Son of Oasis' best ever sire scores top dollar at fifth Carnarvon Classic

A son of Hamadra Harley, considered 'the best bull ever' of the Oasis Droughtmaster stud sires, fetched the top price at the Carnarvon Classic.

The sale, which was in its fifth year, involved five vendors - Oasis, Oasis A, Huntly, Calco and Karragarra Droughtmaster studs - and was held on Thursday, September 4, at the Rolleston Livestock Selling Complex.

The top-priced bull, Oasis Kakadu, was bought by Luke and Alice Tincknell, LK and JA Investments, Springsure, for $38,000.

Of the 60 bulls offered this year, 58 sold for a 97 per cent clearance, grossing $732,000 for an average of $12,620.

Last year's sale saw the same clearance rate of 97 per cent, with 62 out of 64 bulls selling, while the sale topper of $44,000 for Calco Honky Tonk was a record for the Classic.

In 2024, the gross was $678,000 while the average was $10,935.

Just over a quarter of the draft this year was bought by repeat buyers, Tricia and Sid Godwin, Tanderra, Springsure.

The Godwins, who have a commercial breeding and fattening operation across six properties, bought 16 bulls for a total spend of $207,000 and an average of $12,937.

Mr Godwin said he was not looking to buy from one particular stud at the Classic.

He said he was just after a quality line of bulls to go into their Brangus Droughtmaster herd at Springsure, where they had 60,000 acres across two blocks.

"We'll use them to breed some more females," he said.

Mr Godwin said they had been at the Carnarvon Classic once before, three years ago.

He said they were happy with the line up then and were back again because the quality of the bulls was good, as was the price.

Depending on the seasons, Mr Godwin said they tried to get most of their cattle - about 80 per cent - through to slaughter weight selling to Teys in either Biloela or Rockhampton.

At their Springsure properties, the Godwins also have the ability, if the season turns dry, to grain assist a lot of cattle.

When buying Droughtmaster bulls, Mr Godwin said he ruled out a number just on colour alone as he preferred dark red animals.

"It doesn't particularly worry us too much if they're polled or not polled, (because if you go polled) it just seems to narrow the amount of bulls down that you can target for a certain price," he said.

"Temperament's also a massive thing, these are very quiet, these bulls here."

Mr Godwin said he goes through and looks at the bulls first and rules out anything he does not like on the ground just from physical appearance.

"And then I sit down and have a look at the data...if there's anything there that doesn't stack up...then you can cross them out later, but I'd say 70pc...is just by looking at them."

Oasis principal Noel Geddes said he was very pleased with the sale, describing it as the best sale he'd had to date.

"I guess it's a reflection of the cattle market and the season we're having, and the optimism out there," he said.

Before the sale, Mr Geddes believed Oasis Kakadu would be in the running for the top price because he was such a correct bull and had a lot of things going for him.

The 23-month-old polled, milk-tooth bull, was out of Oasis Charm and weighed in at 878 kilograms.

Its P8 and rib fat were 18 and 12 millimetres respectively, eye muscle area was 135 square centimetres, scrotal circumference was 40cm, and IMF was 4.8 per cent

"He's a terribly growthy bull, he's already a big bull at two years of age, he will be a big bull next year, he's hard to fault," he said.

"He's probably by the best bull we've ever owned, Hamadra Harley, he's made us a lot of money."

Elders studstock agent and auctioneer Anthony Ball said it was a fantastic sale underpinned by repeat buyers.

He said there were a lot of local buyers and central Queensland support.

"In its fifth year, it's really gaining a reputation as a high-quality sale," he said.

Mr Ball said the Carnarvon Classic would be up there as one of the best sales that the company had done so far this year for clearance, gross sales and top price.

"It's the first Droughtmaster sale that we've done for this year, and I hope this is a sign of where the Droughtmaster job is going to head," he said.

"All in all, it was very solid...we were very confident going into the day with the feedback that we'd been getting about the bulls from our clients, and it's just good to see the vendors get rewarded."

Vendor averages

Oasis - 14/14 for $15,214

Oasis A - 11/11 for $14,545

Huntly - 13/13 for $10,692

Karragarra - 14/16 for $10,928

Calco - 6/6 for $11,166

• Selling agents: Elders and Stocklive Elite