Buyer pays top dollar for 'four fence-lengths' Lotus Hereford bull
A bull with a "lot to like about him" has topped the offering at the Lotus Herefords annual bull sale at Old Farm, Glen Innes on Tuesday, July 21.
The sale offered 39 bulls, with 36 sold to $24,000, averaging $10,638 - all up on the 2025 result.
The $24,000 top price was paid for Lotus V0015, a 956-kilogram, July 2024-drop son of Melville Park Quoll Q337, out of Lotus J0675, bought by regular top-end buyer JT and PM O'Brien, Wauchope.
His raw figures included 12 millimetre rump fat, 8mm rib fat, a 118 square centimetre eye muscle area and 5.2 per cent intramuscular fat.
Among his estimated breeding values was a +69 for 400-day weight, in the top 20pc, a +107 for 600-day weight, in the top 10pc, and a mature cow weight in the top 2pc for the breed at +114, as well as retail beef yield of +1.5.
Buyer John O'Brien said the bull had plenty of appealing qualities, including his length, bone and colour.
"I saw him three weeks ago and he looked good, then I saw him (at the sale) and he looked even better," he said.
"I liked his bone, length - he's as long as four panels of fence, with beautiful shoulders, excellent width, a natural Hereford head, and he's the right colour for a Hereford."
Mr O'Brien is a fourth-generation Hereford breeder who bought his first bull at Lotus about 12 years ago and targets the weaner markets.
"(The bull will) go straight out into the commercial cows and hopefully breed some good steers and replacement heifers," he said.
"We're just trying to get better and better."
Mr O'Brien also bought another bull at $14,000 and was the underbidder on the second top price bull.
The second-highest price bull was another Melville Park Quoll Q337 son, out of Lotus M0805, Lotus V0001, which sold for $23,000 to Charvel Grazing, Theodore, Qld.
The 939kg, August 2024-drop bull had 15mm and 9mm rump and rib fat, 126sqcm EMA and 6.7pc IMF.
Lotus' Cameron Hollis said this was the third drop of Melville Quoll sons they had, and he was breeding consistently for them.
He said bulls had sold as far north as Charters Towers, Qld, as well as into the Northern Rivers and local region, with the spread pleasing.
"We're all trying to put kilograms of beef in the paddock, and the bulls are doing the job," he said.
The sale also offered 12 commercial heifers, which sold to $2900, to a Northern Rivers buyer, while the pick of two stud heifers sold for $4000, with Greg Tyler, Hillview Herefords, Tyringham, selecting Lotus Blanch V209, with the other heifer retained.
Among the volume buyers was Michael Tanner, Limbri, near Tamworth, who bought three bulls to $8000, averaging $6667, while Dallas Laurie, Nowendoc, bidding via StockLive, selected three bulls at $6000.
The sale was conducted by APL Group and Colin Say & Co, with Colin Say & Co's Shad Bailey the auctioneer. StockLive provided the online interface.
