WA's biggest individual bull sale records full clearance and five-figure top

A complete clearance of WA's biggest individual bull sale catalogue, while raising $22,000 for Telethon, featured on the highlight reel at a successful fourth annual Munda Reds Droughtmaster on-property bull sale at 'Glencoe' Gingin on Monday.

This includes DNA testing for poll/horn status, semen motility and morphology, tested negative for Pompes Disease with a full swag of health treatments.

Munda Reds has significantly invested in leading Australian Droughtmaster genetics since 2011, which was reflected in the consistent catalogue of 54 Breedplan recorded stud bulls bred at 'Glencoe' and 79 commercial bulls bred at Mundabullangana station, Port Hedland, all represented by a deep genetic pool in the 25 reference sires.

The Munda Reds team greeted a large crowd of buyers, guests and industry representatives with their customary warm hospitality, with the mild autumn day a welcome relief from the recent unseasonally hot weather.

A disparate start to 2025 throughout the State's northern pastoral regions generated plenty of pre-sale jitters for the Munda Reds team, particularly with buyer registrations down on previous years.

Pastoralists fortunate enough to get some rain and supported by buyers further south and interstate, stocked up on their replacement bulls and competed strongly throughout the extensive catalogue to notch up a full clearance, delighting Munda Reds stud principal Mike Thompson and his team.

Values varied from reserve rates to five figure high prices, allowing buyers of all budgets to source Munda Reds bulls, but testament to the depth of the sale team was commercial bulls still selling to $10,000 in the final pen.

The charity bull is a feature of the sale where the Thompson family generously donate the sale proceeds from their first commercial bull offered to Telethon which sold for $22,000 to Rob Jowett, Warrawagine Cattle Company, Warrawagine and Wallal stations, Port Hedland, who has supported the fundraising initiative since its inception.

Munda Reds also partnered with Easy Fence to raise $6500 for the Keep The Sheep movement with the sale of an Easy Fence Premium cattle crush.

Pastoral buyers descended from the Gascoyne, Pilbara and Kimberley regions with stud and commercial interest from local areas and the south coast and interstate to Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The sale was also interfaced on AuctionsPlus, with interest from throughout the country, however online buying activity was limited.

The Nutrien Livestock selling team led by interstate guest auctioneers Dane Pearce and Trent McKinlay, Nutrien Ag Solutions stud stock, Rockhampton, Queensland, sold all 133 bulls to gross $937,000 at an overall average of $7045.

In terms of numbers sold and average, it was similar to last year's sale with 132 of 164 bulls (80 per cent) sold at auction for an overall average of $7803.

Broken down, 54 Munda Reds stud bulls sold at auction for an average of $8537, down $2972 on last year's average of $11,509 from 53 of 80 bulls (66pc) sold at auction.

While stud bull values felt the pinch of some absent buying support, commercial bulls saw their average jump $709 with 79 bulls selling under the hammer to average $6025.

Mr Pearce said the Munda team presented a very good quality line of bulls which had been prepared to suit WA conditions.

"It was a very even and consistent line of bulls from start to finish," Mr Pearce said.

"Right through the sale we saw solid buying support from a long list of return buyers plus a few new ones.

"It was very clear during the sale buyers were chasing and prepared to bid up on the bulls which were PP and had high morphology.

"Overall I think it was a real positive sale, to achieve a 100 per cent clearance this year, given the seasonal conditions in WA over the past few years especially where a lot of these bulls go, is outstanding.

"Any sale with 100pc clearance this year, you have to say is a success."

Previous top-priced Munda Reds bull buyer Paul Laycock, High Country Droughtmaster stud, Toogoolawah, Queensland, went to script when he paid the sale's $24,000 top price, not once but twice for consecutive catalogued double polled bulls in lots 10 and 11.

Both bulls were by influential sires at Munda Reds and highly rated by the Munda Reds stud which opted to collect semen from both bulls for in herd use over retaining them for stud duties.

Mr Laycock first bid top dollar for Munda Iron Fist, a mid-March 2023 born bull sired by Wajatryn Industry and out of a Kapalee Game Changer daughter, Munda 2985.

The classy thick orange coated bull was classed as among the best bulls ever offered at Munda Reds with a data set to back it up.

The 801kg bull tested 90pc semen morphology and scanned 9cm P8 fat, 8cm rib fat, 116cm2 eye muscle area (EMA) and 5.1 intra muscular fat (IMF), 1.02kg average daily gain (ADG) with Breedplan performance ranking in the breed's top 15-20pc for all weight intervals, top 5pc mature cow weight (MCW) and top 20pc carcase weight (CW).

The other top-price getter was Munda Ironjack, a deep red mid-March 2023 born bull sired by Kapalee Game Changer and a Munda Reds bred female Munda 1314.

