Dehorned bull outshines the polls at this year's National Charbray Sale
A 23-month-old dehorned Wattlebray stud bull has outshone the polls to fetch the top price at this year's National Charbray Sale.
The 48th sale, which was held at CQLX Gracemere on Monday, September 29, involved 15 vendors.
The top-priced bull, Wattlebray Uniform, was bought by Anthony and Kylee Curtis, Wellcamp stud, Westmar, for $32,500.
The cream bull was sired by Huntington Lovell and was out of Wattlebray Nancy.
He weighed 868 kilograms, had P8 and rib fat measurements of 12 and 10 millimetres respectively, an eye muscle area of 134 square centimetres, a scrotal circumference of 38.5 cm and intramuscular fat of 5.2 per cent.
Mr Curtis said he was attracted by the overall masculinity of Wattlebray Uniform.
"He's got plenty of muscle, plenty of meat, scanned up good, (and) he's got a good, quiet temperament.
"And we'll try and breed some bulls out of him."
Mr Curtis said they only bred 30 bulls a year as they were a pretty small operation compared to other studs.
He said he had been breeding Charbrays for the past 20 years because they suited plenty of different markets.
Mr Curtis said he had bought bulls from Trevor and Lolita Ford of Wattlebray before and had been happy with them.
"And we've just liked the direction that they have gone in with their cattle, which is pretty similar to ourselves," he said.
Mr Curtis said Wattlebray Uniform was the family's first pick.
"We had another bull picked out, but we didn't go as hard on him, so to speak," he said. "But we're happy because we got the bull that we wanted."
The underbidder for Wattlebray Uniform was Chas Nobbs, Cordelia, Moura.
This year, 67 bulls were sold of the 77 offered for an 87pc clearance. With a gross of $838,500, the average was $12,514 while the top was $32,500.
The same top price of $32,500 was paid for a Trifecta Charbray bull at last year's sale, but the sale only grossed $707,500, for an average of $9826 and a clearance rate of 96 pc after 72 of 75 bulls sold.
As well as the top-priced bull, Trevor and Lolita Ford, Wattlebray Charbrays, Chinchilla, sold another 16 bulls to gross $277,500 and average $16,323.
Mr Ford said he thought Wattlebray Uniform would be among the top sellers of the sale.
"But to be honest, in a market dominated by poll cattle, for a horned bull, a dehorned bull to top the sale, it's good," he said.
"And it proves a fact to me that good dehorned cattle will still sell well, and shouldn't be discounted or discredited.
"As an industry, we are probably tending to go all polled, but we do it at the detriment of weight for age at times, so it's good to see the horned bulls do well."
As a stud breeder, Mr Ford said he hoped a percentage of his bulls would go to stud clientele.
"It's sort of the benchmark. I think everyone wants to be catering for the commercial producer as well as get some bulls into stud duty," he said.
"I think [Uniform] was a fairly complete package. He's got a good masculine head on him, the broad muzzle, and he carried that thickness right back across his top line down into his hind quarter, and [there was] a lot of lower stifle muscle in the bull as well.
"He just has a lot of presence and eye appeal.
Mr Ford, whose family has been involved with Charbrays since 1980, said this year was their 30th year as Wattlebray Charbrays, and they had been selling at the National Charbray Sale continuously since 2009.
He said this year was their strongest average at $16,323.
"We hold the current Charbray record at $52,500 for a bull back in 2022 here," he said.
"But it's our most solid result this year, and it's a reflection on the bulls.
"The bulls were very even, very consistent, but had enough variation in them for all buyers to select the bull they liked," he said.
First-time vendor, Tom Zerk, Zephyr Charbrays, Yuleba, sold the last two lots of the sale, getting $9000 for Zephyr U-Boat, and $14,000 for Zephyr Utopia.
Mr Zerk said he felt selling at the national sale was a good way to get his stud name out to the public.
"This is good for exposure, and if you've got to sell, it's the best (sale)," he said.
Mr Zerk and family have been buying and breeding Charbray bulls for about 10 years.
"And this is our first year of actually having a crack at selling (stud) bulls," he said.
"We usually just do a commercial side and just sell our weaners, but we've decided to start selling some bulls now."
The Zerks have about 300 commercial cows and 300 stud females.
"I think next year if we come back, we'll just gradually start increasing our numbers and hopefully get up to...anywhere between 10 and 20 in a couple of years' time...and take on the best," he said.
Mr Zerk is in partnership with his father, David, who was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last year.
Mr Zerk said 10 per cent of their sale proceeds would be donated to the MND Foundation.
Top vendor averages (for prefixes that sold two or more bulls under the hammer)
Perret: 4/4, average $11,500
Lochabar: 3/4, average $10,667
Greenfields: 7/8, average $10,571
Wattlebray: 17/17, average $16,323
Wiluna: 3/4, average $10,000
Benarah: 4/4, average $13,500
Marlegoo: 4/4, average $8,250
Roper Downs: 8/9, average $11,750
Trifecta: 10/11, average $12,000
Rangeview: 2/3, average $7500
Zephyr: 2/2, average $11,500
Damper Gully: 1/4, average $8000
- Selling agents: Elders, GDL, interfaces with Stocklive Elite
