'He has a lot to offer': Online bidders push prices at Cooinda helmsman sale
Online bidding dominated at the Cooinda Santa Gertrudis sale at Sunnyview on September 21, with vendors and bidders alike adjusting to the learning curve of a helmsman-style sale format.
The relaxed atmosphere - featuring '80s music and a free lunch - certainly helped the in-person bidders understand the running agents, countdown, and whiteboard that anchor a helmsman sale.
"It was a great atmosphere - laid-back, pretty casual... It was an eye opener for me as well, I've never done [a helmsman sale] before, so it was a bit of a trial run," vendor Chris Fox said.
The sale saw 37 lots offered, and 29 sold, for a clearance rate of 78.38 per cent, an average of $10,517.24, and a gross of $305,000.
The vendors had a break from their annual sale in 2025, but received a $5000 increase on the top for bulls compared to their 2024 results.
The top-priced bull, Cooinda Wearthefoxhat W266, sold for $31,000 through StockLive, to first-time buyers Alan and Jocelyn Nock.
Cooinda Wearthefoxhat was 24 months old and weighed 854 kilograms, had an average daily gain of 1.17 kilograms per day, P8 and rib fat scans of 18 and 11 millimetres respectively, an eye muscle area of 134 centimetres square, intramuscular fat of 5.7pc, a scrotal circumference of 36.5 centimetres, and morphology of 79pc.
He was sired by Eidsvold Station Raj R568 and out of Cooinda R673.
Mr Fox said Cooinda Wearthefoxhat was his pick of the sale, and felt his sheer volume contributed to buyer interest.
"I love the softness and the volume of his hindquarter... I think he's got a lot to offer," Mr Fox said.
Mr Fox said the new sale style was a learning experience for him also, but felt the format suited his time constraints better.
"We were probably a little bit rushed in what we were doing, and I thought [the helmsman sale] was going to be really simple and easy, but we probably spent more time explaining it to people than anything else," he said.
"They always start off pretty slow, but when it gets toward the pointy end with the timer on it [speeds up]," Elders agent Mark Scholes said.
Mr Fox said the audience was a mix of new and repeat buyers, but that studs featured heavily in the buyers.
"We had good strong stud support today - I can think offhand of five or six bulls going to studs," he said.
"There seems to be pretty good inquiry across the board - there wasn't too many bulls that sold for the initial bid," Mr Scholes said.
"The bulls were presented very well off crop, they were all structurally sound... the fertility was right up there as well, so it just goes to show they're early maturing young bulls with plenty of performance in them."
- Selling agents: Elders, interfaced with StockLive.
