'Good doers': hill country genetics impress buyers at 10th Sugarloaf Angus sale
With half the catalogue tipping the scales at more than 900 kilograms, and a dry sale day for the first time in four years, the annual Sugarloaf Angus bull sale got off to the right start at Dungog on Saturday, August 1.
It took just seven lots to reach the sale-topping Sugarloaf Eyes On You V57, a 951kg, a July 2024-drop son of popular American reference sire E G Eyes On you.
From dam Sugarloaf Winkie L105, Eyes On You V57 made $18,000, paid by Geoff Brown and son Matthew Brown, for the family's Field Mount partnership at Coutts Crossing, via Grafton.
Boasting 200-day (+69), 400-day (+121) and 600-day (+161) growth estimated breeding value (EBV) figures in the top 3pc, the top-price bull had a mature cow weight (MCW) of +149, in the fifth percentile, and a carcase weight (CWT) of +90, in the top 10pc.
Described as a "good-boned, deep, thick bull out of a powerful Payweight cow", V57's figures mattered little to the Browns, who were buying on physical impression.
"We don't look at the figures," Matthew Brown said.
"We saw these cattle online and we were impressed by the depth when we got here. The volume was very good."
The Browns were first-time buyers at Sugarloaf and ended up with four across the sale, including another son of E G Eyes On You for $14,000, as well as Sugarloaf Hero V120, for $10,000, and Sugarloaf Powerplay V21 for $8000.
The Browns' Angus operation at Coutts Crossing runs about 800 breeders, supplying steers to feedlots since 1988.
Geoff Brown said they needed "doing" bulls.
"We came here for probably three, but got four," he said.
"They'll do well up there, considering they're coming from good country down here."
Across the catalogue of 34 Angus, three Simmental and three Angus-Simmental bulls, the Sugarloaf sale clocked a total clearance and an average of $10,529.
The three Simmental bulls sold to $14,000 and averaged $8670, while the SimAngus bulls sold to $10,000 also averaging $8670.
The seven Angus yearling bulls averaged $11,714.
The catalogue also offered 39 heifers with all sold for an average of $3902, along with four cows for a $3800 average, and a pen of three cows and calves for a $4600 average.
Sugarloaf principal Jim Tickle said he was pleased with the result.
"It was a very good sale," he said.
"We had a lot of repeat buyers, which I like to see, but some new ones from Queensland too.
"I thought all the bulls presented well and the first half of the catalogue was over 900kg, so just your good, heavy-made, deep, thick bulls."
Mr Tickle said buyers had come to Sugarloaf, with its steep, undulating country, for bulls that could handle that terrain.
"They've got to be good doers or they're no good to us," he said.
The sale marked 10 years of on-property bull sales at Sugarloaf, though the Tickle family had been selling privately for more than 40 years.
Mr Tickle said the first fine sale day in four years had generated a good crowd.
The perfect clearance bettered the sale's 2025 result, with the average sitting similarly on last year's figure of $10,212.
Mr Tickle said even the heifer demand was excellent, which he put down to a "shortage of females everywhere because of the dry weather earlier in the year".
Speaking about Eyes On You V57, he said the top-selling bull was exactly the type he was looking to breed.
"Heavy-boned with a deep rib and extra muscle," Mr Tickle said.
"Our cattle have got to be structurally correct or they don't last, particularly in the hill country, and we like them long, deep and thick.
"We always reckon the more kilos in them makes for more dollars in your bank account because everything gets sold per kilo."
After earlier years in Hereford cattle, the Sugarloaf operation switched to Angus cattle in the late 1970s, and Mr Tickle said he bred just a handful of Simmentals as a sideline, serving a small demand for veal production.
The sale was conducted by Bowe and Lidbury and Dillon and Sons, with guest auctioneer Paul Dooley, and the online interface was provided by AuctionsPlus.
