No bulls left behind as Hicks Beef welcomes healthy competition at spring sale

Bulls of all colours have gone in all directions as spirited and consistent competition helped the Hicks Beef spring bull sale to record full clearance and strong prices.

All 84 head offered by the Holbrook stud on Wednesday, September 2, were sold, at an average of $13,023 and to a top of $33,000 for the best of the black composite bulls.

Last year's spring sale also cleared all the bulls, with 82 lots selling to a top of $24,000 and an average of $12,109.

The 2026 sale-topper ABC W797, by ABC U537 out of ABC R596, sold to Dave Adams, Hillsboro, Adelong, on the back of his temperament, easy-doing quality and thickness.

Pictures by Dakota Tait.

The August 2025-drop bull recorded estimated progeny differences in the top 5 per cent for calving ease at +19.2, marbling at +0.88 and all purpose index at +183.1.

Mr Adams said the family had been sourcing sires from Hicks Beef most years for about a quarter of a century, with all 600 of their breeding cows Hicks composites.

The 1100 hectare operation aimed to turn off steers at about 500 kilograms at 13 or 14 months, directly to feedlotters.

"Because we bought certain bloodlines here before, we had to look for something that we didn't already have," he said.

"We'll put him over a few cows that we like and a few heifers, and probably try to breed a couple of bulls to keep for ourselves."

The 51 bulls in the black composite offering sold at an average of $13,020.

The overall second top-price and the sale high in the red composites was claimed by ABC V1202, by ABC S905 out of ABC Q817, sold to Kevin Graham, Kevin Graham Consulting, Brisbane, on behalf of Alister and Joanne McClymont, AJM Pastoral, Burleigh Station, north of Richmond, Qld.

The August 2024-drop bull was in the top 5pc of EPDs for heifer pregnancy at +12 and marbling at +0.77, and was described by the stud as a "versatile sire for producers targeting premium grids".

"Good indexes, good growth, a good structure," Mr Graham said.

"I thought he just ticked all the boxes."

Mr Graham said the McClymonts bred close to 1000 bulls for the sake of their significant commercial operation, which spanned tens of thousands of hectares in North Queensland.

AJM Pastoral bought four red composite bulls in total at an average of $20,000, which would go into a crossbreeding program with maiden Brahman heifers.

The resulting Brangus-type cattle, Mr Graham said, would be joined to about 10,000 Charolais-type cows at the McClymont's Saxby Station.

"Alistair is trying to bring a bit of softness into that Charbray program," he said.

"The thing that Alistair likes about them is their doability and stayability, and when you buy the number of bulls that they do for their program, stayability is very, very important."

The 18 red composite bulls offered sold to an average of $14,500, while the 15 Red Angus bulls sold to an average of $11,266 and to a top of $22,000.

Elders Holbrook's Phil Gledhill, who has been an agent for Hicks Beef for close to 40 years, said it had been a strong sale with a mix of repeat customers and new clients.

Buyers came from up and down the eastern seaboard, he said, and a handful of bulls would even go to Tasmania.

"The female population now for southern Australia has once again benefitted the sale," he said.

"There's plenty of our clients around here, as well as away, that are carrying extra female numbers and looking for extra bulls to join."

A significant portion of the offering would be going home with Darren Jenke, Lucindale, SA, who bought 14 bulls for the Spinifex Pastoral Company at an average of $9500 and to a top of $13,000.

Mr Jenke, who is the manager at the company's Lucindale site, said five sires would be shipped to SA, while Spinifex also had properties across NSW, Victoria, as well as Queensland, where the other nine would likely be sent.

He said Spinifex had been sourcing bulls from Hicks Beef for more than two decades, for a large breeding operation which turned off cattle straight to the processors.

"They've got the growth, but they've also got what you look for visually, and then on top of that ... they've got the figures to back it up," he said.

"It's quite often hard to get something with figures and the actual type that you like as well, whereas here it seems to be easy to find them."

The M and N McCoy Family Trust, Ranincourt, Richmond, Qld, claimed four bulls at an average of $13,000 and a top of $18,000, and Banana Station, Banana, Qld, also bought four bulls at an average of $12,500 and to a top of $15,000.

Stud principal Tom Hicks said the season had been "brilliant" in the leadup to the sale, and kept management of the bulls "low and slow" with steady nutrition.

"Probably the best season I've ever experienced to this point," he said.

"A very mild winter, just enough moisture. We want seasons like this every year."

The sale was conducted by Elders, with auctioneers Brett Shea and Oliver Mason, and interfaced with Auctions Plus.