New farmers spend $30,000 on Murdeduke Angus' bulls to establish operation

The top two bulls from Murdeduke Angus' spring sale were purchased by a brand-new operation which spent more than $30,000 to establish its herd.

In an online-only sale, the Winchelsea stud offered and sold 51 bulls, with almost a third of the lots selling for five figures.

The sale averaged $8882 and topped at $17,000 for Lot 40, Murdeduke Sangria V743.

The two-year-old bull was sired by Murdeduke Pheasantry S124 and recorded strong growth figures, including a 3.7 kilogram birth weight, 58kg 200-day weight, 108kg 400-day weight and 144kg 600-day weight.

The bull also recorded a +84kg carcase weight, +10.4 square centimetre eye muscle area (EMA) and 6.2 per cent intramuscular fat.

The bull was bought by a new operation called Bealla Pty Ltd, whose owners wished to remain anonymous.

The new farmers purchased a property near Echuca in August last year and were looking for genetics to start their herd.

They said a recent visit to Murdeduke convinced them to choose the stud as the foundation of their new beef operation, with the top bull standing out for his exceptional growth.

"[Murdeduke stud principal] Lachie [Wilson] was very helpful and gave us insight into all the bulls, their temperaments and calving ease," they said.

Bealla also purchased Lot 5, Murdeduke Quarterback V002, for $15,000, the second-most-expensive bull of the day.

Sired by Murdeduke Quarterback Q011, the two-year-old bull had a birth weight of 3kg, +66kg carcase weight and a 9.1sqcm EMA.

Both bulls will be joined with Bealla's 40 cows, which have just finished calving.

Mr Wilson said the sale was consistent in clearance and price.

"It was a very solid sale, with a lot of return clients and some new clients," he said.

"It's building our reputation of putting good, solid commercial bulls that are sound and quiet, with a bit of shape and a usable EBV set out on the market."

Return client Dunkeld Pastoral general manager Wayne Johnstone, Dunkeld, purchased nine bulls.

Mr Johnstone said they kept coming back for the strong performance the bulls had demonstrated with their about 2500 breeder cows.

"We have cattle that are easy to work with and we get high reconception rates from these bulls," he said.

"That is the big thing for us - we have a reconception rate of about 92pc."