Fresh chapter for Palgrove Charolais begins with strong demand for elite females
The first female sale under the new ownership of Palgrove Charolais attracted widespread buyer interest at the Headingly Sale Complex, Clifton, on Friday, March 13, offering the market a rare chance to access females from the stud's leading donor lines.
Under the ownership of Ben and Jemma Noller and the Daley Family, the Palgrove Charolais "Make Your Mark" Female Sale saw buyers respond with confidence in the program's next chapter.
By the close of the auction, all 75 lots had sold, driving a 100 per cent clearance with the sale grossing $837,000 to achieve an average of $11,160.
A total of 22 cow-and-calf units averaged $15,500, while 12 unjoined heifers averaged $13,333 and 41 PTIC heifers averaged $8196.
Mr Noller said the sale represented a rare opportunity for buyers to access females from the heart of the Palgrove program.
"We don't do this very often," he said.
"Normally only every five years or so... but when we do it, we try to offer some of our best elite females with our latest genetics joined back to leading sires we've sold in recent years."
He said the sale reflected a market where buyers were prepared to compete strongly for the right cattle.
With 'pick of the pair' and 'pick of three full flush heifers' featured in the catalogue, Mr Noller noted that buyers were eagerly seizing the opportunity to secure their top preferences.
"You could definitely see people picking through them and really trying to buy what they liked and buy the quality and the top end," he said.
"There was solid support all the way through both the cow-and-calf units and the heifers."
Leading the market was lot 3, Palgrove Digit P485E, which topped the sale at $28,000 when purchased by Gavin and Dillon Scott, Yacamunda Investments, Collinsville.
The proven cow was offered with a red factor bull calf at foot by the $55,000 sire Palgrove Texas Ranger and will be used within the Collinsville operation to breed bulls for their own program.
The female is sired by Silverstream Holster (P) and out of Palgrove Digit J245E (P).
A highlight of the heifer section came later in the catalogue when lot 28, offered as the pick of three flush sisters, sold for $26,000.
The trio represented one of the program's elite donor lines, with the purchaser selecting their preferred heifer from the three full sisters.
The heifers were sired by Rockerfella, a sire that sold to Ascot Stud for $100,000 in 2022, and whose first sons averaged more than $20,700 in the 2025 Palgrove sale.
Their donor dam had produced 20 progeny before the age of five and returned more than $100,000 in sales from just five progeny in her first year, including the $40,000 Ultrahot sold to Futurity Charolais.
Among the buyers securing the top-end genetics was 14-year-old stud breeder Myles Gilliland, MAG Charolais, Kumbia, who purchased the $26,000 pick-of-three flush heifer and selected lot 28A as well as another heifer, lot 32, for $15,000.
Mr Gilliland said he had been searching for females that combined femininity, softness and structure to build his own Charolais cow families.
"I was looking for a female with plenty of softness, but still keeping plenty of femininity and really good structure," he said.
He said the heifers would play an important role in the future direction of his stud.
"I'm hoping to flush them and produce a few cow lines."
Mr Gilliland said his interest in the Charolais breed was sparked independently despite his family running Brahman cattle.
"My parents have Brahmans, so Charolais was my own choice," he said.
"I worked for a Charolais stud one time and fell in love with their softness and their capacity."
Mr Noller said the buying bench reflected a mix of established stud breeders, new entrants to the seedstock sector and commercial producers looking to breed their own bulls.
One of these commercial producers was volume buyer Bill Speed, Brig-o-doon Cattle Company, who took home eight lots to average $10,250 with a top of $17,000.
Selling agents: Hourn and Bishop Qld, Auctions Plus
