Team Te Mania’s annual online commercial female sale – and only on AuctionsPlus – has more than 1200 elite heifers and cows for sale on Friday, March 22.
And recent sales have shown the market is hungry for cattle with cutting-edge genetics as Team Te Mania cattle continue to command significant market premiums in a volatile and tight market.
Team Te Mania director Hamish McFarlane says in December, Mark Calvert-Jones and Troy Mahoney, Tonga Station, Mansfield, Victoria, sold 67 mixed age PTIC cows to calve in autumn for an average of $2511 – a whopping $500-plus better than other comparable lines in the same sale.
Hamish says before that sale, Garry and Leanne Hall from The Mole, at Warren, NSW, sold 81 NSM heifers for an average of $1115 – another huge premium to the market, which was $300 to $500 lower for similar lots in the same sale.
“It doesn’t seem to matter whether the market is up or down, processors are looking for cattle they can trust to perform and they know that means genetics and generations of disciplined objective measurement, with figures which are setting the lead in the Angus industry,” Hamish explains.
“Those processors know the key is genetics and when you can consistently offer cattle stacked with marbling while bending the growth curve across the other traits, it’s no wonder they come looking for Team Te Mania steers,” he says.
Devan Robertson at Hamilton in Victoria will have 220 catalogued – 40 will have a calf at foot while the rest are PTIC to calve in August.
“The figures are good across the offering, and our focus on marbling and higher 600-day growth, combined with birthweight and gestation length, has produced cattle perfect for someone looking to inject some oomph into their own herd profiles,” Devan added.
Richard McFarlane, Tailem Bend, South Australia, is a progeny test herd within Team Te Mania and he has 50 cattle in two lines – one of rising 21 months and the other rising 18 months. None have ever been joined.
“Even though these are our excess breeders, our strict line in the sand on $Index values means the figures of all these heifers are well above the breed averages and they are the progeny of the very best bulls available from Te Mania Angus so they are an excellent opportunity for someone looking to start their own herd with a genetic head start or boost the genetic depth of their existing breeders,” Richard says.
Susie Chisholm, based at Adelong in NSW, has been a regular sale topper at local sales as well as the Team Te Mania Online Sale, and this year she has an outstanding mob of 142 cattle aged from rising three years to a small group of seven, eight and nine year old cows.
“These are sound cattle who have been intensively yard trained, have market-leading IMF figures and are an ideal example of the importance of EBVs and concentrating on the way they can give you immediate generational impact in your herd and regardless of age they were nearly all July drops,” she explains.
On Victoria’s Bellarine Peninsula, Fiona Conroy has a handpicked line of 27 females in the sale – 13 are open with calves at foot and the balance are all PTIC to calve in August/September.
She says the appeal of Team Te Mania cattle is the “integrity of their genetics” and that performance is constantly going up.
“We are very focused on fertility, on bringing gestation length down and calving ease up because dead calves don’t make money. We are constantly being contacted by Rangers Valley and Stockyard because they know how our animals perform and that’s what they want for processing, because they recognise the value of the Te Mania Angus brand and that the brands dominance of Breedplan is good news for them and their customers.”
Duncan Clowes, at Millthorpe in NSW, has 94 most ACR females in the sale, all aged 18 months and all – via AI and back-up bulls – 2.5 months PTIC.
He says his sale team will give interested breeders and commercial producers access to “good lines to help fast-track their own production”.
“It is a strong and even line-up of cattle and they are all set to calve in July – and have a record of the steady growth rate critical to attract premium prices and steady growth, without interruptions, meaning marbling is more consistent,” Duncan added.
The sale starts on Friday March 22 at 11.30AM AEDT only on AuctionsPlus (Auction 386).
