Angus bulls cause stir at expo

Big black angus bulls dominated the national cattle stud sales at Beef Expo this week. More than $750,000 changed hands at the sales with almost half of that being paid for angus bulls.

The two top sales of $26,000 and $25,000 were angus bulls and, to round the expo off, the breed featured in the steak of origin contest to find the nation's tastiest beef steaks.

A steak from a limousin-angus heifer raised by sisters Kathy Child and Yvonne Hill, of Whangarei, was judged the overall winner while an angus steak from Chef's Choice, Whanganui, won the overall best of brand section for retail and wholesale butcheries. Angus also took out the first three places in the best of British breeds section.

The four-day expo in Feilding is a shop window for many breeders who will be hoping to lure breeders and commercial farmers to their on- farm sales over the next two months.

Scottish cattle judges and angus breeders John and Marion Tilson chose a hereford as their champion bull of the sale, with an angus as reserve.

The hereford, owned by Charles and Margaret Lee, of Leelands, Elsthorpe, was described as "a powerful bull with a lot of meat on it", and later sold for $9000 to Bruce Robinson, of Kokonga Stud, Waikato.

The top-selling hereford was from Mike and Lorraine Langtry's Awhea Stud, Feilding, and was bought by Martin and Mary Taylor, of Glenbrae, Porangahau, for $11,500.

When the angus bulls came up for sale the auction venue was filled to overflowing, reflecting the breed's sudden lift in popularity since its steak of origin success in recent years and last year's McDonald's angus burger deal which has seen a premium paid for beef meeting the AngusPure contract conditions.

The high point of the angus sale was a line of bulls from an evaluation trial, a group of young bulls gathered from throughout New Zealand and run together for 12 months while they were weighed, analysed and evaluated.

One of the best of these, Turiroa Power, from Rick and Andrew Powdrell's Turiroa Stud at Wairoa, fetched the sales' top price of $26,000. The buyers were Colin Williams and Charlie Dowding of Kaharau Stud, Gisborne.

Auctioneer Bruce Orr, of PGG Wrightson, said the bull had good growth figures and was well- muscled, but what most excited bidders was what he described as its x-factor, an air of supreme self- confidence.

"It's hard to describe, but you know it once you see it."

The second-best price was $25,000, paid for Mt Mable Master, from Kevin and Megan Friel, of Norsewood, by Hamish and Angela Williams, of Turihau, Gisborne, New Zealand's oldest angus stud.

Nine other angus bulls sold for five figures and the sale average for 34 bulls was $8425, well above last year's $6650 average.

The expo's other sales, of shorthorn, murray grey, simmental, south devon and charolais, were tame by comparison. The best shorthorn, a roan named Hiwiroa Jack and owned by Jim and Nick Syme, Waipawa, sold for $11,000, while a white shorthorn and a charolais reached $8500 each.

The simmental sale was the most disappointing, with only seven of the 14 animals catalogued selling, but provided the most humorous moment of the day. Mr Orr was doing his best to convince buyers of the merits of a heifer: "Isn't she a sweetie, isn't she a honey," he gushed. "Do you want her phone number?" shouted owner Tony Thompson to a roar of laughter.

"She's too young for me," Mr Orr replied.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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