Gloucester Angus Verified female sale sets a record for 2023 selling season

March 2023

"Our philosophy is pedigree, phenotype and performance" - Corey Ireland, Macka’s Head of Pastoral

Pictured left to right: Robert Mackenzie, Macka's Beef, with top buyer Jamie Grosser, manager of Boambee Angus at East Seaham; auctioneer Rodney McDonald and agent Michael Easey, Bowe and Lidbury, with Macka's livestock manager Corey Ireland and the top selling pen of cows PTIC with calves that sold for $5450 at Gloucester on Friday 24th March.

Buyers were transported back in time at Gloucester on Friday as bids for three-in-one breeding units hit $5450 - a result more like 2022 than anything seen in the current market.

The sale was part of the first commercial female offering for Macka's Angus Beef and the first in Australia for breeders listed as Angus Verified.

Hosted by Bowe and Lidbury, the sale offered 500 Angus females with the top selling pen of rising three year old cows on their first calf and Pregnancy Tested In Calf going to Boambee Angus at East Seaham, through stud manager Jamie Grosser.

The emerging Hunter stud also paid the top money of $4800 for rising two year old heifers in calf to Texas Iceman R725, purchased by the Mackenzie family in 2021 for the then record price of $225,000.

Boambee Angus at the same sale bid up for the top selling Texas female with embryo calves due on the ground in spring. Boambee Angus has since bought Iceman straws from Macka's and Mr Grosser said Friday's purchases at Gloucester would fit into the stud's program which now includes 600 breeding Angus females with plans to further grow that number.

A pen of cows PTIC with calves sold for $5200 to Andrew Dickinson, The Branch.

Roger Fuller agency at Singleton purchased three pens of three-in-one units to $4950 going to a Dungog client who plans to put them to Wagyu bulls at a later date.

Wayne Kerslake, Bindera via Gloucester, purchased heifers in calf to Texas Iceman to a top of $4000 and unjoined heifers, 408kg, for $2100. The first time Macka's client said he had previous success in breeding through artificial insemination using Millah Murrah semen from their 2018 yearling record bull Nugget N266 which sold at the time for $54,000.

Heifers in calf to Knowla, Sugarloaf and Curracabark sires sold to $2900 with volume buyer in that category John Carlson, Mundrook via Taree, happy to come out of breeding retirement after selling his herd at the peak of prices last year. After Friday's sale he now has a similar number of Angus breeders as before. "I'm very happy with these cattle," he said. "They have good genes. They are fresh."

Unjoined heifers sold from $1300 to $2100, including a pen for $1700 to Cougar Cattle Company, Dungog.

Weaner heifers made from $1050 to $2900 with the top pen, with Knowla and Coolie Angus blood, going to St Martin's Angus at Tipperary via Gloucester.

A Texas Queensland outfit was the volume buyer on the younger cattle. Macka's livestock manager Corey Ireland said the focus on breeding involved lifting quality and consistency.

"Our philosophy is pedigree, phenotype and performance," he said. "Consistency of product is very important as we are fully integrated from genetics to the plate. We try to manage everything so these cattle perform within their environment and thrive." Mr Ireland said Estimated Breeding Values were a tool used in combination with phenotype. "We try to turn off as many kilograms of beef per hectare as we can. The data, information and feedback is paramount," he said.

Robert Mackenzie, who was joined at Gloucester by his father Bruce and sons Jack and James, said the family company understood the entire beef supply chain from producer to wholesale and food service clientele. "We breed sustainable animals with cows that go in calf the first time and which convert grass to milk; grass to weight so they turn off younger calves faster.

Macka's Beef will announce its progress in the carbon farming space in May.

Friday's sale was hosted by Bowe and Lidbury with Rodney McDonald calling the bids.

Article by Journalist Jamie Brown Published in The Land