Mount William's top bulls sell interstate as stud rebuilds after bushfire

Mount William Charolais' bulls are heading interstate after its annual on-property bull sale on Friday.

The stud, led by stud principals Rob and Victoria Abbott, Willaura, was in the midst of recovering from devastating Boxing Day bushfires.

Over half their farm was burnt during the blaze in late December, which also swept through nearby farms, along with hay sheds and machinery.

Mr Abbott said he was relieved to see the stud's bull sale go well, just nine weeks later.

The family also welcomed visitors to their farm during Stock & Land Beef Week last week and now that both the open day and bull sale were over, they could focus on sending stock on agistment and continue with their bushfire recovery.

Mr Abbott thanked all his valued clients for supporting the sale.

"The fire put a spanner in the works but it's good to get the sale behind us now," he said.

"It was reasonable given everything that's gone on.

"We've basically had a drought here."

The sale saw 19 bulls sold from the 32 offered for an average of $6632 and to a top of $16,000.

A further three bulls were sold immediately after the sale, bringing the total headed to new homes to 22.

Mr Abbott said he was happy with the result which saw "good bulls go to good clients".

Michael Stewart, Charles Stewart Livestock, Colac, picked up the top-priced bull, Lot 2, for his own 160-cow commercial Charolais operation.

It was the sixteenth year Mr Stewart had bought at Mount William and he was "delighted" with his latest purchase.

"He obviously was the best bull in the sale by a mile," he said.

"He's just an absolutely cracking bull."

Mr Stewart highlighted the bull's structure and figures and said he planned to keep a lot of its progeny for his own breeding.

The sale topper, Mount William Upswing, was sired by Rosedale Puma MRP157E and out of Mount William Quail Hunter BSQ62E.

The April 2023-drop bull recorded estimated breeding values of +0.8 square centimetres eye muscle area, birth weight of +0.1kg, 200-day weight of +11kg, 400-day weight of +23kg and a 600-day weight of +38kg.

The bull recorded +13kg for milk.

Mr Abbott said the top-priced animal was a "stand out" from the get go and it was difficult to fault him.

"A bull that clearly made and powerful, that's homozygous polled and backed up with good figures, is hard to come by," he said.

Across the sale, the stud's bulls were picked up by a number of interstate buyers.

Four bulls from the 19 sold went to Queensland buyers.

These included Lot 6, Mount William Underdog, which was picked up for stud use by Brendan Schiewe, Brendale Charolais, Marburg, Qld, for $10,000.

The bull, the second highest priced of the sale, was the first of the Palgrove Raindance sired progeny to be sold by Mount William.

Mr Abbott had bought the top sire for $45,000 in recent years and was happy to see his calves sell well.

A volume buyer, Loid Appleton, Appleton Cattle Company, Yarmina, Qld, picked up three bulls for the family's large beef operations in the Belyando River and Hughenden regions.

Elsewhere, two bulls, Lot 14 and Lot 32, were bought by Weymouth Farms, Beechford, Tas, for $8000 and $5000 respectively.

Mr Abbott said other bulls stayed local to Victoria with a few headed to the western district and a handful going to Gippsland clients.

Rob and Angela Perkins, Narweena Station, Penshurst, bought three bulls and were the stud's longest running clients.

Mr Perkin's father George Perkins had bought bulls from Mount William for 26 years and sadly passed away in December at the age of 95.

The Perkins continued with their long-running relationship with the stud and took home the bulls to use on their herd of Angus cows.

The family turned off 800 calves a year via Auctions Plus and now had regular clients returning for their Charolais blood animals.

Charles Stewart Howard agent Shelby Howard said a number of their clients from the Goulburn Valley purchased bulls at the sale for the first time.

"It was a very good line up of cattle," he said.

He said the Mount William bulls were particularly popular with vealer clients or those producing export weight heifers and bullocks at 2-2.5 years old.

"They're some of the best cattle you'll see for that job," he said.

Mr Abbott was steadfast in his view that despite the rise of Angus cattle, the Charolais breed was going nowhere.

"People that know the cattle and know the meat game, they know they have the carcass and the yield," he said.

"The modern Charolais is a refined animal, suitable for Australian conditions.

"They're here to stay."

He said the breed potentially had an opportunity as the sire of choice to go over Angus cows and farmers using such a program were seeing good results.

"Charolais compliment the Angus so well," he said.

Mr Abbott said his stud was working to breed moderate, easy doing cattle with temperament, feet and longevity a key focus.