Stud favourite leads the draft of bulls for Wattletop Livestock with a full clearance
A stud favourite muscled his way to the top of the MacDougall family's Wattletop Livestock bull sale, held online Thursday, May 22.
The sale resulted in full clearance of 36 bulls sold, reaching a top of $25,000 with an average of $12,597.
Wattletop Unanimous U49 claimed the top price, being purchased by Ban Ban Family Trust, Ben Lomond.
The 22-month-old Rennylea L519 son, tipped the scales 812 kilograms, with a scrotal circumference of 40 centimetres.
He recorded six estimated breeding values in the top 10 per cent of the breed, consisting of a gestation length figure of -7.9, a mature cow weight value of +138 and a carcase weight figure of +87, all in the top 9pc.
His P8 fat value of +2.7 and 600-day weight figure of +144, both ranked in the top 9pc, while his rib fat value of +2.7 placed in the top 7pc.
The catalogue described him as a bull with a lot of presence, leading the mob at weaning, weighing 395kg at seven months old.
Wattletop Livestock stud co-principal Jess MacDougall said the young sire had been a favourite of the draft.
"It's always encouraging when the ones you think quite a bit of make that $20,000 plus," she said.
"It's good to see that someone else has the same opinion and likes those same bulls."
The second top-price bull was Wattletop Ultimate U83, purchased by T and D Huff, Dalkeith, Bundarra for $20,500.
Weighing 780kg, the Knowla So Right S48 son was a descendant of Sydgen Enhance on his dam's pedigree.
He recorded an eye muscle area EBV in the top 1pc with a value of +15, as well as a birthweight figure of +1.5, placing him in the top 9pc and a docility value of +41, ranking him in the 3pc.
Two other bulls followed closely behind being purchased for $20,000.
The first was Wattletop Unlock U7 and then Wattletop Unlock U16, both being purchased by Graeme and Sally Finlayson, Kookabookra.
Both bulls were sired by Dunoon Recharge R102.
Later in the catalogue, the family offered Wattletop Universal U80, which was purchased by Nalorac Pastoral, Lyndurst Station, for $11,500.
The family donated a total of $3450 from the proceeds of Universal U80 between Love Your Sister, for cancer research and Angel Flight, both receiving $1725.
Mrs MacDougall said the family was stoked with the result, with a highlight being the amount of support from loyal clients
"Three quarters of the bulls went back to repeat buyers of ours and that mean a lot to us," she said.
"That's kinda the main number we look at when we get the sale report through was to see how many of those go back to our loyal buyers, so we were stoked with that.
"We were stoked with the clearance and a lot of those bulls were priced around that $9000 to $13,000 and I felt that was pretty good value for a lot of people.
"I think with the recent rain that has been around there has been an uplift in the kill job and seeing black feeder steers making $4.60 per kilogram. I think that's giving everyone a lot more confidence to invest again and upgrade some genetics."
The sale was conducted online APL Guyra Armidale as agents, with AuctionPlus providing the online platform.
