Plan A worked for Rolleston breeder and top buyer at Moongool bull sale

Moongool stud principal Ivan Price told everyone gathered for his 2025 bull sale he was lucky to be a Charolais breeder, but he didn't realise just how lucky he was about to be.

The third bull into the ring for the 32^nd Charolais sale, Moongool Under Contract turned heads in the Royal Queensland Show ring in August as the reserve senior champion bull in the Charolais judging, and the interest in him was immediate at the sale on Monday, September 22.

In the end it came down to a tussle between Rolleston breeding and fattening operation Logan Pastoral and a central Queensland phone bidder, with the Logan family landing the winning bid of $100,000.

Doug Logan, who breeds and fattens cattle on grass at Warrinilla, situated beside Lake Nuga Nuga in the Arcadia Valley, said he'd come with a plan and if that hadn't worked, he would have gone to plan B.

"It was his length of body that attracted me, because you get paid for weight," Mr Logan said. "He also had a nice temperament."

The 24-month-old son of ANC Kind and Moongool Lust 3, also the junior champion Charolais at last year's Royal Queensland Show, weighed 1098 kilograms with a 157 square centimetre eye muscle area and nine and seven millimetre P8 and rib fat depths.

His intramuscular fat was 6.8 per cent and he had 85pc morphology semen.

The Logans have paid up to $70,000 for Moongool bulls before, which they like to put over Brahman cows to produce steers for the export market.

They started the day intending to buy only one bull but purchased a second for $22,000 midway through the catalogue.

Ivan Price said he thought he had a $50,000 bull on his hands when Under Contract was born, not double that.

"I look at a lot of calves and this one had something about him," he said. "He had a sire's head at a young age."

He also praised his skin and hair type, as well as his gentle disposition and great stature.

Not long after he was sold, Moongool Mr U1069 sold for $90,000 to 4 Ways Charolais, Inverell, NSW.

The first 20 bulls through the ring averaged $30,100, and when all 81 Charolais bulls were sold, the final average was $20,716.

The outcome was just as healthy for the 38 Simbrah bulls sold for a 100pc clearance and an average price of $15,473.

All up, the 100pc clearance of 119 bulls resulted in a $19,042 average price.

In 2024, a top price of $75,000 was paid, the overall sale average reached $14,641, and a 96pc clearance rate was recorded, or 110 of 115 bulls sold.

Breaking that down, all 78 Charolais bulls were sold for an average of $16,360, while 32 of 37 Simbrah bulls sold, an 86pc clearance, for a $10,450 average and a top price of $20,000, paid twice.

On Monday, it was W & V Pownall, Skyville, Moranbah who outlaid the top price of $26,000 for a bull on the Simbrah side of the catalogue, a yellow polled bull known as Moongool V6.

Sired by Gowrie S89 and out of Moongool 13944, the 18-month-old bull weighed 732kg, had 9 and 6mm P8 and rib fat measurements, an EMA of 127sq cm, IMF of 4.6pc, a scrotal circumference of 36.5cm, and semen morphology of 76pc.

The sale's third top price was $40,000, paid by the Pisaturo Pastoral Co, Inga Downs, Dingo, while three Charolais bulls were sold for $34,000, two to the Wellington Cattle Co, Emerald, and one to 4Ways Charolais.

4Ways paid an average price of $15,600 for three bulls, while Wellington's three bulls cost them an average $9000.

The Andromeda Cattle Co, Eddington, Mungallala, went home with seven new bulls, paying an average $16,400 for them, while Bartlett & Co Livestock and Property at Quilpie was active on AuctionsPlus, buying eight bulls for an average $10,800.

The other main volume buyer was Rostron Grazing of Alpha, outlaying an average $9400 for six bulls.

Mr Price said that as a stud breeder, it had been great to look out from the auctioneer's platform and see so many great cattlemen in the stands, the majority being repeat buyers.

"Prices like $90,000 or $100,000 are a bit scary but I think there was a bull there for everyone today," he said. "Today's bulls are mostly going to Charolais, Droughtmaster and Brahman herds."

AuctionsPlus had 14 active bidders, 10 of whom were successful, buying 28 of the 119 lots.

• Selling agents - Nutrien, Hoch & Wilkinson, GDL, Elders, interfaced with AuctionsPlus