By Erle Levey
With commercial cattle prices as good as any John Mercer has seen in the past 50 years he is expecting a good response to the second Kandanga Valley Charolais and Charbray Stud’s summer bull sale on Saturday 22 January.
The on-property auction at Warravale, Upper Kandanga, will see 46 bulls put to the market.
The Australian cattle industry is riding a wave at the moment according to Mr Mercer.
“It is enjoying buoyant times like we’ve never seen before. And so far the outlook still looks very solid,” he said.
“There’s certainly been lots of ups and downs in my time on the land.
“This year the rainfall has been good right through … no records but a good average year.
“We have our main sale in July but the summer sale allows the immature bulls to grow up a bit. They look fantastic.
“The (selling) agents think it’s as good as any line we have offered, if not better.’’
Kandanga Valley Stud aims to breed consistently high-performing Charolais and Charbray cattle to suit every environment. They turn off about 150 bulls per year.
Saturday’s sale will offer 46 quality herd improvers, starting at 10am.
“The price of quality weaners at present is something we could only dream about a few years ago,” Mr Mercer said.
“Charbray and Charolais cattle are right up there with the best prices and certainly the heaviest weights, resulting in outstanding returns for breeders of white and golden crossbred weaners.’’
The 2022 summer sale bulls display impressive muscling and carcass traits and attributes.
Kandanga Valley bulls and their progeny are recognised for this at sales all around Queensland and northern New South Wales.
On offer will be 20 Charolais bulls – seven polled, eight red factor (three red factor and polled); 26 Charbray bulls – five polled/spurred.
The Charolais bulls were born at Moonie, Sputh West Queensland, and weaned back to Kandanga due to the extreme dry conditions.
The Charbrays are born and bred around Gympie.
They’re grown out at Kandanga on both the creek flats and pastured hills prior to a sale preparation on a specially designed cool ration.
They’ve seen plenty of cattle ticks plus heat and humidity, plus plenty of dry gullies.
“Our Charolais bulls are now showing a definite polled influence but still retain strong masculine heads plus plenty of muscling and performance,’’ Mr Mercer said.
“The Charbray bulls, once again, are undoubtedly the heaviest muscled purebred Charbrays on the market.
“They have plenty of growth, plenty of red meat and very tidy underlines helping to improve longevity.’’
Ekka Grand Champion Kandanga Valley Jesuit has a major influence in the herd with 211 progeny recorded.
Fifty-three of his sons have, to date, averaged $7062 to a top of $16,000, and he is represented by seven sons in this sale.
