Brooklana heifer smashes Australasian record at auction
A Brooklana heifer from proven Millah Murrah cow lines by an outstanding Millah Murrah bull has attracted record bidding.
At the stud's annual sale, east of Dorrigo, bids from competing interstate studs smashed the previous Australasian record for an Angus female.
Brooklana Prue V7 by Millah Murrah Rocketman R38 from Millah Murrah Prue M4 is the first female of the Prue M4 line ever offered to market at public auction.
Together with her three week old bull calf at foot by Millah Murrah Trigger, Brooklana Prue V7 sold for $300,000 to Western Australia stud Edengate Angus, at Eastbrook, via Manjimup.
As if that wasn't enough, a Rocketman R38 son, in Brooklana Vanquish V6, sold for $100,000 and will head west to the same stud operation.
It is believed a stud from Victoria was the under bidder for both lots.
The first-calf heifer Brooklana Prue V7 presented with estimated breeding values including top 1 per cent growth at 200, 400, 600 days, mature cow weight, carcase weight and retail beef yield.
Her net feed intake index scored in the top 4pc and her Angus Breeding Low Feed Cost index scored in the top 10pc.
As a reference, her new calf Brooklana Trigger was born weighing 38 kilograms and three weeks later on sale day tipped the scales at 78.5kg.
Super sire Brooklana Vanquish V6, by Millah Murrah Rocket man R38 from Millah Murrah Prue M4, was sold with 1000 straws of semen - fit for export and for domestic use - collected by Ced Wise AB Services, of which a portion will be retained for Brooklana's in-herd needs.
Vanquish V6 presented with the highest lifetime daily gain in the draft, a 42cm scrotal circumference, and eye muscle area of 119sqcm and intra muscular fat at 6.8pc.
His EBVs showed top 1pc for retail beef yield with top 25pc for 200-day weight and top 30pc at 400 days.
There is an option for Brooklana Angus to retain a half share in both Prue V7 and Vanquish V6.
In June Edengate Angus stud at Manjimup bought another Brooklana daughter of Prue M4 in Prue S5 with heifer calf Prue X50 paying $120,000 for the genetic privilege.
In 2023 the stud purchased 14 Millah Murrah females from legendary cow lines including Flower, Prue, Abigail, and Rado, along with an embryo half share in super dam Flower N30 with that purchase alone costing Edengate stud $140,000.
Brooklana Angus principal Rodger Pryce made history in 2017 by purchasing Prue M4 for an Australian record of $190,000, smashing the previous Australasian record for an Angus female.
The sire of Prue V7, Millah Murrah Rocketman R38, from an Abigail cow line, was bought by Brooklana Angus in 2021 for a record at the time of $280,000.
The sire's individual performance data caught the eye of competing buyers at that sale, including genetics supplier ABS Australia.
Brooklana Prue V7's calf at-foot, by Millah Murrah Trigger T308, combines the Prue cow family with that of Flower N30, both Millah Murrah foundation lines.
"The first sons of Trigger T308 at the Millah Murrah sale last September sold to an average of $87,000," Mr Pryce said.
Mr Pryce has pursued a passion for breeding best cow line genetics, with a solid focus on Millah Murrah.
"I wanted a cow to go with a bull. That's how it started," he said.
"People thought I was mad at the time. I wasn't. I was paying attention.
"From that point, the approach was conservative and deliberate. No rushing. No shortcuts. Backing what was proven, building patiently, letting the genetics do what good genetics do when you give them time.
"We are now into Prue M4's great granddaughters."
In the years the 10-year-old matron has resided at Brooklana, she has survived cyclones and mammoth wet seasons in which she gave birth to calves in the mud. Yet she continues to perform.
"You don't have to go far back in V7's pedigree to see New Zealand genetics on both sides," said Mr Pryce, born in that country and educated in cow line genetics through an early career with an associate of the New Zealand Dairy Board focussed on bovine genetics, followed by a career with ABS, which led to his transfer to Australia.
"The method of NZ farming is almost totally grass-fed so their genetics suit Australian conditions.
"And in the entire time Prue M4 has been at Brooklana - through daughters, granddaughters and great granddaughters - we have never once offered a female of her line for sale until now.
"The role of cows within a breeding herd is far more significant than that of a bull," Mr Pryce said.
"The roles that they are responsible for far outweigh the role that a bull has.
"It is time cows received the credit that they deserve."
The remainder of the Brooklana sale was somewhat more sedate, with a total of 11 lots sold from 31 offered, with new sires selling to mostly repeat clients from Valla to Taroom, Qld.
Excluding the top two wonder lots, bulls averaged $8571 and topped at $12,000 for Brooklana Chisum V16 by Brooklana Chisum S19 from a Brooklana Starlight, going to the Hayes family at Taroom, Qld.
The sale was hosted by Nutrien Ag Solutions with auctioneer Paul Dooley and AuctionsPlus handling the online bids.
