State of Origin paddock edition: Maroons raid Blues territory for prize bulls

The State of Origin rivalry has officially spilled out of the stadium and into the sale yards, with Queensland buyers staging a cross-border raid deep into Blues territory.

But it's not trophies or fullbacks they're after; it's a new generation of elite, data-driven bulls to supercharge their northern herds.

The old game plan of buying lower-grade bulls is over, replaced by an aggressive southern campaign to secure the very best data-backed sires money can buy.

They are even chasing quality as far south as the Victorian border.

Throughout southern NSW for the past few years, Queensland has been a more commonly announced destination for bulls as the gavel falls on the final bid - and the interest is not slowing down.

Some NSW studs are even purchasing land across the border to suit the northern conditions.

Nutrien Stud Stock agent Tim Woodham said the interest from the northern buyers had sparked southern studs to take the bulls to their back door.

"They've recognised they need some Bos taurus input, and they are comfortable with big programs where they can step into operations that use data and can buy lines of bulls," he said.

"Pastoral buyers operate where there are big sire lines where they can put bulls out in a paddock, and they go to work while incorporating better beef quality with what they're buying out of the south, with data-driven performance cattle."

Hicks Beef - Holbrook

One family in southern NSW that has the Queensland market as a long-term objective, is the Hicks', Hicks Beef, Holbrook.

Tom Hicks said the northern buyers had been targeting better meat quality and fertility, with nearly 50 per cent of the composite and Red Angus bulls sold from the family operation heading into the Sunshine State.

"It's been a 20-year play for us to try and get red bulls north," he said.

"I think the extra cross is helping them with bull survivability."

He says hybrid vigour, while being good for growth, also has a benefit for health.

"So that when the bulls go up there and get exposed to ticks, they have a better immune system to help combat those ticks and have a gut change at the same time, then you survive," he said.

"It's a bit more of a supercharge to the immune system; it's only a theory, but it seems to be working.

"We've got a client who has had 60 bulls at Cloncurry over the last four years, and he still has 60 bulls."

Rockingham Santa Gertrudis - Condobolin

In Central West NSW, Rockingham Santa Gertrudis has commonly had some Queensland interest through the years, yet this was taken to another level this year.

While always selling a number of bulls into the north, the Hague family, Tara Station, near Condobolin, sold 16 of 41 bulls into studs, with 12 of those operations based in Queensland.

Those bulls were destined from Toowoomba to Taroom and Longreach.

Stud principal Dean Hague said one aspect of selling into the north had been the climate and preparation the bulls were raised in and had received.

"When selling bulls into western Queensland, it's the fact of where our bulls are bred, because there aren't many stud cattle bred in harsh conditions like where we live," he said.

"It's pretty deficient as far as the grass quality goes, and the only good feed they get is when we get a crop in late June.

"I think the fact that the bulls are 'what they see is what they are', so they're taking them home and they're not going backwards, they're going forward in leaps and bounds."

Mr Hague said this was coupled with the fact previous clients had been able to get as many as seven breeding seasons from sires purchased for the operation.

"Because of the way they are fed and being prepared, they last for up to seven seasons out of a bull," he said.

"So if you're paying a $15,000 average like this year and you're getting six seasons out of him, well, that's a lot more value than paying $15,000 and only getting one or two seasons out of him.

"And that's nearly purely the country they were born in and the preparation they get."

Royalla Shorthorns - Yeoval

While having a history of selling bulls into Queensland since the start of the stud 27 years ago, Nic Job, Royalla Shorthorns, Yeoval, attributes the 30pc of his sale draft going north each year on two factors: the longevity of the bulls' working seasons and their ability to perform on grass.

Mr Job said on average the stud's bulls were lasting a period of 3.9 years in Queensland.

"They don't get grain, so they're bred to perform on grass and that's what happens up there," he said.

"By not feeding them grain, it does two things: one, it means the bulls are in working condition, they don't have to be let down. They're more fertile, because grain can knock the fertility out of them.

"Two, it means we've also been through them and picked out the bulls that can't handle it, so the ones that can't take it aren't in the sale.

"For Queensland, it's a completely grass-based system. Even if they are finishing their cattle in a feedlot, their cows are running in completely grass-based systems.

"Where our bulls are going, there's no supplementary feeding, so they have to do it on the feed that is in front of them, so that ease of doing is one of the biggest factors."

Mr Job said while selling 20 bulls at the Longreach All Breeds Bull sale each year, financially, the most important thing was getting a live calf on the ground, along with having females able to have enough condition themselves to get back in calf.

Rennylea Angus - Culcairn

While historically they had not had a large portion of the bulls in the draft head north, Culcairn stud, Rennylea Angus, has changed this in the past 10 years.

Ruth Corrigan, Rennylea, said one influencing factor had been online platforms such as AuctionsPlus allowing a broader field of buyers into the program, which turns over about 500 sale bulls a year.

"Ten years ago we didn't have bulls going up there, but now it's 10pc of the auction bulls," she said.

"There are some out of the northern industry looking for top-end bulls to go into bull breeding programs, and certainly a few of the high-priced bulls have done that to meet the clients' breeding objectives.

"Family operations, perhaps they've got onto us as the bulls come up in their searches on data, and they're probably more data-focused operations looking for meat quality.

"The people who are coming to us are definitely coming for the data profile on the bulls, which is possibly why a lot of people come to us anyway.

"Generally, there's more black bulls going north as well, and that's having a flow through on people like us who haven't been northern-focused traditionally."

Wirruna Poll Herefords - Holbrook

While being in the far south of NSW, Ian Locke, Wirruna Poll Herefords, Holbrook, has also received growing interest from buyers across the northern state border.

"There is no doubt that over the last 10 years, the interest in Herefords coming from Queensland has increased as they've moved towards moderating the maturity and turning the Bos indicus cattle into flatbacks for carcase quality into the feeders markets," he said.

"For Herefords, it can keep animals red, but also adds the well-known benefits of docility, fertility and efficiency and is easy to turn off quicker.

"Ten years ago, I hardly sold any into Queensland, and there have been sales in recent times where nearly a third of the bulls have gone that way."

Mr Locke said some years the northern buyers had been more present in the stud autumn sale, preferring to buy the younger bulls in the draft and allow them to settle in longer before the joining season.

Valley Creek Simmentals - Binda

While receiving solid support throughout their sale, Samantha and Stuart Moeck, Valley Creek Simmentals, Binda, have been supplying bulls into the north via multiple avenues.

This includes through their annual sale but also by producing specific embryo calves to meet the demand of northern clients, with them now selling 70pc of their bulls across the state line.

Mr Moeck said the demand for the program's embryo calves had been increasing.

"It's mainly because we could buy good quality bull for half the price in the south, and they couldn't find the type of black Simmental bull in Queensland that easily," he said.

"They were looking for a bit more softness and a bit more bone, not necessarily the higher data set bulls that were around at the time.

"It's breeding an animal that we and the customer think will suit what they want to achieve in their program."