Online Murdeduke Angus sale sees full clearance and boost from new clients
There was a full clearance of bulls at a special online spring sale, with clients purchasing from four states.
While there was a very small crowd in attendance at Murdeduke Angust stud's Winchelsea property for the pre-sale viewing, most of the action happened online.
All 36 rising two-year-old bulls offered on AuctionsPlus sold, averaging $8333, with almost half of the catalogue achieving over $10,000.
Bulls went to operations in Victoria, South Australia, NSW and Queensland.
The top-priced bull, Lot 32, Murdeduke Paratrooper U193, sold for $14,000 and was bought by new client, Kevin Blake, Leslie, Qld.
Murdeduke Angus stud manager Simon Falkiner said he was very happy with the result.
"It was a good spread of buyers, a good clearance, and we had a lot of new clients," Mr Falkiner said.
"Our old and trusted clients were the volume buyers today.
"But a third of the purchasers were new clients.
"Being able to achieve that for an online sale was a bit surprising."
Murdeduke held their first online sale as their spring sale last year.
"This sale was far more successful than last year's online sale," Mr Falkiner said.
"We go to quite a lot of trouble to present our bulls in their best light online, so I think people have a bit more confidence buying online.
"Selling bulls is a people game, so if you have that trust with your clients and believe in your product, they will support you."
Mr Falkiner said the online auction provides a low-stress method of selling bulls and a chance to connect with clients pre-sale.
"The bulls can be inspected in familiar surroundings," he said.
"It's a big tick for animal welfare and a real opportunity to spend time one-on-one with clients."
Mr Falkiner said they were "really worried" the prolonged drought would impact the sale, as many of their long-term clients were based in the western district.
"Our bread and butter clientele are spread throughout western Victoria, and the number of cows that have disappeared from the system over the last 18 months has been extraordinary," he said.
"That had us quite worried about what the demand there would be."
He said the online sale allowed the stud a wider reach to clients across the country.
