Boonaroo’s annual on-property bull sale proved to be one to remember, with the Foster family waiting anxiously for news on whether they could run the sale after the snap five-day lockdown in Victoria.
With confirmation the sale could go ahead, stud and commercial support pushed the average to $10,059, $969 up on last year’s average.
The top-priced bull of the day – Lot 4 – was purchased by Daniel and Anne Marie Barrow, Merlewood Angus, Mirboo North, through Elders.
The 18-month-old bull was an embryo transfer son of Landfall Keystone K132 and in the top 2 per cent of the breed for calving ease and carcase weight.
“We have been looking for a good Keystone son for the last two years, and from what we saw with Lot 4, he had the key traits and style we were looking for,” Mr Barrow said.
“We were able to reach out to Jodie [Foster] to see the maternal line before the sale, and we liked what we saw with her.
“He’s a complete outcross to what we have in our herd, and extremely quiet which is a focus for us and our clients.”
The second top-priced bull was picked up by return buyers RW and CJ Merrett, Lindsay.
Lot 6 was an 18-month-old Booroomooka Genius son out of the True Blue cow line, with figures in the top 1pc for mature cow weight.
“We were looking for higher early growth figures, trying to put more weight into our calves and we believe that both Lot 6 and Lot 15 are the bulls to do that,” Bob Merrett said.
“We have been supporting Jodie’s breeding program for over 20 years, since she had Murray Greys, because her principals have been the same the whole way through.
“You pay for quality and Boonaroo has just that.”
Volume buyers for the sale included the Whitehead family, Edenhope, purchasing six bulls to a top of $11,000 and an average of $9833 for their 600-head cattle operation.
“We’ve been supporting Boonaroo for a while, and were looking for low birth weight heifer bulls,” Sam Whitehead said.
“They just have good bulls with great temperament.”
At the conclusion of the sale Boonaroo stud principals Shane and Jodie Foster were overwhelmed with the support received from their clients.
“It was a fantastic sale, we are really pleased to see our repeat and new clients at the sale, after such a stressful lead up,” Ms Foster said.
“It was something we’ve never experienced before with the lockdown that occurred, and the uncertainty of whether we were going ahead or not.”
Mr Foster said he was wrapped with the results, particularly given they put extra bulls up for sale and still got a great average.
Courtesy of Jess Parker, Stock & Land