A Central Southland velvet champion has set a new record for fetching the highest price in a wapiti bull auction.
Rural Livestock deer genetics agent Adam Whaanga, of Mosgiel, made the final bid of $95,000 on 3-year-old bull White 8 at Littlebourne Wapiti in Winton last week.
"That’s a New Zealand record at auction."
The bid was made on behalf of a South Island syndicate, which wanted to remain anonymous, he said.
The syndicate paid more than twice the price for the previous most expensive wapiti bull bought at auction in New Zealand.
Bull Mitey Green 128 was the previous title holder, fetching $46,000 at Tikana Wapiti stud in Central Southland last year.
Mr Whaanga said the appeal of White 8 included its impressive growth rates for venison, potential as a trophy breeding bull and wins at recent national velvet competitions.
The third-highest bidder for White 8 exited the contest at more than $70,000, Mr Whaanga said.
"There was quite a bit of action."
Littlebourne Wapiti owner Geoffrey Pullar said he was "impressed" with the result of his 37th annual on-farm sale.
He sold all the 20 bulls on offer for an average of $12,900.
All the bulls were 3-year-olds.
The result was easily the best in the history of his sale.
The bulls were the best he had ever offered, he said.
White 8 was the "star lot" due to holding the record for producing the most velvet, 11.7kg, as a 2-year-old.
Also as a 2-year-old, White 8 won the wapiti velvet champion section at the 2025 Rising Stars National Hard Antler and Velvet Competition.
He also won the 2-year-old section at the 2025 Elk Wapiti Society New Zealand Velvet and Hard Antler Competition.
Littlebourne Wapiti used White 8 as a sire as a 2-year-old.
He sold White 8 because about two-thirds of his cows were related to him.
"I haven’t got enough females for him to go across."
White 8 was sired by Prophecy.
Semen of Prophecy was used in the breeding programme at Littlebourne for two years.
"Prophecy has given me the beam that I didn’t have before. I’ve always had the weight but I didn’t have the beam."
The beam refers to the circumference measurement of a bull’s velvet head.
Other sons of Prophecy include Littlebourne bulls White 13 and White 4, which sold for $22,500 and $20,000 respectively at the auction last week.
Prophecy was also the sire of stag JT, owned by Mike McBride, of Gore, which won the 4-year-old section at the 2025 National Velvet and Trophy Antler Competition.
Before bidding began at the 2022 sale, Tikana co-owner Dave Lawrence said Prophecy was "the best we’ve done".
"He’s got a big future ahead of him."
Raincliff Station owner David Morgan, of South Canterbury, bought the bull for its reserve price of $20,000, the top price of the day.
Mr Pullar said he believed sale prices at his auction last week were higher because Tikana was no longer holding an auction.
Mr Lawrence said he was "pretty chuffed" a bull sired by Prophecy fetched $95,000.
"It is nice to see genetics from our place getting out there and other people getting a benefit."
Littlebourne Farm stag White 5, another son of Prophecy, won the 3-year-old wapiti section at the 2025 National Velvet and Trophy Antler Competition.
He sold White 5 privately to his neighbour prior to the auction last week.
"He hates bidding."
Mr Pullar said the dam was as important as the sire.
White 8 was the son of 9-year-old dam Black 26, which had quality velvet genetics, Mr Pullar said.
All seven progeny Black 26 had produced were males, he said.
Sheep had been sold to make life easier by running only wapiti on the about 80ha Littlebourne Farm, Mr Pullar said.
Raincliff Station held its wapiti terminal sire sale at Pleasant Point, South Canterbury earlier this month.
Of the 33 bulls offered, 31 sold for an average of slightly more than $7000 including a top price of $31,000 for bull 545, Mr Morgan said.
"We were very pleased with the day."
Bull 545 was sired naturally by Prophecy, which Raincliff owned.
A straw of Prophecy semen producing a $95,000 bull for another breeder is "just how it goes".
Littlebourne bought Prophecy’s semen before Raincliff bought the bull.
"I knew Prophecy was a good animal when I bought him and we’ve used him and we will carry on using him."
His herd’s bloodlines were diverse enough to continue to use Prophecy in his breeding programme, he said.
Strong demand for wapiti-cross venison in North America had helped increase prices paid for wapiti bulls as terminal sires.
"It has been a long time coming."
He was feeling optimistic about the year ahead.
"You’ve got to, don’t you? I haven’t got much option because I’m up to my armpits in debt, so I’ve got to keep forging on," he said with a laugh.
