Visit to Carabar sale for steak sandwich ends in $52,000 shopping spree
Buyers at the 2025 Carabar Angus sale who thought they'd 'just come for a steak sandwich' took home the top-price bull on Tuesday, September 16.
Held on-property at Carabar, Meandarra, 66 of 74 bulls sold for a 78 per cent clearance, an $8810 average, and a $511,000 gross.
The top-price lot, Carabar Versatile V80, sold for $22,000 to Shane and Tracey Richter, Braeside, St George.
The 20-month-old bull was sired by Carabar Gun Smoke G53 and out of Carabar Princess Zena N44.
He weighed in at 736kg and had an eye muscle area of 120 square centimetres.
The Richters also purchased two more bulls, Carabar Lotto U251, and Carabar Phoenix U439, for $20,000 and $10,000, respectively.
Despite being repeat buyers, Mr and Ms Richter only planned on coming to the 2025 Carabar sale as a social opportunity, but couldn't help taking home a few bulls after looking through the catalogue.
The top-price bull, Carabar Versatile, caught their eye as he was the last bull by his sire available for purchase.
"We have an existing bull by Gunsmoke, and he's done very well," Mr Richter said.
"The Gunsmoke line is a pretty good line, and we just wanted him [Carabar Versatile V80], because he's the last one [by the sire].
"We wanted to grab him, because that would give us a few more years [with those genetics], hopefully.
"We were only coming for a steak sandwich, and circumstances changed, and here we are going home with three bulls.
"It was a $52,000 steak sandwich."
The Richters run 600 head on their 5000 acre (2023 hectare) property, Braeside, and said the smaller scale meant it was essential to have quality over quantity when it came to their cattle.
With a predominantly Angus-based breeder herd, the Richters said Carabar genetics had performed well for them over the years.
"There's a lot of growth for age; they put a lot of weight into the weaner side of things," Mr Richter said.
"We've got to sell our weaners pretty early, being a smaller place, so we are looking for that weight for age and 200, 400, 600-day growth.
"We've had a lot of feedback about our cattle, and we just try and have a good herd."
The three new bulls will be sent out to service the Richter's Angus heifers.
Bulk buyers at the sale included repeat buyers, Yamburgan Pastoral Company, Dirranbandi, who purchased eight bulls for an average of $8875, and J and P Southern, Tippendale South, Dirranbandi, who bought six bulls for an average of $6600.
Carabar stud principal Darren Hegarty said he was pleased to see return buyers present at this year's sale, despite the average and clearance rate being back from the 2024 sale results.
For comparison, at the 2024 sale, 66 of 71 bulls sold for a 93 per cent clearance and a $9439 average.
Mr Hegarty said he was happy to see his top-price bull sell to longstanding clients.
"You'd be happy if you produced bulls looking like him every day," he said.
"[The Richters] have bought a lot of bulls over the years."
- Selling agents: Elders and GDL
