By Travis King
Courtesy Farm Weekly
A TULLIBARDINE Angus bull hit the top price of $11,000 at last week’s Tullibardine Angus and Murray Grey stud bull sale.
It was another quality line-up of black and grey bulls presented by Tullibardine principals Alastair and Jenny Murray, and once again the stud’s loyal clientele turned up to boost their sire stocks.
In the Murray Grey section, 22 bulls were offered and 14 sold under the hammer at a top of $8000 and a $5464 average.
In the Murray Grey offering it was Kojonup buyer Frank Leusciatti, M & L Leusciatti & Son, Kojonup, that took home the $8000 top-priced bull.
A Tullibardine High Noon H32 son, Tullibardine Miami Vice M60 was out of Tullibardine Belinda F84 and weighed 760kg.
Mr Leusciatti was a repeat Tullibardine buyer, with this bull the fourth he had bought from the stud.
“We run 50 Murray Grey breeders and I was looking for a bull that would go over the heifers and smaller cows in the herd,” Mr Leusciatti said.
“We mostly sell calves straight off their mums through the Mt Barker saleyards and we actually topped the sale when we sold them last year.
“Depending what is happening with prices we are happy to keep them and wean them and hold onto them a bit longer if need be.”
Miami Vice was +3.9 birthweight, +21, +31 and +51 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.
The bull had a raw EMA score of 124cm2 and was 5.6 for frame score.
The $7000 second top price bull is heading over east with Charles Wallace, Woodbourn Murray Grey stud, Cressy, Tasmania, the successful bidder.
This bull, Tullibardine Magnum M20, was a Melaleuca Jeep 52 son and weighed 898kg.
In terms of figures, the bull recorded +23, +40 and +61 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.
It was 43cm for scrotal size and had a raw EMA of 114cm2.
Four bulls made the third top price of $6500 and this included the third bull to be offered, Tullibardine Mars Bar M13, which sold to AW & JA Dell’Anna, Napier.
Mars Bar was a 902kg bull that shone in the growth figures with a +35 200-day weight (top 5pc), as well as +64 and +92 for 400 and 600-day weights (both top 1pc).
It had a frame score 6.2 and had an EMA of 115cm2.
The Dell’Anna’s also paid $4000 for a second bull.
Others to pay $6500 included MJ & SG Liddiard, Napier, who bought Tullibardine Money Maker M41.
Another good growthy bull, Money Maker weighed 832kg and was +24, +38 and +61 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.
Merinvale Grazing, Albany, was another buyer to pay $6500 when it was successful on Tullibardine Magician M1.
Magician was in the top 10pc of the breed for 600-day weight (+72) and top 5pc for EMA (+2.9) and retail beef yield (+2.1).
Merinvale was also successful on another grey, paying $4000 for Tullibardine Mainbreak M90.
The fourth buyer to hit the $6500 mark was another repeat buyer, KW & CR Frost, Kendenup.
They purchased Tullibardine Memphis M24, a bull that was +3.4 birthweight and +15, +27 and +36 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.
The Frosts were also successful on two other bulls paying $5500 and $4000 respectively.
Larussa Assets, Gingin, paid $6000 for one bull, while the Norton family added to their Angus purchase, taking a grey for $4000.
Following the sale auctioneer Tiny Holly said it was a quality line-up of bulls.
“Both the shop window and figures of the bulls stacked up,” Mr Holly said.
“Bulls were presented in their working clothes and were ready to go, but like a lot of sales this year, buyers were selective and the better quality bulls were highly sought after and made very good money.”
Zoetis representative Ben Fletcher (left), Landmark Kojonup agent Troy Hornby, Frank Leusciatti, Kojonup, Tullibardine Murray Grey stud principal Alastair Murray and Elders Albany territory sales manager David Lindberg and the $8000 top price Murray Grey bought by Mr Leusciatti at last week’s Tullibardine bull sale.