I specifically bought these for the Angus joining to feed our F2 heifer program."

The Dunnets run a herd of predominantly Angus-Friesian and some Euro-Friesian F1 and F2 breeding females which calve over a six month window to mainly Angus and Limousin and Charolais bulls to breed their own F2 replacements and primarily supply their certified grass fed yearling program for the supermarket trade and to a lesser degree the milk-fed vealer market.

The Dunnets also collected Milners Farm's next top draft of heifers of the same description for $2850.

It was well past the halfway mark of the sale before the $2950 price was paid again by Ross Thornton, R & P Thornton, Denmark, for six heifers syncro AI joined to Angus bull Chiltern Park Moe M6 and due to calve from January 25 to February 10, offered by the Merritt family's Elgin Farms Dairies, Elgin.

Mr Thornton runs a herd of 100 first cross Angus-Friesian breeders, which he has run since he retired from the building industry 15 years ago.

"We were running 300 but decided to cut our numbers to ease the workload," he said.

"We have five Simmental bulls from the Naracoopa stud in Denmark, which we put out with small groups of breeders so we can have smaller, more restricted calving periods."

The Thornton family's calves begin to drop in late January for eight weeks.

"We sell cattle each year in early November when they average about 450kg liveweight, through Campbell Nettleton to the Coles supermarket," Mr Thornton said.

"Campbell is always a gentleman to deal with."

Long-time sale supporters and annual suppliers of large numbers of first cross heifers KS & EN Roberts & Son, Elgin, offered a total draft of 134 first cross heifers which included 95 Angus-Friesian heifers.

The Roberts draft sold to the sale's third top price of $2900, with D & L Ahrens Trust securing one of the sale's opening drafts of seven Angus-Friesian heifers syncro AI mated to Limousin bull Unison Nadie N93 and due to calve for 20 days from January 20.

Elders Margaret River agent Alec Williams, representing DV Brockman, Cowaramup, purchased three pens of heifers for this account including two pens of syncro AI mated Angus-Friesian from the Roberts and Kitchen Farms, Boyanup, sale drafts paying to $2800 for seven Roberts heifers with the same joining details as previously mentioned.

Regulars at the top-end of the sale's market, the Carroll family, Tirano Farms, Nannup, went to script, paying the next highest price of $2750 twice for two pens of the Roberts syncro mated Angus-Friesian heifers of the same description and later added a pen of Murray Grey syncro mated heifers with the same calving details.

Volume buyer in the run, Denmark grazier Peter Ross, G & TJ Ross, managed to secure nine pens (57 head) of Angus-Friesian PTIC heifers for an average of $1955.

He paid a high of $2200 for a pen of six heifers offered by LM & EA Crouch, Nannup, which were naturally mated to an Angus bull and are due to calve from January 29 to March 25.

Mr Ross said he has been running first cross Angus-Friesians for 21 years.

"I run 520 breeders in total and of those, half are first crosses," Mr Ross said.

He uses Simmental, Charolais and Angus bulls over his breeders that are from various studs.

"The cows will start calving down in February which works perfectly for when I sell in December/January," Mr Ross said.

"I sell the majority of calves to Woolworths and a small portion to a feedlot."

To determine which way the cattle will be marketed, Mr Ross said the heavier cattle that weigh 420kg or more will go to Woolworths and the remaining lighter cattle to be lotfed.

Included in his purchases was a $2050 pen of seven heifers that were offered by annual vendors of large numbers KL & AJ Jilley, Boyanup, which were naturally mated to Angus sires and due to drop calves from February 1 to April 18.

Another buyer that was eager to secure first cross Angus-Friesian pens was the second volume buyer Graham Ayres Livestock, Bornholm, which secured six pens (39 head) to average $3041.

Mr Ayres paid a top of $2750 for a pen of seven heifers and a close second at $2650 for six heifers that were both syncro AI to a Limousin bull and due to calve from January 20 to February 9, both from the Roberts family.

Mr Ayres later rounded out his sales with two pens of Speckle Park-Friesian and Shorthorn-Friesian heifers.

