Biara Santa Gertrudis stud’s annual Northampton sale takes a hit from dry season and poor market

The higher cost of beef production in WA’s northern regions was evident at the Biara Santa Gertrudis Bull Sale when more than half the catalogue of 104 bulls were passed in.

The Northampton on-property sale, conducted by Nutrien Livestock on April 9 and interfaced with AuctionsPlus, only managed to sell 43 bulls on the fall of the hammer, limited substantially by the absence of critical buying support.

The sale make-up included 99 bulls offered by the Hasleby family, of Biara Santa Gertrudis stud, resulting in 41 sold to a top of $10,000 and average price of $4500, as compared with last year when 98 bulls sold for an average price of $6245.

Seven Biara bulls that were passed in sold immediately after the sale, and studmaster Glenn Hasleby said he would hold bulls until June for those interested in private selections.

There were also six bulls offered by guest vendor Wendalla Santa Gertrudis stud, with three sold to a top of $9500 and average price of $6500, as compared with last year when seven bulls sold for an average price of $9714.

Nutrien Livestock auctioneer Tiny Holly said ongoing dry conditions, particularly in the Pilbara, had been a major contributor to the high pass-in rate.

“Pastoralists have delayed their bull-buying requirements for lack of seasonal rainfall and a problematic shortage of feed-on-hand,” he said.

“The sale result in no way reflected on the quality of the line-up — the bulls were of excellent quality, with great figures to back up their presentation.

“The sale was missing a mass of 10 extra registered buyers from last year, including a few large-volume repeat clients who did not require bulls this year.”

BIARA

Mr Hasleby said the low turnout of buyers was expected as pastoralists faced seasonal constraints on top of lower market prices paid for their turnoff.

“I am very pleased with the sale result during a time when many pastoralists face challenging conditions — we appreciated the buyers that did support the sale and were able to select top bulls for good values,” he said.

The $10,000 top-priced bull, Biara 2129 (PP), sold to a Chapman Valley grain and beef farming enterprise that is turning over a new leaf with Santa Gertrudis cattle.

Jeremy Forbes, who runs 60 Santa Gertrudis and Angus beef cattle breeders, will continue to transition his family’s herd to a more purebred type with this third Biara bull purchase.

“The cow herd is now about 70 per cent Santa Gertrudis — we are considering running a pure line of good-doing Santa females,” he said.

While Mr Forbes crops 1100ha of wheat, canola and lupins, the cattle run efficiency on “breakaway country” — not suitable for cropping.

“We sell our steers at Muchea, with the black and red-coated types on equal values, and we keep most of the females as replacement heifers,” he said.

Mr Forbes’ replacement bull, the 686kg Biara 2129, was one of 52 double-polled bulls in the catalogue — rating equal-first in fertility with a 93 per cent morphology.

Mr Hasleby said 2129 had solid data across all traits — “a real versatile type that is dark-coated, clean-sheathed with adequate muscling and good growth”.

With the absence of competitive bidding, most of Biara’s bulls were sold on the opening bid of either $5000 or $4000 except for a few, including Biara 2152 (PP) — knocked down for $7000 to repeat buyer Liam Johns, of Killara Station in Meekatharra.

“We haven’t had a lot of rain other than a few isolated storms about six weeks ago,” he said.

“That got us to the sale today — our biggest worry is the cattle market — it’s below the cost of production.”

Mr Johns said to freight cattle 800km to the Muchea Livestock Centre was costing about $100/head.

He secured three Biara bulls at the fall of the hammer for an average price of $5666, and bought three passed-in bulls for $4000/head.

His top pick, Biara 2152, sired by Rosevale Nautical N20 (PP), was in the top 30 per cent or better for most Estimated Breeding Value traits resulting in a +41 for a high-ranking Export index.

Mr Hasleby said that calculated the bull as one of the most profitable bulls in the sale draft.

“EBVs have been used extensively in our herd and we have come to trust in the figures along with our strict visual assessment when selecting new stud sires,” he said.

Volume buyer of Biara bulls were the Parsons family, who run Coolawanyah Cattle at Tom Price.

Kim Parsons said the station had early seasonal rain, but “not enough”.

They secured 16 bulls to a top of $6500 and average price of $4656.

Wiluna-based Granite Peak Station pastoralist Jim Quadrio secured 11 bulls for an average price of $4272, and Eganu pastoralists Luke and Emma Hegarty took home four bulls at an average price of $4500.

WENDALLA

Chittering and Bogart-based Wendalla Santa Gertrudis stud, owned by Wendy Gould, offered two first-drop sons of new stud sire Walmona Boss (P), that resulted in a $9500 top price.

The Walmona Boss sire bred Wendall Washington W31 (P) that sold to Mel Leeds of 3 Sons Santa Gertrudis stud in Moora, who also secured Wendalla Western W22 (P) for $5000, a first-drop son of Wendalla Showman S29 (P).

The three Wendalla bulls passed in were sold immediately after the sale for a complete clearance of all six bulls.