After the past 18mths of extreme drought and having had to supplementary feed the entire herd on and off for 12mths, our 2019 Sale was always going to reflect the harsh conditions our industry had been facing. With a record female reduction across the eastern states of Australia the bull requirements were dramatically reduced. In saying all of that our expectations were met by wonderful support from our local and repeat clients that have showed faith in our program, some for over 20 years.

Our sale topped at $9,000 twice selling 48 from 65 bulls offered and averaging $5733. Top price bulls this year saw sons of Pathfinder General K7 top the sale these bulls featured light birth weights, above average growth with exceptional carcase data and offered clients versatility when mating to either heifers or cows. Mark and Lee Latham of “Goodwood” Curlewis purchased Lot 13 Booragul General N130 for $9,000 and James Hyem of “Kibah” Gunnedah purchased Lot 6 for $9,000 another General son along with 3 other bulls averaging $7500.

Other volume buyers on the day was Bert Hewitt “Stoneleigh” Kelvin selecting 3 Wattletop Lock sons to average $7000. Bert has been buying Booragul genetics for 25+ years for his Gunnedah district clients, this year’s purchases were for his own herd. Repeat buyers Steve and Sophie Carter “Rangari” Kelvin bought 3 bulls, Matt Avendano “Towri” Boggabri bought 3 bulls, Muranjai Pastoral from Willow tree bought 3 and Lochiel Pty Ltd from Curlewis bought 3. The volume buyers of the day were Phil and Vicki Dempsey from Nundle selecting 6 light birthweight bulls for heifer joinings.

This year’s sale welcomed some new clients from Rosehill Holdings Glen Innes averaging $6,000 for 3 bulls and Trevor Worboys from Kelvin purchasing Lot 3 Booragul Mount N117 for $7,000. The Hughes Family from “Four O Eight Pty Ltd” Macksville also secured Lot 4 Booragul Jacko N110 for $7,000 going to work as a stud sire. Overall, we were very appreciative of all who came to support our sale both purchasers, underbidders and those simply came for a day out.

This year a special thanks goes to our local agents Elders Tamworth and Gunnedah, JBR Livestock Gunnedah, Jacob and Anderson Gunnedah, Landmark Gunnedah, Fleming and Ross Gunnedah, Galton and Co Gunnedah, Garvin and Cousens Tamworth, Santaco Tamworth and an extra special appearance from Mike Wilson Livestock Armidale. Our local support was magnificent.

Thanks to our Camp Quality Catering team who did a tremendous job keeping us all fed and warm and a massive thanks to the incredible generosity of those who donated an impressive $1180!!!!

Here’s hoping the remainder of 2019 sees a major break in the season restoring confidence back into agriculture and 2020 will be back to business as usual.