COVID-19 didn't stop successful annual production sale at one of the oldest Santa Gertrudis studs in Australia

The Land, 5 September 2020, p. :

Queensland graziers and studs dominated the bidding at Friday's Yulgilbar production sale with 92 Santa Gertrudis bulls, all of them on offer, selling to a top of $45,000 and averaging $9097. 

Bill Speed, Brigadoon Cattle Company at Wondoan paid top money for the rising two year old heterozygous poll Yulgilbar Parramatta P130, by Ideal Neptune N78, saying his phenotype impressed. 

"He was a very correct bull," said Mr Speed, who noted Yulgilbar Parramatta will be used to produce commercial bulls for the expansive company that runs cattle on properties in Queensland and the Northern Territory, selling grain finished cattle to Kilcoy Global Foods and JBS for export. 

Queenslanders now allowed to come south of the border for essential bull buying continued to dominate the bids, although Covid had delivered some restrictions - particularly the ban on aircraft coming direct to the Clarence River property. 

To fill the void both AuctionsPlus and Elite Livestock online streaming services delivered a number of bids all the way from Western and South Australia to Central Queensland to auctioneer Innes Fahey with only a couple of line drop-outs......

BACKGROUND


Yulgilbar Pastoral Company: 

Located in Baryulgil, Northern NSW and covering 35,000 acres, Yulgilbar has a long history in Australian agriculture. Yulgilbar is the 3rd oldest Santa Gertrudis stud in Australia. Started in 1954 it is also the largest Santa Gertrudis stud cattle operation in NSW. Yulgilbar prides itself on having an extensive Santa Gertrudis gene pool including sourcing some of the best genetics globally. Yulgilbar has Santa Gertrudis bulls and semen available for sale year-round. The Annual Production Sale is held the first Friday in September and an industry field day is held tri-annually. The sale sees up to 100 bulls, stud females and commercial breeders up for auction.

NSW Northern Rivers online cattle sales power on during COVID-19 pandemic

The Northern Star, 5 May 2020, p.2:

Livestock sales at Casino and Tamworth delivered a total of more than $175,000 worth of stock to online bidders last Friday. 

This result was thanks to an increasing number of bids being made online via StockLive during the auctions at the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange (NRLX) and the Tamworth Regional Livestock Exchange (TRLX). 

Blake O’Reilly, from Ray White Livestock Gurya, who purchased on behalf of clients at Casino, has been purchasing via StockLive since before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He said there had been a growth in the number of clients watching online. 

“The number of vendors and buyers who are now watching and bidding online at StockLive-partnered auctions has grown significantly since COVID,” he said. 

“Having the online platform working in with the physical auctions strengthens the marketplace and gives a true price for the stock, taking the risk of purchasing. 

“The platform is especially useful for the increased number of sales using ring selling, which gives the purchaser full vision of the livestock being sold.” 

Brad Willis, NRLX Manager, said despite a planned Telstra outage in Casino and Lismore, the auction went ahead successfully, with 360 viewers, 23 registered bidders, 141 bids taken online, and 13 lots sold to numerous buyers. 

StockLive Manager, Libby Hufton, said the number of inquiries from saleyards across all regions continued to grow with more than 15 saleyards using StockLive’s platform. 

“We continue to see the number of buyers and viewers grow each sale we have at these yards. It is a credit to the facility operators, agents and vendors,” she said.

The changing face of livestock sales in the NSW Northern River region

The Daily Examiner, 3 April 2020:

For the first time, online bidding of cattle took place at the Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange this week.

Using StockLive, buyers could bid for weaners through the online portal in the comfort of their own home. The timing couldn’t be better.

NRLX operations manager Brad Willis confirmed livestock sales would continue at the Casino saleyards with only essential staff, agents and registered buyers permitted on-site.

He said he was actively working to ensure the continuity of business while taking into account the public health consequences of the COVID-19 situation.

Victoria has cancelled live cattle sales but NRLX has no plan to follow suit. Mr Willis said it would stay open as long as it complied with the rules.

“The NRLX is a vital cog in the food supply chain and we need everyone’s co-operation to ensure the facility can operate for as long as possible,” Mr Willis said.

“If everyone uses common sense, we’ll get through.”There were 258 viewers and 27 registered buyers online for the sale.

ABC News, 2 April 2020:

The Northern Rivers Livestock Exchange has reported its highest sale week in its history, with nearly $8.29 million in sales generated at the saleyards in Casino last week.

A total of 7,784 head of cattle were sold across three days of operations — the prime sale and the annual weaner sales — up from around 3,000 head last year totalling just under $3 million in sales for the same week.

The prolonged drought resulted in the tough market last year, but this year coronavirus delivered a different challenge with NRLX using StockLive to host an online auction for the first time since its $14 million upgrade.