The rising 2-year-old bull sale season in Otago and Southland begins at Puketoi Angus stud in the Maniototo tomorrow.
The stud was established in 1972, vendor Kyle Hagen said.
Tomorrow would be the 32nd bull sale on the 3000ha sheep, beef and arable property Puketoi Station near Patearoa.
Back in the day, the annual sale was held in early June but the date was brought forward to avoid clashing with a cluster of southern bull sales in the first two weeks of the month.
‘‘There was a real bottleneck of sales.’’
Three years ago, the sale was brought forward again to the Thursday in the second week of May.
Thursdays were better to hold a sale because often farmers used a Monday to organise their week ahead.
The move to Thursday made Puketoi Angus the first bull sale of the southern season.
The terrain on Puketoi Station ranges between 380m and 1000m above sea level.
Winter had arrived in Central Otago.
Hard frosts had plunged temperatures to below zero.
‘‘It has really put the brakes on the lucerne growth.’’
In May, the weather was generally more settled for holding a bull sale than in June.
Snowfall in June had forced the cancellation of bull sales in Central Otago, he said.
A benefit of holding a sale in May was buyers avoided a clash with winter feeding duties.
‘‘They aren’t pressured to move breaks and then get to a sale.’’
Consequently, it could be a challenge to get bull buyers to attend a May sale.
Also some sheep and beef farmers were focused on putting rams out in May rather than buying a bull.
Being the first sale of the season meant the market price for a bull was unknown.
‘‘There is a wee bit of trepidation being early.’’
However, strong demand for calves at autumn sales generally indicated demand would remain strong for bull sales.
Soft demand for autumn calves could make a bull vendor nervous, he said.
The last time an autumn calf result raised concerns about his upcoming bull sale result was about five years ago.
Demand had been strong for Angus genetics for many years due to great marketing of the breed by Angus New Zealand.
Angus breeders had also increased demand by working hard to deliver diners a quality product to eat by chasing traits, such as intramuscular fat.
Other traits he targets includes calving ease and for a newborn calf to be big enough and have enough fat cover to survive in a cold and rugged environment.
Commercial clients want a descent-sized calf able to ‘‘get up and thrive’’.
A core breeding objective was to produce structurally sound bulls.
‘‘So they can get around and do what they need to do.’’
He was feeling positive about the average price and clearance rate of the more than 20 bulls on offer tomorrow.
Most of the bulls were usually sold to clients farming within 100km of the stud including Hyde, Ida Valley, Kyeburn, Naseby and Saint Bathans.
A change to the sale format this year was replacing the usually serving of steak sandwiches to beef cheek and cheddar pies from The Waipiata Pie Co.
The change was to create a point-of-difference, as bull buyers were often served steak at bull sales.
New sires to feature at the sale this year include bull Matauri Boulder T561.
Puketoi Angus bought 20 straws of the semen as a yearling bull for about $220 each.
A son of Matauri Boulder had been retained in the stud.
Other new sires to produce bulls for the sale tomorrow were Earnscleugh Viking 211530 and Taimate S19.
‘‘We have some new blood coming through, which we are pretty excited about.’’
Rural Livestock genetics representative Jimmy Kenny, of Lawrence, said weaner calf sales had exceeded his expectations.
Calves had been fetching record prices.
He expected the strong demand for calves to continue on to bull sales.
Buyers would be willing to pay higher prices to win a bidding contest.
‘‘The writing on the wall suggests there is going to be a lot more confidence out there.’’
