Special buy at Goolagong Angus stud's SE sale destined for Mid North
The only son of pre-potent United States sire, Baldridge 38 Special, to be offered in Goolagong Angus stud's second annual South East bull sale at Reedy Creek was the star performer.
As the video rolled on the big screen TVs, Nutrien stud stock auctioneer Richard Miller described lot 8, Goolagong 38 Special U197, which made the $14,000 sale high as a top young sire having "extra frame and dimension".
The 19-month-old, which weighed 830 kilograms, was in the top few percent of the breed for growth traits and carcase weight and top 11pc for milk.
It was the second year in a row the sale topper went to the Mumford family, Redhill, who were bidding on AuctionsPlus after inspecting the bulls earlier in the week at Beef Week.
They also bought lot 3, Goolagong Quarterback U195, for $11,000.
Lachie Mumford said they were chasing "easy-calving bulls with exceptional growth rates to put over Angus heifers".
The Mumfords have been buying from Goolagong for many years and finish their cattle in their own feedlot to 600 kilograms to be sold on hooks.
"They are good sound bulls with a beautiful temperament and as high-quality cattle as you could want," Mr Mumford said.
Even more pleasing for the Tiller family was the strong clearance rate with 40 of 41 bulls- which were younger than many bulls in SA Angus Week- averaging $7780.
This was not far off 2024's sale result with 48 of 50 bulls averaging $8417.
Stud principal Heath Tiller said he knew the average would be lower than last year but was thrilled to only pass in one bull, given the drop off in clearance rates at many sales so far this season.
He said they would continue to slowly grow their sale numbers, season permitting.
"Next year we have a lot more bulls coming through and hopefully everyone has a very good season in 2025 and forgets about 2024," he said.
Goolagong made further inroads into growing its South East client base with a few new faces in the crowd but the 19 registered bidders also included those from the Mid North and pastoral areas.
Bidding at the top end was CC Seymour & Co, South Killanoola, Bool Lagoon who secured three bulls for their self-replacing Angus herd for a $10,500 average.
This included lot 14, Goolagong Safeguard U072, which they paid $11,500 for.
It had rib and rump fat figures of +5.2 and + 8.1 - both in the top 1pc of the Angus breed.
South Killanoola manager Dean Eastwood said they had been impressed how the first lot of bulls bought at Goolagong's 204 sale had "mated up" and held their condition so decided to come back.
Despite six bulls making five figures there were also plenty of lots in the $6000 to $7000 price range.
Wheal Farms, Beachport, secured five bulls for a $7300 average, while Saltbush Ag also bought five bulls at $8000 each.
Nutrien SA stud stock manager Gordon Wood , who shared the auctioneering, said the bulls presented incredibly well.
"If they didn't take the gong for the best presentation of Angus bulls in Beef Week it was very close with a couple of others," he said.
Mr Miller agreed and praised both the phenotype of the cattle and their accompanying data, including many bulls with indexes among the best in the breed.
"They were the right type of cattle, the right maturity pattern to put enough thump in your cattle without being too big," he said.
"Those skins and hair you don't see too often either."
Mr Miller said the sale was underpinned by three or four buyers who had different budgets, which was always the key to a successful sale.
"In a year like this it is good to see strong competition on top-end bulls, people got great value for money all the way through," he said.
Nutrien Kingston SE conducted the sale.
Goolagong stud's Mid North sale at Warnertown on Friday, February 21 will feature 60 Angus bulls and 24 Sangus (Santa Gertrudis-Angus).