Graeme Payne, Nillup, secured five pens (32 head), with the help of his agent, Alec Williams, Elders, Margaret River, which hit a high of $2400 for six heifers from Milners Farm, Busselton, which were naturally bred to Angus sires and due to calve from January 20 to March 30.

Another larger buyer was BJ & FH Tomas, Cundinup,which purchased 28 head of heifers over four pens.

The Tomas family paid a top of $2200 on two occasions, both times for pens offered by the Jilley family, with both lines containing seven heifers each, that are naturally mated to Angus bulls and are due to calve from February 1 to April 18.

Other sale supporters were LE & AG Wolfe, Youngs Siding, which paid a top of $2250 for a pen of six heifers from AC & CA Jenkins, Yelverton, and K Burke, which paid a high of $1700 for six heifers from Elgin Dairies.

Murray Grey-Friesian

The Roberts family and Elgin Dairies both put up two lines each of some outstanding Murray Grey-Friesian heifers that proved to be keenly sought after.

The impressive 14 head offering produced a $2464 average, which was down on last year's average of $3883 for 37 PTIC heifers offered.

Prices reached a high of $2750 on two occasions for two lines offered by the Roberts family and paid by JW Bridger & MS Cavallo, Donnybrook.

The two pens were made up of three heifers each, one syncro AI to a Limousin bull, due to calve from January 20 to February nine and the other also syncro AI and backed up to a Limousin bull with a four-week calving.

Elgin Dairies had two pens made up of four heifers each in the sale, with pen 146 bought by JW Bridger & MS Cavallo, which were due to calve from January 26 to March 14, via synchro AI to an Angus bull.

Hereford-Friesian

The Hereford-Friesian offering consisted of four very impressive lines of PTIC heifers, all from the Roberts family.

The 21 head offering averaged $2619 this year, whereas last year it averaged $3214, which the Roberts family were also standalone vendors for.

A total of 21 deep, roomy PTIC heifers of exceptional quality were yarded, which saw prices top the sale overall at $3500.

Achieving the sale's top value was a pen of six PTIC Hereford-Friesian heifers syncro AI mated to a Limousin bull to calve from January 20 to February 9, 2024, which were secured by the Dunnet family.

Mr Dunnet said the heifers had huge volume with good pigmentation and were the largest capacity heifers in the sale and would be rejoined to a Tullibardine Angus bull in late April, early May.

The $2400 second top price was paid by KC & JR Hard, Denmark, for five syncro AI heifers with the same tight calving window as above.

Thornton Farms, Denmark, won the bid for the third top price of $2350 in the offering, for four heifers that were also syncro AI mated to a Limousin bull with the 20-day calving period.

Rounding out the Hereford-Friesian line-up was six heifers that were snapped up by Mr Williams for the Brockman account which are naturally mated to Limousin bulls and will calve from February 10 to March 9, 2024.

Speckle Park-Friesian

Two vendors contributed to the impressive display of Speckle Park-Friesians that were offered towards the end of the sale.

Nine PTIC heifers were catalogued, which were all sold under the hammer for an average of $2172, which was down on last year's $3478 average for the breed.

It was a pen from TJ & RD Garstone, Cowaramup, which made the top price of $2600 in the offering, purchased by D & L Ahrens Holdings.

The top price pen consisted of two heifers that were naturally mated to a Speckle Park sire and are both due to calve from February 1 to April 4.

The remaining heifer pen was from the Roberts family's sale draft which was bought for $2050 by Mr Ayres Livestock.

The pen included seven heifers that were due to calve from January 20 to February 17, via syncro AI and backed up to a Limousin bull.

Shorthorn-Friesian

The Roberts family offered five Shorthorn-Friesian well-rounded heifers and achieved a high of $2050.

Last year, the Roberts family offered 25 PTIC Shorthorn-Friesian heifers that sold for a $3192 average.

It was Mr Ayres that took a liking to the heifers, which are due to calve down from January 20 to February 9, 2024, through synchro AI to a Limousin bull.