Big, powerful Nampara sire rules over SA Angus Kingdom

A big powerful Angus bull which was described in the catalogue notes as 'impressive from every angle' had plenty of eyes on him at Nampara stud's 17th annual sale at Lucindale.

The heaviest in the catalogue at 1155 kilograms, Nampara Kingdom U214, carried the weight with ease and also had an exceptional raw eye muscle area of 136 square centimetres at 21.5 months of age.

The lot 2 bull was one of two ET-bred bulls in the sale by $150,000 sire Millah Murrah Kingdom K35 and out of top donor female, Nampara Mildred L18

Greg Fisher, Clover Ridge Pastoral, Woolumbool, went to $35,000 for his pick which ranked in the top 10 percent of the breed for carcase weight and retail beef yield figures.

"A bull has to have presence and he has got it, " he said.

This was not just the sale high but the best price for a bull of any breed sold in SA this season.

Mr Fisher who has a self-replacing Angus herd of 1300 females has bought the sale topper at three SA bull sales in the past week but is a long-time supporter of Nampara's program.

Last year he paid $38,000 for Nampara's second-highest-priced bull.

Elders SA southern area sales manager Laryn Gogel-who is Clover Ridge's agent - said what drew them to Nampara was the stud's commercial focus and having similar goals of being in the business of "breeding and growing beef".

"For both of them it is about breeding stock that are practical and they are going to have survivability and stayability and end up complementing someone else's business down the track," he said.

"What Nampara has done for someone like Greg has created a very sound foundation of females which has allowed him to continue to come back here because what he is really looking or is a bull with power and capacity."

Kingdom U214 will be used in an AI program over a group of more moderate, thick females at Clover Ridge.

The sale topper's full brother, lot 4, Nampara Kingdom U225, sold for $14,000 on AuctionsPlus.

The sale featured the first draft of Landfall New Ground N90 sons with one of them, lot 19, Nampara U199, making the $19,000 second highest price.

U199's growth figures were all in the top 25 pc.

It was one of 23 bulls that had been used on commercial PTIC females sold earlier in the year at Naracoorte, Mortlake and Mount Gambier.

These bulls used as yearlings were keenly sought after with 22 of them averaging $10,045.

The successful buyer was the Sagasser family, Penola, bidding through AuctionsPlus.

Also shopping at the top end of the sale were new buyers Cortina Pastoral, Lucindale, with three bulls in the first 20 lots for a $13,667 average.

The Hann family increasd its offering this year giving buyers more choice.

However, in the second half of the catalogue it became evident that the 70 registered bidders had gained the upper hand with 24 bulls selling at the $6000 base price.

Overall 82 of the 102 autumn and spring drop bulls averaged $9536.

This was well back on 2024's sale where 92 of 93bulls topped at $66,000 and averaged $12,293.

The sale's volume buyers included Four Ways Angus, Portland, Vic, which bought five bullsfor a $9200 average, while Maxjem P/L, Benalla, Vic,bought four bulls for a $8250 average.

Stud co-principal Natalie Hann was pleased with the strong top-end competition on their bulls and being able to cater for all budgets.

"It has been a challenging year and that was reflected in our sale and probably others as well We appreciate people can only work within their budget and you have to have bulls that suit that budget," she said.

"The job is coming good and people that have bought bulls at the right money will hopefully be pleasantly surprised and come back again."

Mrs Hann was also pleased with the performance of the bulls which were heavier than 2024 as a group and averaged 855kg.

"What we are trying to breed is good strong Angus bulls. We want a strong head with plenty of bone, plenty of shape, plenty of depth with some cover and softness," she said.

Elders auctioneer Ross Milne said they were a very even line of bulls with "power and punch" that people came to expect from Nampara.

"They were quiet bulls and as they came through the ring they were as good a temperament as you will see," he said.

"There was a good geographical spread of buyers with western Vic, the South East and some Qld interest-it is a program that is definitely going places."

Mr Milne said one positive of the higher pass-in rate was the very affordable buying.

"Some buyers who have been here shopping previously have got a bit of value between $6000, $8000 and $10,0000 which hasn't always been the case at Nampara," he said.

Elders was the sole selling agent.