By Carla Weisse-Smith, The Land Thursday, March 14, 2013
Te Mania fires to $24,000 WHEN Te Mania Angus billed its autumn on-property bull sale at Mortlake, Victoria, as the “sons of guns” ale, it was right on the money.
The line-up of bulls by sires such as Tuwharetoa Regent D145 and Te Mania Berkley B1 drew international interest from Russia, Switzerland, Kazakhstan and Thailand.
In a mammoth effort that defied current industry trends, there was a total clearance of 113 bulls to average $8663 – $766 up on the 2012 average – and rank it the second- highest Angus sale average nationally ever.
The sale kicked off in fine style with the first lot making $14,000, but it was at lot 20 were the sale hit its high.
Te Mania Gothenburg G950 was the subject of enthusiastic bidding which peaked at $24,000, where it was knocked down to NSW breeders Kansas Angus, Boggabri, Crosby’s Angus, Forbes, and Hard Hat Angus, Dubbo.
Te Mania director Tom Gubbins said Gothenburg was a “stand out” among what he believed was the best line-up of bulls Te Mania has offered.
“This free moving bull has loads of marbling and high $Index values, and is from a reliable donor representing one of our great female lines,” he said. By the $50,000 Regent D145 and from Te Mania Barunah X584, a B/R New Design 036 daughter, 18- month-old Gothenburg was in the top one per cent for the long-fed $Index and intramuscular fat, and its semen will be marketed through Genetics Australia.
Twelve of the first sons to be offered by Regent averaged $10,500. The second-top price of $19,000 was paid by Tasmanian breeder Tony Seymour, Launceston, for a son of Te Mania Berkley B1, while Coniston Pastoral company, Ballyrogan, Vic, paid $17,000 for another Berkley son as did Brian Hearne, Melbourne, who also took a son of Te Mania Amnol A888 for $15,000.
Buln Gherin Pastoral Company, Beaufort, Vic, paid $17,000 for a son of Vermont Drambuie. Te Mania’s “gun” sires were well and truly on show, with 10 Berkley sons averaging $12,300, while nine Te Mania Africa A217 sons averaged $10,889.
Regular buyers were in attendance along with new international clients such as Swiss Farms Australia, which purchased Glenstrae Station at Willalooka in South Australia in June, and which took 13 bulls from the sale to $10,000 twice and a $7846 average. Sever Agro, Kazakhstan, through Elders International and acting on behalf of manager Bruce Creek, also took 13 bulls to $12,000, averaging $9154, while a Thai buyer operating through Total Livestock Genetics paid $14,000 for a Regent son.
Back on the home front, Morella Agriculture, Goondiwindi, Queensland, took eight bulls to $13,000 twice and a $9714 average, while regular clients the Reid family, Minnamurra Pastoral Company, Wollar, took six bulls by way of general manager Dennis Power to average $10,333, paying to $16,000, and Bellbrook’s D.J. Thompson Trust paid to $16,000 and averaged $13,250 for four bulls.
For the first time, Te Mania also offered 42 elite stud cows in a Helmsman sale run in conjunction with the bull sale. Twenty-one cows sold at a $4400 average and topped at $12,750 for Te Mania Jedda Y32.
Herb and Lucy Mackenzie, Seaforth Angus, Llangothlin, secured the prominent donor cow which is the dam of Te Mania Africa A217, whose nine sons in the sale averaged $10,889. “Every cow in the catalogue had to have a son in the bull sale,” said Te Mania director Hamish McFarlane. The sale was conducted by Elders Camperdown, with guest auctioneer Brian Leslie on the rostrum.
Pictured : Te Mania directors Hamish McFarlane and Tom Gubbins, Mortlake, Victoria, flank Nigel Semmens, Genetics Australia, Albury, who was acting on behalf of the $24,000 top-priced bull buyers.
