The temptation to keep Lot 3, Taimate Angus V15 for their own breeding programme was ruled out by Paul and wife Nadine Hickman months ago.
This decision paid off after a full clearance of 100 bulls made a $23,750 average at the June 16 auction — understood to be the first bull sale to break the $2 million mark.
Topping the catalogue was Lot 3, bought by Tangihau Angus, which previously set the record for the highest priced bull at $161,000 last year.
Another bull, Lot 32, sold to Picton Park, from Gore, for $100,000.
Taimate Angus has been breeding Angus bulls near Ward since 1956 with Mr Hickman remembering when five bulls sold for a $2200 average in 1999, when he was a school leaver.
The fourth generation farmer said the sale was memorable on many levels and he was comfortable with releasing Lot 3 to the market.
"You can’t keep them all ... We already have a lot of the blood and it’s good to sell those high-end bulls and let other people have the bloodlines and data too. It’s good for the industry."
The stud retained genetics on the dam side which was closely related to Taimate bull Roy, selling a lot of its semen internationally, and had used the bull on the sire side extensively, he said.
He said Lot 3 had drawn early interest since being catalogued two months ago because of its "standout" breed data and many qualities.
"There’s certainly been a helluva lot of interest. He’s attractive and there was a feeling that something pretty good was going to happen. But you never really know until it happens at auctions and whether two people are going to love him as much as each other, but all the stars aligned."
Removing the top price, the sale still made a record for a 100-bull offering.
"I was told afterwards no sale had ever come close to grossing $2m before so we struck through that barrier ... I think there was 13 stud bulls sold and the list just goes on and on and there were a lot of phenomenal achievements all at once. Even one of those would have been pretty special."
Taimate came close to matching the national average record, just under $25,000 set by Tangihau for about 50 bulls last year.
Many bidders raised their hand from early on for Lot 3 until a two-way duel settled in from $100,000 onwards between Tangihau and a Central Otago under bidder.
Mr Hickman said he was an outstanding bull with a powerful bone structure, strong head, beautiful skin and a softness about him.
"To get that much power and grunt and to have the data and the pedigree is not easy. The three things stud breeders are looking for really are the pedigree package, the data package and the phenotype package and to have such high class in all three areas, it just doesn’t happen. If he had not been my own bull it would have been shoulders back and look out, it was the sort of bull I would buy everyday."
Lot 3 was in the top 1% for intramuscular fat (IMF) — an attribute the market was chasing.
"Typically, bulls that have that very high-end marbling tend to look more like a Wagyu, whereas this bull was still a traditional Angus grunty bull. It was not just the IMF data, but it was certainly one point that showed how good his data was across the range."
Strong commercial sales from close to 200 registered bidders showed the health of the programme and beef market, he said.
Removing the stud prices, the commercial average was more than $19,000.
The Hickmans have retained a special bull for their own breeding and bought a $21,000 bull they liked the look of from Waimara Angus in Southland.
Last year Taimate sold a bull for $62,000 and another for $50,000, averaging $13,531.
Mr Hickman said they always strived to better the previous year’s result, but this performance would take some beating.
