Mordallup Angus sells for $19,000

The constant crashing of thunder ushered in the Mordallup Angus sale last week at Manjimup, thoroughly testing the temperament of the 61 bulls on offer.

Remarkably, all but one of the bulls remained penned up after the previous evening's skyward cacophony subsided to the calls of Landmark auctioneer John Wirth.

It could be said there was still a bit of atmospheric electricity when lot 1 strutted into the sale ring and then when the bidding reached $19,000 for the 952kg son of SAV Net Worth 4200.

For the successful bidders, commercial producers Don and Bev Strang, of Donnybrook, the net investment was worth every cent.

"We have already introduced Net Worth bloodlines into our herd and the previous bull produced excellent daughters and very growthy steer calves," Bev said.

The couple selected on the bull's top EBV figures, especially its high Short Feed Index Value of +$89.

Mordallup Net Worth F131 recorded EBVs of +48, +89 and +116 for 200, 400 and 600-day weights.

"He is also very quiet and at our age we cannot afford to have anything less," Bev said.

Just before the sale, Mordallup stud co-principal Mark Muir announced that lot 2, Mordallup Timeline, had been withdrawn.

"We have decided to retain the Dateline son for stud use and will market him as a semen sire," Mark said.

_Countryman _confirmed there was stud interest in the highly regarded bull which should reflect in good semen sales from the top sire for the Muir family.

Another commercial producer that has had terrific success with Mordallup bulls then proceeded to secure two other Dateline sons for $9500 and $8000.

Vern Mouritz, of Hyden, said he would be putting the bulls to work over Net Worth daughters.

He followed up these purchases with another Net Worth bull for $6000.

"Although beef producers are a long way down the supply chain in regard to financial rewards, there is good money in breeding productive cattle," Vern said.

Also interested in the exclusive Dateline offering at the sale, the Bairstow family, of Arizona Farms, Lake Grace, paid the $11,500 second top-price for another son of the well-muscled sire.

Northcliffe producer Matt Della Gola paid $6500 for a Mordallup New Era son.

Esperance producer Darlow Pastoral bought five bulls for an average price of $4850.

First-time buyer Shane Harris, of Harris Angus stud, Leongatha, Victoria, bought a bull for $5750.

"It is my first visit to WA and it was great to inspect the Mordallup herd," Shane said.

Shane has bypassed the supply chain by running his own butcher shop.

"We serve pure Angus beef and the shop has a strong following," Shane said.

It seems very appropriate that Mordallup, so highly recognised for breeding top cattle, should be a part of Shane's enterprise which supplies the best of Angus to its customers.