Record female price underlines endless horizon for Angus

Top-price-Angus-heifer

Lot 181 – Millah Murrah Prue M4 sold for $190,000 to Brooklana Angus, Brooklana NSW. Image Ben Simpson.

From an industry perspective, the Millah Murrah Angus sale underlined the seemingly endless horizon in demand for quality Angus cattle, according to stud principal Ross Thompson.

Below is the complete Millah Murrah Cow Sale report.

Sale Date October 19th 2017, at Bathurst NSW.
Selling Agent: Elders Bathurst (Andrew Bickford & David Simpson) with Guest Auctioneer Paul Dooley and Elders’ Andy McGeoch in the rostrum.

At a glance:

  •   100% clearance of 234 Lots offered in under four hours.
  •   Top price $190,000
  •   Average price $13,709
  •   Gross $3,208,000

    Sale facts:

  •   Lot 117, PTIC cow, Prue H112 broke the record for an Angus cow, when she sold for $54,000 to East West Angus from Bingara. She passed the old mark of $48,000 set at the Aberdeen Dispersal in 2013.
  •   Lot 181, PTIC heifer, Prue M4 then sold for $190,000 to break the record set less than an hour earlier. She sold to Brooklana Angus from Brooklana. East West Angus was the underbidder. This is believed to be the highest price paid for a beef female of any breed in Australasia. It is the highest price for an Angus animal of any description in Australia, surpassing the previous mark of $150,000 for the bull, Millah Murrah Kingdom K35 in 2015.
  •   The average price of $13,709 for 234 Lots, surpassed the previous record for Angus (also then thought to be an industry benchmark) of $8494 for 260 Lots, set at the Wattletop stage 1 dispersal in May this year.
  •   Two auctioneers sold at the sale; Paul Dooley and Andy McGeoch. Dooley stood over a majority of the offering, to sell 191 head for a gross of 2.669M. This is believed to be the largest single sale gross by one Auctioneer in Australia.
  •   The $3.208M gross is believed to be the largest single vendor result in history and the largest single day gross ever for any Stud sale in Australia.
  •   It is the 5th highest average ever for an Angus cow or bull sale, only surpassed by the Millah Murrah bull sales of 2015, 2016 & 2017 & Booragul’s bull sale in 2017. The industry record for a bull sale average of any breed in Australia is $16,348 for 109 bulls at Millah Murrah in 2016.
  •   Six females made $40,000 or more
  •   Four females made $30 – $40,000
  •   21 females made $20 – $30,000

DETAILS OF THE HIGH SELLING ANIMALS

Lot

Name

Class

Buyer

Location

Price

181

Prue M4

PTIC heifer

Brooklana Angus

Brooklana

$190,000

117

Prue H112

PTIC dry cow

East West Angus

Bingara

$54,000

182

Prue M121

PTIC heifer

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$46,000

57

Prue K2

Cow with bull calf

Mandayen Angus

Brinkley SA

$42,000

94

Brenda J23

Cow with bull calf

Mandayen Angus & Cherylton

Brinkley SA & Kojonup WA

$40,000

183

Ela M6

PTIC heifer

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$40,000

40

Flower L293

Heifer with heifer calf

Fernleigh Angus

Warragul Vic

$38,000

209

Brenda M40

PTIC heifer

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$32,000

108

Brenda F6

Open Donor

Heart Angus & Cherylton

Tamworth & Kojonup WA

$30,000

151

Brenda L73

PTIC dry cow

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$30,000

21

Flower L290

Heifer with heifer calf

East West Angus

Bingara

$28,000

74

Prue K203

Cow with heifer calf

East West Angus

Bingara

$28,000

98

Prue H219

Cow with heifer calf

Wallangra Past Co

Wandoan QLD

$28,000

114

Flower G41

PTIC dry cow

Redbank Angus

Eurobodalla

$28,000

128

Flower J196

PTIC dry cow

Heart Angus & Cherylton

Tamworth & Kojonup WA

$28,000

145

Flower L50

PTIC dry cow

East West Angus

Bingara

$28,000

93

Prue J232

Cow with bull calf

Heart Angus

Tamworth

$26,000

133

Brenda K102

PTIC dry cow

Graneta Angus & Mandayen

Bell Qld & Brinkley SA

$26,000

136

Brenda L97

PTIC dry cow

Black Tara Angus

Tara Qld

$26,000

10

Flower L213

Heifer with bull calf

Tweed Valley Angus

Tweed Valley

$22,000

17

Rado L276

Heifer with bull calf

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$22,000

78

Flower K235

Cow with bull calf

Vielun Angus

Mudgee

$22,000

84

Flower K269

Cow with heifer calf

Wombramurra Black Simmental

Nundle

$22,000

127

Flower J192

PTIC dry cow

Black Diamond & Palgrove

Woodstock & Dalveen Qld

$22,000

59

Prue K79

Cow with heifer calf

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$20,000

113

Brenda G37

Open Donor

Redbank Angus

Eurobodalla

$20,000

138

Flower L95

PTIC dry cow

Coolie Angus

Merriwa

$20,000

141

Ela L11

PTIC dry cow

Coffin Creek Angus

Mudgee

$20,000

149

Brenda L65

PTIC dry cow

Box Moor Angus

Bundarra

$20,000

207

Brenda M38

PTIC heifer

Josh Clift

Scone

$20,000

223

Prue M165

PTIC heifer

Sterita Park Angus

Lucindale SA

$20,000

All at Millah Murrah are overwhelmed by the result. We thank all buyers and supporters of our programme. Thanks also to the selling Agents and Paul Dooley.

We feel the sale reflects the strong demand for our bulls over the past seven years and 50 years of dedication to maternal function. We thought the females on offer were simply as good as we could ever hope to produce.

From an industry perspective, the sale underlined the seemingly endless horizon in demand for quality Angus cattle. Support from within the breed was enormous, with plenty of long term buyers of Millah Murrah genetics operating in volume like Heart Angus, Coffin Creek, Coolie, Mandayen in SA, Keringa in SA, Cherylton in WA.

There were also plenty of newcomers to Angus operating at the sale, already running existing seedstock enterprises in other breeds. The sale result was certainly a very healthy sign for the Angus brand.

Ross Thompson