South Australian stud secures top-priced Rennylea T17 son at Riga Angus sale
The first major offering of progeny from influential sire Rennylea T17 was on offer at Riga Angus' 11th annual on-property sale at Mansfield on Wednesday.
The sale saw good clearance of the 17 Rennylea T17 sons but struggled slightly to clear the whole catalogue.
The helmsman-style auction sold 27 of 41 bulls offered for an average price of $8481.
Three bulls were sold after the sale for $6000 each.
The top-priced bull was Lot 17, Riga Wilmot W051, which was bought for $22,000 by Mandayen Angus, Keith, SA.
Dick Whale, Independent Breeding and Marketing Services, Wangaratta, was at the sale to secure the bull for the South Australian stud.
"I said I'd go to $20,000 for him and we got outbid on AuctionsPlus and I was on the phone to Damien [Gommers] from Mandayen and he said 'you better go one more, we've come this far'," Mr Whale said.
"He is a moderate-framed, very thick type bull with very big eye muscle and carcase data."
The bull was sired by Rennylea T17 and out of Riga Joyle P25.
Mr Whale said it was a good opportunity to get their hands on sons of Rennylea T17.
"Rennylea still own the bull and I expect there will be a lot more sons of his in their spring sale, but there has only been two sons of his they have offered so far," he said.
"I bought the bull's mother for Featherstone Angus in the spring female sale last year so I know a fair bit about the cow family too.
"As much as the phenotype of the bull [was strong], it was the strength of the cow that convinced me to buy him."
Riga Angus stud co-principal Tim Finger said they had purchased semen straws of the influential sire from Agri-Gene to use in their stud herd.
"His sons have done really well for us and all stood out since they were calves," Mr Finger said.
"People want that good, heavy muscling with a great phenotype to go with it that will stand up to the job in terms of longevity.
"We will be very excited to see the next drop of calves too."
He said it has been great to build up support from outside their local client base.
"We're now selling a lot of bulls interstate to South Australia, NSW and Tassie," he said.
He said the bushfires in January certainly had an effect on the sale this year.
"We've had quite a few clients who were unfortunately burnt out who have held out on purchasing bulls while they try to rebuild," he said.
"Considering how things were looking early on, the sale has certainly been positive."
Father and son Wade and Dean Mercieca, Barwite, were one of the stud's long-term clients who bought at the top end of the sale.
They purchased two bulls, Lot 2, Riga Vic V231, for $11,000, and Lot 18, Riga Webster W031, for $14,000.
"We had about five bulls picked out ahead of the sale, including the top-priced one, which sold for a heap of money," Mr Mercieca said.
"The two we bought will suit different needs for us - Lot 2 is an 18-month-old bull that will suit the cows and the other is a yearling bull that will suit our heifer job and be a bit of an all-rounder.
"The [Rennylea] T17 sons were a selling point for us too."