The stylish soft bull tipped the scales at 815kg to be the heaviest stud bull in the team, while also recording impressive scan and genomic data with 1.11kg ADG, 8cm P8 and rib fats, 114cm2 EMA and 4.9 IMF and in the top 15pc of the breed for 400-day weight (DW), top 20pc 600-DW and milk, top 15pc scrotal (SC) and CW and top 25pc 200-DW.

Mr Laycock said Iron Fist was a very well put-together bull.

"He ticks all the boxes when it comes to commercial relevance," Mr Laycock said.

"He has good scale and I really liked his thickness and length."

When it came to Ironjack, Mr Laycock said he was a good solid all round bull.

"He is a strong dark red bull, with depth of flank and plenty of thickness," he said.

"He has plenty of growth potential.

"Given the tough seasonal conditions the bulls have come through, both bulls were standouts.

"I think the stud has done a tremendous job to present the bulls in the way they have."

Another thing Mr Laycock liked about the two bulls were their strong bloodlines and he said they would probably use them both in an AI program over heifers.

"I think both bulls have the potential to breed a line of commercially relevant females," Mr Laycock said.

Mr Laycock likes buying from Munda Reds as the bulls aren't overfed and because the stud focuses heavily on quality morphology testing.

"We have had a 100pc success rate with all the Munda bulls we have purchased in the past three years in terms of fertility, do-ability and consistency of the calves," he said.

"They have done the job for us without any issue and they have adapted really well to our country and conditions.

"But not only does the stud produce good bulls, the team at Munda are also good to deal with.

"We have a good relationship with the stud, we trust each other and they stand behind their product."

The Laycocks currently join 400 to 500 stud Droughtmaster breeders a year and they also run more than 400 commercial Droughtmaster females, the majority of which are being used as recipients in a large embryo transfer program the Laycocks have started.

"We have decided to run like an IVF centre and do a lot of embryo work with other breeds, which will eventually see us sell the progeny in vitro or live," Mr Laycock said.

"We have implanted 400 embryos from a range of breeds this season including Simmental, Charolais, Shorthorn, Ultrablack, Wagyu, Angus, Brangus, Brahman and Speckle Park, into our commercial herd," Mr Laycock said.

"The Droughtmaster cow is a very good recip due to its strong mothering ability, fertility and its ability to hold condition in an average season.

"To me the Droughtmaster female is the best oven in the industry.

"It's a new venture for us and something we are very excited about.

"We are looking forward to having our first genetic sale in August this year where we will offer in vitro packages while the first lot of live calves from the program will be available in 2026."

Mr Jowett, Warrawagine Cattle Company, is a passionate supporter of the Munda Reds program and again wielded the greatest influence on the sale, finishing with a team of 33 stud and commercial bulls costing more than $300,000 at an average of $9667.

Mr Jowett wasn't afraid to bid up on his selections in his haul of 14 stud bulls, averaging $12,286 and 19 commercial bulls averaging $7737. with his stud bull selections topping at $20,000.

He saved his best bid of the day for the Telethon charity bull when he became the successful purchaser for the fourth consecutive year with a winning $22,000 bid.

The outstanding double polled charity bull was an impressive big framed double polled 2024-drop bull by Garthowen Xewbaccer testing 76pc morphology.

The deeper orange coated bull weighed 758kg with scans of 9mm P8 fat, 7mm rib fat, 110cm2 EMA, 4.9pc IMF and 41cm scrotal (SC).

Mr Jowett said he liked supporting the Telethon cause and admired what the Thompsons did with it.

"Its a great cause and we are very happy to support it, it is a fantastic contribution from the Thompson family to Telethon," he said.

Mr Jowett's $20,000 top stud bull purchase and the sale's third top price was Munda Inherit in lot 24.

The powerful deep red coated bull was an early April 2023 born double polled son of Glenavon Redmont and a Glenavon Quirky daughter, Munda 183211.

The 744kg bull recorded the highest ADG of 1.56kg and scanned 7cm fats, 115cm2 EMA and 4.2pc IMF.

Mr Jowett's high-priced bulls were too numerous to mention, but he did pay the next highest value of $17,000 on two occasions.

First for Munda I Rate It in lot 28, a double polled, early May 2023 born bull by SC Glencoe and a Garthowen Velocity daughter, Munda Chookie.

The 724kg bull scanned 113cm2 EMA, 5.4pc IMF, 1.19kg ADG with figures in the top 10pc for gestation length (GL) and 200-DW and top 20-25pc for 400 and 600-DW, MCW and SC.

The other $17,000 price tag was paid for lot 40 Munda Index, a younger late May 2023 born double polled bull sired by an Wajatryn Industry son Munda Executive and an SC Glencoe daughter, Munda 3962.

