High clearance rates and firm pricing as buyers chase specific characteristics to suit breeding programmes

Prices were strong and clearances high at more than 60 yearling bull sales around the country through the six weeks to mid-October.

Purchasers have been buying to fulfil the needs of specific breeding programmes, for example bulls purposely structured for heifer mating calving ease, short gestation, and birthweights. Studs able to demonstrate genetics that adhere to the traits and criteria sought have invariably met an enthusiastic gallery.

Taken as a whole, the nationwide auction season achieved a clearance rate of approximately 95 per cent, with variation from that largely due to the quantity of bulls offered at each sale. Prices averaged between $3500 and $4000. Dairy farmers seeking to buy bulls around $2000 per head were accommodated.

bidr featured this year at around 80 per cent of the sales, proving its worth for buyers unable to attend in person, particularly those who studied the catalogue in detail and liaised with the livestock agent beforehand, then took the option to bid online.

A notable sale late in the season, at Rockley Angus, Balfour, Southland, saw vendors the McCallum family achieve a highly satisfactory result, clearing 32 out of the 37 yearling bulls offered for an average of $6195 and a top price of $24,000.

Callum Stewart, PGG Wrightson Livestock National Genetics Manager