A well-presented and well-maintained offering of machinery and plant was keenly sought after by buyers at Adrian and Alison Brennan's clearing sale at Wongan Hills last week, where prices topped at $510,000 for a John Deere 9520R four-wheel drive tractor and temperatures hit 38 degrees.
Despite buyers having their hands full with water bottles and also seeking shade, they weren't afraid to put their hands up on the items they wanted when they went under the hammer of the Elders selling team led by auctioneer Graeme Curry, ensuring a positive result for the Brennans, who have leased their Wongan Hills and Calingiri properties as they move towards semi-retirement.
The 137-lot sale, which included 10 outside vendor lots, drew just shy of 140 registered buyers from not only the local Wongan Hills and Calingiri areas, but also from as far away as Boxwood Hill and Broomehill in the south to Maya to the north, as well as right through the Wheatbelt and also a phone bidder from New South Wales.
Elders, Wongan Hills agent and branch manager Jeff Brennan said the final sale result exceeded all vendor expectations.
"It was a very good sale and we saw good competition on the well-maintained and presented machinery items," Mr Brennan said.
"There was strong support from the Wheatbelt area during the sale and there was also interest from a NSW bidder in the sale on about eight items."
Recording the $510,000 top price on the day was a 2020 John Deere 9520R four-wheel drive tractor which had 686 hours on the clock.
Bidding started at $400,000 on the green machine and there was interest from a number of bidders before it was finally knocked down at $510,000 to a local Calingiri buyer.
A 2021 John Deere 8R340 tractor with 735 hours against it also created a bidding frenzy after Mr Curry took an opening bid of $250,000 on it before it eventually sold at $370,000 to a Bindi Bindi buyer.
Three other items sold for six figure values and the highest of these was a 2004 Ausplow DBS 54-260E seeder bar with Ratepod furrow injection module, jackal controller and two tanks which made $122,000 when knocked down to a Broomehill bidder while a 2015 Ausplow M22000 Multistream airseeder sold for $100,000 to a Corrigin buyer.
The 2014 John Deere S680 header (4707 engine hours and 3569 thresh hours) with 2014 John Deere 640D Draper front was initially passed in during the sale, but it found a home following post sale negotiations, selling for $100,000.
Also in the machinery line-up was a 2011 New Holland LM740 telehandler and it sold at $66,000 to a Goomalling enterprise, while a 2014 Trufab Grain King 30 tonne dual-purpose chaser bin with tandem axle and brakes made $76,000 and stayed local.
A 2013 Hydra Boom sprayer with 36.58 metres (120 foot) boom and 7000 litre tank and a 1993 Acco Truck with seed and super bin sold above expectations.
The Hydra Boom sprayer was knocked down to a Popanyinning buyer at $39,750 and the truck sold for $41,000 to a Dowerin bidder.
A near new 2022 Grizzly GT024 tandem offset disc plough sold at $24,000, while a Case 696 offset disc 13.11m (43ft) (84 discs) plough made $4500 and a Hay Express hay feedout trailer sold for $13,000.
There was plenty of interest in a 2013 Toyota LandCruiser VDJ79R ute (206,070 kilometres) both presale and when it went under the hammer.
Mr Curry received an opening bid of $42,000 on the ute before finally selling it at $55,000.
Two Honda TRX250 four-wheel ATV motor bikes (1992km and 2433km) were also chased strongly by buyers when they went under the hammer.
Both sold at $7750 and were headed to a Narembeen property after being secured by the same buyer.
In the grain handling equipment, two 63t DE Engineers field bins (2018 and 2016) were knocked down at $26,000 and $22,250 and a 15.24m (50ft) Hobbs Engineering Agri Fab auger, with 25 horsepower VM diesel motor and 254mm (10 inch) barrel made $19,750.
There were a number of sheep feeders offered, including three Bird's Silos 12.8 cubic metre sheep feeders (144 bags), two sold at $3500 and the other at $3600, while four 2019 Universal Lick Feeders (4200L) sold between $1800 and $2300.
Other items to spark buyer interest was a 2018 DE Engineers Bulldog Power Plant which made $6000, while a John Deere 4640 screen sold at $5400 and a Starfire 6000 receiver and two RTK radios made $9500.
In the outside vendor lots, a 60t Grain Commander field bin sold for $17,500 and a 2008 Burando Hill 1385 Farm King auger made $15,000.