It weighed 658kg with raw data of 1.3kg ADG, 9cm fats, 110cm2 EMA and 5.2pc IMF with strong breedplan performance in the top 5pc GL, top 10pc 400 and 600-DW, top 5pc CW, top 1pc MCW and top 20pc 200-DW.

Mr Jowett said his selection criteria focussed heavily on pollness and morphology,

"We want double PP bulls with high morphology first and foremost," he said.

"We have a big focus on fertility in our herd.

"They also had to have good average daily weight gain and the Breedplan figures also had to stack up on the stud bulls.

"A good underline is also something we take into consideration due to the spinfex country we have on the stations."

Currently Mr Jowett is running 14,500 Droughtmaster breeders on Warrawagine and Wallal stations.

"I have been running Droughtmasters for 28 years and they have always done well for us," he said.

"Our cows have to be able to deal with our extreme summer conditions, do well on the ordinary feed and grasses we have and have an ability to walk and travel long distances, and our Droughtmaster breeders certainly tick those boxes.

"The breed also gives us some market flexibility when it comes to selling our cattle.

"We can sell them to live export or they can go south and into the domestic market."

The majority of the enterprise's cattle are sold into the live export market out of Broome and go to Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.

It sells its male progeny as bulls to live export, while heifers surplus to breeding requirements are sold at about 15 months of age in April/May.

In the past it has sold heifers as breeders to Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales buyers.

Mr Jowett said they were looking forward to marketing their cattle in the coming months as they were having a very good season.

"It is certainly much better than the past couple of years," he said.

"We have had some very useful rains that started coming in September last year and they have continued through.

"Then we got 300 millimetres of rain which was really widespread across both stations from ex-Tropical Cyclone Zelia in February and that has really set us up."

Another strong supporter of the catalogue was Ethel Creek, Marillane and Walagunya stations' manager Richard Gratte, Newman, who manages the three stations with wife Kate.

Mr Gratte showed he wasn't afraid to bid up on his preferred lots and as a result finished with eight bulls including one stud bull at $15,000 and seven commercial bulls to a high of $10,000 twice and average of $8000.

The $15,000 bull was Munda Illegal Tender 5619, a 22mo, PP son of Munda Endergise (PP).

The 592kg bull had scans of 11mm for P8 fat, 9mm for rib fat, 108cm2 EMA and 4.9pc IMF to go with an ADG figure of 1.40kg and an 81pc morphology.

It was the third time the enterprise had purchased from Munda Reds and it was looking for double polled bulls with good bone and muscle and tidy sheaths.

Return buyer Joe Paull, Davis River Pastoral, Noreena Downs station, Newman, was another buyer keen to secure bulls after experiencing a really good season so far this year.

"We have had a really good start to the year rainfall wise and are miles ahead of last year, which wasn't too bad," Mr Paull said.

"So far our rainfall is well above average and it is looking good."

During the sale Mr Paull secured two stud bulls at $12,000 and $5000, along with eight commercial bulls for between $5000 and $8000 to finish with 10 bulls clerked to his name at an average of $6500.

At $12,000 Mr Paull purchased the 708kg Munda Inch By Inch which is a PP son of Kapalee Game Changer (P) D5.

It had scan figures of 9mm P8 fat, 8mm rib fat, 112cm2 EMA and 4.9pc IMF along with an ADG of 1.0kg/day and a 73pc morphology.

It had EBVs for growth of +24, +39 and +50 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.

Mr Paull said he liked buying from the Munda sale as there was always a good selection of bulls to choose from and also the money the stud spends on purchasing top genetics from Queensland.

"I was looking for double polled bulls which had good muscle development and tight sheaths," Mr Paull said.

"At the moment we are running 4500 Droughtmaster cross breeders but we are wanting to get to a pure head of Droughtmasters."

Another of the sale's larger individual accounts was return buyer Chris Towne, GoGo station, Fitzroy Crossing, who tallied 13 bulls (four stud and nine commercial) operating at value from $4000 to $5000.

Armed with three decent orders, Nutrien Livestock pastoral agent Daniel Wood was kept busy, purchasing 26 bulls.

This included 10 bulls at good value for Bonney Downs station, Nullagine, nine bulls for an undisclosed WA account for a $7889 average, and costing to $10,000 for four commercial bulls and seven bulls, also at good value, for Smoothy Cattle Company, Broome.

Fellow Nutrien Livestock pastoral agent Leon Goad also represented several orders, accounting for 21 commercial bulls at good value for money including 10 on behalf of Eudamullah station, Gascoyne Junction, four each for Bullara station, Exmouth and Hill Springs station, Carnarvon and three for the sale's most northern account Glen Gold Pastoral, Katherine, Northern Territory.