Why the heaviest bull of Simmental & Fleckvieh sale fetched the big bucks

A NSW breeder blitzed the field at the third annual Eidsvold Simmental and Fleckvieh sale, selling the top-priced bull and heifer.

The sale on Saturday, August 29, at the Eidsvold saleyards involved nine vendors, one up on the previous two years.

Joe and Felicity Streeter, Karinya, Taroom, landed the top- priced Fleckvieh bull, Tennysonvale Vol, with a bid of $28,000.

At 29 months and polled, Tennysonvale Vol was the first of a run of 10 bulls offered by the Baldry family - Carl and his wife, Nicole, and Carl's parents, Ian and Cheryl - of Tennysonvale Simmental Fleckvieh, Illabo, NSW.

Sired by Tennysonvale Muscat and out of Warrowie Nola, Vol weighed 1070kg - the heaviest bull in the sale - and had P8 and rib fat of 10 and 7 millimetres respectively.

His eye muscle area was142 square centimetres and he had an intramuscular fat score of 5.7 per cent and a scrotal size of 39.5 centimetres.

Ms Streeter said she and her husband picked the bull to go with their Simmental cows.

"We've got a ... good line of cows coming along that we've put together, that we've either bred ourselves or we've bought out of some studs out of the south," she said.

"And, we hope to breed some bulls just like him for our own use and we'll have a few for sale in the future."

The Streeters have a Brahman stud, Fairy Springs Brahmans, breeding and selling about 100 bulls a year for northern Australia.

They also do crossbreeding in their commercial herd, growing their steers out for feedlots.

Ms Streeter said they had been using Simmentals for crossbreeding for about 10 years because they were doing a really good job.

"They're like a Charolais, a nice high-growth animal, but we find them just better fats, they fatten really well and milk really well," she said.

"The good females are fertile and have nice big, sappy calves."

Ms Streeter said the bull they purchased was a big, powerful bull and true-to-type for the Simmental breed.

"(He's) a big long bull, plenty of shape, and right colour too ... the deep red ... we've got a line of cows like that and it's just good to keep your consistency," she said.

The Streeters have bought females from the Baldry family before, but this was a first for a bull.

Taking home the top-priced female, Tennysonvale Voof, after a bid of $9000 was a Baldry family repeat buyer, Alan Robinson, Tiaro Park Fleckvieh stud, Tiaro.

The 23-month-old PTIC Fleckvieh heifer was sired by Koopa Creek Red Dog R168, and was out of Rivulet Polly.

She was joined to Tennysonvale Ron R52 and was nine weeks in calf.

Mr Robinson bought another PTIC heifer, Tennysonvale Vulet, for $8500 from the Baldry family's three female offering.

He said they would both go into stud duties and appealed because of their size and strength.

"I've probably bought 20 or 30 of them (from the Baldry family)," he said.

"My daughter and grandkids, they've got the sister (of these two) that they take to the shows."

Mr Robinson has a commercial and stud Santa Gertrudis operation, as well as the Fleckvieh stud of 20 breeders.

In total, 41 of the 49 bulls offered at this year's sale sold for a clearance rate of 84pc, a gross of $372,000, and an average of $9073.

For the females, 12 of 13 sold for a clearance of 92pc, a gross of $74,500, and an average of $5730.

The sale in 2025 saw 46 of 51 bulls sell for a top of $32,500 and an average of $7924 while for the females last year, all 13 sold for a top of $9000 and an average of $6384.

After the sale, Tennysonvale's Carl Baldry said it was a really good day.

"We've actually had a very good year in the Simmentals, we've been in it a long time, toiling away, and we've had a really good season, so hopefully onwards and upwards from here," he said.

Located near Wagga Wagga, Mr Baldry said it usually took them two days to travel up to Eidsvold.

He said the family had been vendors at all three Eidsvold sales and it was worth it as they sold a lot of cattle in Queensland.

"So when we were invited in, it was kind of a 'yes' straight away as we were bringing cattle up here anyway from our own sale ... in May," he said.

"So ... it seemed like a good idea to come up here and bring them to the buyers."

Tennysonvale offered 10 bulls and three females this year, averaging $11,300 for nine bulls sold under the hammer, and $7666 for the three females.

Mr Baldry said the top-price bull was impressive for his structural soundness and size.

"He's a volume capacity bull and moves really well so it ... stands out," he said.

Mr Baldry said the family had 150 breeders, and sold about 40 bulls and 50 heifers annually.

Speaking on behalf of the nine vendors, Douglas Birch, Three Moon Fleckvieh, Eidsvold, said he thought this year's sale went pretty well.

He said the quality of the offering was quite a lot higher this year and it was good to see some stud buyers.

Cameron Bygrave of Eidsvold Livestock & Property said the sale had a strong run of bulls right through.

He said this was the best run of bulls for consistency since the sale started three years ago.

A bulk buyer with five purchases online was Tania Zurvas, Zurland Pastoral, Swanfels, near Warwick.

The nine studs were Tennysonvale, Illabo, NSW; Rolling Hills, Junee, NSW; Silver Linings, Cloyna, Qld; Sweetholme, Ban Ban Springs, Qld; Three Moon, Eidsvold, Qld; Wondenia-Denmire, Gilgandra, NSW; Herlo Park, Gilgandra, NSW; 4PS, Wandoan, Qld; and Stone Ridge, Eumungerie, NSW.

• Selling agents were Eidsvold Livestock & Property, and Stocklive.

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