By Tyson Cattle
Courtesy The Land
A COW and calf unit stole the limelight at the 48th Murray Grey National Show and Sale at Wodonga, Victoria, last week, selling for an impressive $10,500.
Southern Cross Felicity ETB F26 and her calf, offered by Wagga Wagga stud Southern Cross Murray Greys, was bought by up-and-coming breeder Crystal Lea Bell, Prairie Falls Murray Greys, Flinders, Vic.
By Murfield Zeus Z3 and from Kakadu Felicy N1 (a daughter of Orcadia Park Century), the rising four-year-old female had a heifer calf at foot by Nawarra Supermint EGK E2 and had been inseminated with Southern Cross Syndicate T915.
Ms Bell, 19, is the granddaughter of the late well-known Murray Grey stud breeder Graeme Wesley, who built Orcadia Park stud.
“I asked the owner, Annette Tenbroeke (Southern Cross Murray Greys), to send me a photo of the combo on Facebook a few days before the sale,” Ms Bell said.
“The cow and calf goes back to my grandfather’s stud Orcadia, and he passed away in August last year.”
She said once she knew that and saw photos of the cattle, she had to have them.
Ms Bell said she was keen on continuing the same bloodlines as her grandfather and was well on her way to establishing herself with 10-15 breeders already.
The unit was by far the top price at what was a tough national sale in the breed’s homeland, with the next best result being a bull, Dajory Hydraulic H87, at $6000.
That bull was bought by South Australian commercial breeder Roger Lean, Clythbrae Murray Greys, Coonalpyn.
Hydraulic, by Dajory Dynamic D19 and from Dajory Tarella D39, was the Bendigo Beef and Royal Melbourne Show grand champion Murray Grey bull in 2013.
The bull was in the top one per cent of the breed for 400- and 600-day weight estimated breeding values (EBVs) as well as for eye muscle area (EMA), scrotal size, and carcase weight.
Weighing 918 kilograms, Hydraulic had fat scans of 8 and 8 for rib and rump, with an EMA scan of 123 square centimetres.
Mr Lean bought the bull from brothers Ryan, Josh and Daniel McRae, Dajory Murray Greys, Grahamvale, Vic.
“The figures really stood out for me,” Mr Lean said.
“The bull performed in the areas I need and wanted it to perform.
“It doesn’t have calving problems and it has really good growth.”
Mr Lean said the bull was a perfect fit for his 200 breeders.
The Murray Grey females averaged $3323 for the 22 of 29 sold at the sale, while the bulls averaged $3933 for the 15 of 28 sold.
Murray Grey National chairman Bryce Whale admitted it had been tough going.
He said producers were still hurting in the hip-pocket as most had big feed bills, particularly in NSW, while the timing of the sale also didn’t suit many of the West Australian buyers who had been prevalent at past sales.
“The market has turned around in the past six weeks, but we all took a hiding leading up to that and I think that is reflected in the prices in the bull sales,” he said.
“I think the top bulls didn’t sell strongly, but sold consistently. It is always tough at a multi-vendor sale when you have cattle from all levels to be marketed.”
http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/livestock/general-news/murray-greys-to-10500/2697820.aspx?storypage=0