Record price paid by repeat buyer at Glenlea Beef Charolais Sale in Winton

Glenlea Beef recorded its best ever result for its seventh annual Charolais bull sale in Winton with a record top price and average.

The sale on Friday, July 18, saw 59 bulls sold for a 100 per cent clearance with the top price bull selling for $26,000, surpassing last year's top of $17,000.

The offering, comprised of 52 Charolais and seven Simmental bulls, grossed $738,500 for an average of $12,517. Last year's average was $9557.

The 52 Charolais grossed $669,500 for an average $12,875, while the seven Simmental grossed $69,000 for an average $9857.

The top-priced 24-month-old polled Charolais bull, Taylor Glenlea Valiant U12, was sired by Palgrove Valiant and out of Glenlea Friesia 11th. The buyers were the Gleeson family, Beaufort Pastoral Co, Alpha.

The bull weighed 1002 kilograms, had a P8 fat and rib fat of 14 millimetres and 8mm respectively, and an eye muscle area of 152 square centimetres. He had an IMF of 6.6 per cent and a scrotal circumference was 42cm.

The Gleesons bought a second polled bull, Glenlea Q-Brick U740, for $24,000. It was 24 months old, weighed 974kg and had an EMA 148sq cm.

Its P8 was 15mm, its rib fat was 8 mm, its IMF was 6.5 per cent and it has a scrotal circumference of 40cm.

The Gleesons were first-time buyers last year, purchasing the two top-priced poll bulls at $17,000 and $14,000.

Joel Gleeson said he really liked the bulls they bought off Glenlea last year and what they had done over the past 12 months.

The two new bulls are earmarked to join the Gleeson's 2000 strong breeder herd of predominately Charolais, but which also has some Romagnola and Brahman.

The Gleesons run a feedlot program, with all progeny sent to Smithfield for custom feeding of 100 days.

Mr Gleeson said they bred about 10-15 stud bulls themselves and bought about 10-15 each year.

He said he really liked the quality of the Glenlea poll bulls.

"A lot of people lost quality when they went poll, but they kept it," he said.

Repeat buyers, the Bode family, McKinlay, purchased a draft of five bulls for an average $16,800. They also purchased the second top priced bull, Glenlea Quibbler, for $25,000.

He was 22 months old, weighed 918kg, and had an EMA of 141sq cm. Its P8 was 11mm, rib fat was 7mm, it had an IMF of 4.1 per cent and a scrotal circumference of 41cm.

Glenlea Beef stud principal Roderick Binny said it was a tremendous sale and they were humbled by the result.

"It exceeded expectations - the repeat buyer support that we're getting is tremendous, the bulls are working very well and producing great progeny in the north, in the centre and central north," he said.

"We also had a number of first-time buyers that was very pleasing, and they invested heavily in the genetics.

"They bought some of the leading bulls in the sale and we sold them to a very wide geographical area from Morven to Cloncurry and across to Clermont and Boulia."

Mr Binny said this year's sale was the best yet since he started selling in Winton seven years ago.

"Last year was very good, this year was better again...we increased our bulls by 40pc this year," he said.

"We only offered and sold 38 last year, and we increased our average by around 30pc as well, from $9557 to $12,517."

Mr Binny said this was the first time he had offered Simmental bulls at the Winton sale, with the top priced Simmental bull fetching $13,000.

"We've made an investment in the Simmental business and they were our first offering," he said.

Building a reputation in the north for good bulls, Mr Binny was happy to report that progeny from his Charolais bulls had topped cattle sales in Roma and Blackall in the past couple of months.

He said other progeny of Glenlea genetics had done well at the Clermont and Monto shows.

"So we really are getting a lot of traction with the culmination of new buyers and some bigger operations in Cloncurry and Corfield and back into Springsure," he said.

"Things look very positive and we have orders for significant numbers of paddock bulls to go north as well."

All Glenlea Beef bulls for sale in Queensland are prepared at Condamine.

A second Glenlea Beef Charolais Bull sale will be held in Roma on September 17.

Glenlea Beef has 1000 purebred Charolais breeders and has cattle located in several locations in NSW and Queensland.

• Selling agents were GDL, Elders and AuctionsPlus