Article By Hannah Powe first appeared in The Land
A fresh cool breeze blew Speckle Park enthusiasts to Yass for the Speckles in the Capital sale at South Eastern Livestock Exchange (SELX) on Saturday, however it was remote buyers over the phone and online which dominated the action.
The sale topped at $35,000 for a Speckle Park bull, however the strength of the sale was shown in the female section of the catalogue with all but two of the 28 females sold to a top of $20,000 and average of $8173.
Both the top-priced bull and female were offered by John Weekley and family of the Merom Speckle Park stud, Mornington Peninsula, Vic. They were one of 10 vendors from NSW, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory which consigned animals for the second annual sale.
In all, 22 of 41 bulls sold under the hammer to average $8000.
The $35,000 sale-topper was SPK L260 Razzamataz purchased by an online buyer through Elite Livestock Auctions. The 22-month- old son of breed-leading New Zealand sire Maungahina Legacy was out of Six Star 50S Karmen going back to Praire Hill John Wayne 50S.
He weighed 665 kilograms with an eye muscle area of 122 square centimetres, a 6.5 per cent intramuscular fat percentage, a scrotal circumference of 38cm and fats of eight millimetres and 6mm on the rump and rib.
Merom stud retained semen for in-herd use, with principal John Weekley saying his phenotype, bloodlines and growth statistics to date made him a standout.
The lead female in the draft, Merom E27 Cyndy with a heifer calf-at- foot sired by Six Star Huglehoff, sold for $20,000 to Colin Shields, Oakey, Qld.
Sired by SPKNZ Extreme E27 and out of the Codiak Putnam GNK 61Y daughter in Fish Creek Farm Cyndy, she was a rising four-year-old and sold depastured to SPKR129.
Vendor Mr Weekley said there was a lot of interested in the top-priced female and her two full sisters, which led him to offering one in the sale. The others have been retained within the Merom stud.
Mr Shields also paid $10,000 for SPK Ring the Bell, a 22-month-old and 615kg son of Maungahina Legacy.
The second-top priced female was Kikiamah Savannah, a 27- month-old daugther of Underhill All Out 1D, offered by Gerard Walsh and Carolyn Murphy of the Kikiamah Speckle Park stud, Canberra, ACT, and purchased by M & G Speckle Park stud, Nimmitabel for
$15,000.
Lagoon Rambo offered by Paul and Rachel Long, Lagoon stud, Maitland was the second-top priced bull knocked down to David and Audrey Moxey, Yarrowitch near Walcha, for $12,000.
Weighing 770kg, the 28-month-old was by Spots ‘N Sprouts Stands Along and measured a 41cm scrotal circumference with a 128 sq cm EMA, 6.4pc IMF and rump and rib fats of 7mm and 4mm.
The Moxeys also accounted for majority of the commercial Speckle Park-influenced cattle sold earlier in the day.
Demand was evident for breed-leading genetics with all three embryo packages sold to a top of $1600 per embryo and a
$1400/embryo average, while eight of eight semen packages reached a top of $320 a straw for 10 doses of Six Star Royal Flesh 101Y and averaged $221/straw.
The $1600/embryo top-priced package consisted of three embryos sired by Underhill All Out 1D out of Rose Hill New Lace which were purchased by an online buyer from Albury.
The sale was conducted by Ray White GTSM with Ryan Morris, Young, taking bids.
