Te Mania's top bull goes for $30,000 in stud's first-ever southern spring sale

Strong buyer competition for easy calving, high-growth genetics pushed Te Mania Angus stud's inaugural spring bull sale to a $30,000 top price.

The Mortlake stud cleared 49 of the 52 bulls on offer to average $11,795.

The top-priced bull was Lot 21, Te Mania Vamoose V121, a July 2024-drop, 826-kilogram sire selected for sale after serving as a yearling artificial insemination backup in the stud's own breeding program.

Bought by Ogden Pastoral Company, Euabalong NSW, the Te Mania Rocky R822 son combined a modest 3.7kg birth weight with exceptional carcase figures, including 6.2 per cent intramuscular fat, an 8.9 square centimetre eye muscle area and a 600-day weight of +152kg.

Callow Livestock agent Chris Callow, Dunedoo, NSW, purchased the bull on behalf of Ogden Pastoral Company.

Having worked with Te Mania for decades, Mr Callow said the latest offering of bulls used within Te Mania's breeding program was of particular interest to Ogden Pastoral Company's large livestock operation.

"That added to their confidence and obviously they've taken semen from this particular bull as well," he said.

"They're very keen on bulls with good curve-bending figures from birth weight through to high 600-day growth, and very conscious of carcase traits as well for their large commercial operation."

Te Mania farm manager Edward Gubbins said the bull was "put together pretty well".

"He's a good package of data and phenotype," Mr Gubbins said.

"He has filled out well and is a nice, handy bull."

The bull was the first calf out of a two-year-old heifer.

The second top-priced bull was Lot 27, Te Mania Vernham V1304, which sold for $24,000.

Mr Gubbins said the stud offered five bulls that had already been used in its own breeding program, which was the first time the stud had done so since Te Mania Emperor in 2011.

He said Te Mania had changed its joining program to use yearling bulls, which then became available a year later after joining.

"We decided to use about 20 of those last year," he said.

"A handful we thought we would put up for sale and the others have stayed here in the stud."

Father and son Peter and Jerard Brewer, Greta North, purchased five bulls at the sale for an average of $14,800.

Jerard said the operation had used semen from Te Mania in an artificial insemination program before but it was good to "come back and buy a few physical bulls".

"They will firm up what we have in our pretty good cow herd," he said.

"They will give a bit more fire power with the growth rates and structure."

Woolomai beef and sheep producer Sylvia Collett purchased two bulls at the sale in what was her first time buying from the stud.

Ms Collett said she was particularly attracted to Lot 25, Te Mania Vergere V1240, which she bought for $7000.

She said the bull had Te Mania Berkley B1 bloodlines, a bull that had been sired by Te Mania Emperor E343, which set an Australian record price of $91,000 in 2011.

"When I saw in the catalogue the grandparent of Vergere was Berkley I thought 'I have to take that bull'," she said.

"I had a particular soft spot for Berkley."

Elders stud stock manager Ross Milne said bulls went to Gippsland, western and northern Victoria, NSW and South Australia.

Mr Milne said there were more local buyers at the sale than usual.

He said there had been a switch to spring sales to cater to more spring joining operations.

"More people are coming online with spring joining, so maybe there are more bulls available in the auction system," he said.