Chris and Jayne Douglas, and their son Henry, of Monymusk Herefords, sold 28 bulls this week for an average price of $8510. Another bull sold to two North Island buyers for $23,000.
The top-priced bull was sold to the Westholm Hereford stud from West Otago and the Grassmere stud from North Canterbury, with the Duncraigen (Wyndham) and Matariki (Kaikoura) studs getting semen interests.
Robert Kane, of the Westholm stud, described the bull as ''very complete''.
''He just has everything we're looking for to help our herd and move us in the direction we think the beef industry's going,'' he said.
The Monymusk stud was established in Amberley by Chris Douglas' parents Mike and June in 1964 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year.
The stud moved to Te Anau in 1984, with 17 stud cows, and numbers had since grown to 160. Chris Douglas was ''very happy'' with the line-up of bulls offered at this week's sale. The top-priced bull, Monymusk Galant, ''ticked all the boxes . . . there wasn't a missing link basically'', he said.
Everyone was looking for meat, which the bull had, and that was backed up with figures. The bull was also a great mover, he said.
Herefords were a ''great breed'' to work with and they thrived in the Te Anau area, which was not easy country, Mr Douglas said.
In 1994, Monymusk took two bulls to the national beef expo, selling Monymusk Discovery for $34,000 and another bull for $18,000, which was also ''something special''.
Monymusk Discovery, who still featured in a lot of bloodlines around the country, put them ''on the map'', he said.
