Strong demand for 'sure-footed' bulls at Murdeduke Angus' on-property sale

Murdeduke Angus stud sold bulls to properties throughout Victoria, but it's top-priced lot is headed across the Bass Strait to Tasmania.

The Winchelsea stud offered 89 18-month-old bulls and sold 81 for an average of $9475.

The top-priced bull, Lot 2, Murdeduke Stellar V063, was sold to Connorville Station, Cressy, Tas, for $27,000.

The July 2024-drop bull was by Sitz Stellar 726D and out of Murdeduke Jedda T486.

He had TransTasman Angus Cattle Evaluation estimated breeding values of 3 kilograms birth weight, 55kg 200-day growth, 102kg 400-day weight and 137kg 600-day weight.

The bull's eye muscle area was 6.7 square centimetres and he had a rib fat depth of 3.3 millimetres, rump fat of 1.9mm, a retail beef yield of -0.5 per cent and intramuscular fat of +4.1pc.

Murdeduke owner Lachie Wilson said Lot 2 was "an outstanding bull".

"[He's got strong] foundation traits, plus good data and an elite carcase from his pedigree," he said.

Mr Wilson said Murdeduke had a good spring and was now waiting for an autumn break.

"Hopefully it will be onwards and upwards from there," he said.

"Water is tight but we are in a lot better space than we were last year."

He said it was a solid average and a good clearance.

"It's definitely an improvement on where we were last year," he said.

"With beef prices, it's all looking promising, we just need the season to run with us."

Connorville Station manager Adrian Carpenter bought two bulls at the sale, the top-priced animal and another, Lot 17, for $10,000.

Mr Carpenter said he liked the top bull's constitution and shape.

"And he had the figures to match," he said.

"We breed our own bulls, so we'll be using him to do that."

He said Connorville Station had been buying Murdeduke bulls for about a decade.

"They are moving forward all the time, they're breeding the type of bull we like and have the figures to match," he said.

"We'll pick some cows out of our herd to breed bulls for ourselves as replacements and for our stud."

The purchases were the only ones Connorville Station was making in Victoria this season.

Nutrien Riverina and Victoria stud stock specialist Nick Farley, Bendigo, said Tasmanian buyers were strong.

"They bought a swag of bulls to go back there," Mr Farley said.

"Locally, there's been strong support through the Colac, Ballarat, Warrnambool and Mortlake area, and then a few into the north-east, Kilmore, Yea and Alexandra."

He said Murdeduke offered well-fleshed, quiet, sure-footed bulls.

"That's the cornerstone of the program here, so they've presented a really good run of bulls here and had a strong sale from start to finish," he said.