A 100% clearance of bulls was achieved at last Friday’s Minnie Vale Charolais sale. The sale which attracted more than 120 people, was the Salier family’s seventh on property sale at Bexley, Rocky Creek.
After a nerve wracking few days of very wet weather prior to the sale, which saw the Killarney Gap Rd closed the day before, the sale went ahead under cloudy but dry conditions.
Co-Principal, Jason Salier said that he was very happy with the 100% clearance of the 55 bulls and the sale of nine out of the ten in-calf heifers offered. “I am very happy with the sale, considering the hard conditions cattle producers have been experiencing. The cows are just not out there due to the drought, however, it is wonderful to have people come back and keep buying our bulls,” Mr Salier said.
The sale saw a top price of $7000 paid by Branga Partnership of Walcha and an average of $4470 for the bulls and an average of $3330 for the heifers.
Volume buyers Kevin Keech and Rob Pollock, who flew in to Bexley in a helicopter, were a valuable presence at the sale. They bought nine bulls for the family business Narran Lake Pty Ltd at Walgett.The bulls will be put with an Angus cross cow herd, which has been built up over the last eight years.
Mr Pollock commented that they had been kept alive on crop stubble and Anipro, along with a feedlot ration for a little while when conditions were really tough, but that Narran Lake was a “pretty special area” which had not been too badly affected in recent years.
The progeny will probably go to the Kiora feedlot at Walgett for the domestic market, Mr Pollock said.
Commenting on the sale, Mr Pollock said that he was “very impressed with the even line of bulls right through the catalogue”, returning to Minnie Vale after an absence of five years, during which time they had “played around with a few other breeds.”
Co-Principal Doug Salier said that he also was very happy with the sale, commenting that “the secret is to produce quality.”
