Top price Pathfinder Angus purchaser to make the most of tech advancements in ag

The buyer of the top-priced bull at the 2026 Pathfinder Angus sale is looking to make the most of advancements in artificial insemination once he finds a truck to get his bull to Victoria.

Held on Friday, September 18, at the Roma saleyard, the Moyle family, Pathfinder Angus, Hamilton, Victoria, offered 101 bulls in 2026, of which 88 sold for a 87 per cent clearance, a $10,147 average, and a $892,936 gross.

Five lots sold post-sale to bring the clearance to 92pc for a $9925 average and a $923,000 gross.

In a further breakdown, 57 out of 57 two-year-old bulls sold for a $10,614 average, and 36/44 yearling bulls sold for a $8833 average.

The 2026 top-priced lot, Pathfinder W652, was purchased for $50,000 by a syndicate consisting of Lawsons Angus, Yea, the Ravenhill family, who manage the Lawsons Angus Western Australian operation, and Barnett Angus, Westbury, Tasmania.

The 17-month-old, 612 kilogram bull, sired by TFA21S1755 Landfall Signature S1755 and out of SMP22T213 Pathfinder Dream, recorded 10mm of rump fat, 10mm of rib fat, an eye muscle area of 104 square centimetres, and 6.8pc of intramuscular fat.

He sold for more than triple the price of last year's top lot, which cleared for $16,000 - one of the 105/128 bulls sold at the 2025 sale for an 82pc clearance, a $8219 average, and $863,000 gross.

One of the buyers in the syndicate, Harry Lawson, Lawsons Angus, said he planned to use the bull for his AI program, making the most of a new AI facility that recently opened up near his operation.

"The big thing is that they've built a new world-class AI centre near us, Southern Genetic Solutions," he said.

"We don't generally buy too many bulls, we tend to buy semen because with the rate of progress these days, things tend to move pretty quickly, so our objective is to use the best eight or 10 bulls in the world each year. We actually tend not to retain any bulls because we don't do any natural mating.

"As we're 100pc AI and ET, the new AI centre gives us the opportunity to use fresh, conventional, and fresh sex semen, and frozen sex semen.

"That opportunity in technology is partly why we invested in this bull."

Having sent someone to inspect the bull on his behalf and having considered his figures, Mr Lawson said he couldn't pass on the opportunity to purchase him.

"From a pedigree point of view, he's different to us, but what first caught our eye is that he's the highest HBR [herd book register] bull in the breed for 2025," he said. "It's his balance of numbers...he fits all our breeding objectives."

Mr Lawson said, pending logistical difficulties, he planned to begin using the bull on Tuesday if he was able to get him to Victoria in time.

He also added that he would offer semen packages from the bull, in line with the other buyers in the syndicate.

"If our plans work out, we plan to collect fresh semen early in the week, and we'll be using him in our herd as early as Tuesday," he said.

"We're going to be looking at selling some semen packages on the bull in the next month or so.

"Part of policy is to make the top bulls accessible to everyone - we don't believe in keeping bulls locked away.

"We think it's good for the Angus breed to make these bulls accessible rather than having exclusive access."

Pathfinder Angus sale 2026

Pictures by Neave Duff.

The volume buyer of the sale, Paraway Pastoral Company Ltd, Orange, NSW, purchased 10 bulls for an average of $10,400.

Pathfinder Angus stud principal Nick Moyle said he was very pleased with this year's sale result.

"The season's a bit dry, but everyone jumped on the two-year-olds, which was just fantastic, and we had a couple of star lots in the yearlings which sold exceptionally well," he said.

"They went everywhere from Queensland, right through to Tasmania, across to South Australia, to mostly existing clients that have used our bulls out of our other sales so they know what they're getting.

"It was great support from those repeat buyers, and it's great to see those guys coming back and supporting our sale. We really appreciate it."

Of the top-priced lot, Mr Moyle said he was an exceptional bull.

"He's got top 4pc calving ease, he's 17.6pc for muscle, he's 7.4pc for marbling - he's one of those bulls that's just out of the box," he said.

"He's probably going to be the highest indexing Angus bull sold this year, so we were pretty excited to be able to offer him.

"It's not a record top price for us, we sold one in Victoria last year for $50,000, and I think this year we were averaging around $13,000 for 250 bulls in Victoria and South Australia, so it's been good."

• Selling agents: TopX, interfaced with AuctionsPlus.