Millers Flat Hereford breeders Gray and Robyn Pannett had an outstanding bull sale on their property last week.
Mr and Mrs Pannett, from the Limehills stud, sold 42 bulls for an average of $7921, with a top price of $39,000 to David and Rosemary Morrow from the Okawa stud, near Mt Somers.
The second top price was $20,000, bought by Dr John Allen, from the Mahuta stud at Tuakau, followed by $17,000 for a bull purchased by the Selbie brothers of Lumsden.
The 33rd annual sale was described by one stock agent as an outstanding line of bulls, with "tremendous" bidding from throughout New Zealand.
It was the highest average the Pannetts had achieved and Mr Pannett was delighted with the sale result.
The top-priced bull, Limehills Hogan 100474, sired by Limehills Electra 07 927, was an athletic bull and had good data "without being over the top", he said.
The Pannetts topped the sale of bulls at the Beef Expo in Feilding in 2008, selling a sire for $40,000.
The couple also won the 2010 New Zealand Herefords Herd of Excellence, an award established to identify a breeder who, through focused breeding objectives and farm management, has achieved the highest standard with Hereford cattle and their total farming enterprise.
In other recent southern bull sales, Waimara Angus sold 12 bulls for an average of $6000 and a top price of $9000 sold to the Heckler family from Stoneburn.
Stoneburn Herefords sold 14 bulls for an average of $4500 and a top price of $6600 sold to David Andrews, of Hyde, at their inaugural sale at Stoneburn.
In South Westland, Glacier Horned Herefords sold eight bulls for an average of $5412 and a top price of $9000 sold to Cattle Flat Station. Flagstaff Herefords sold 11 bulls for an average of $4190 and a top price of $8000 sold to the Hill brothers, from Greymouth, and Bannockburn Angus sold 11 bulls for an average of $4500 and a top price of $6000 sold to K. J. Williams of Fox Glacier.
The top priced bull at Westholm Herefords sale at Tapanui was $5000, while the top priced Blue Mountain Angus bull was $6000.
Seadowns Herefords in North Otago sold 20 bulls for an average of $3985 and a top price of $9000 sold to Matukituki Station.