Newsletter for the week ending 26 March 2004
Fish gets a Serve
The much vaunted healthy attributes of fish have taken a battering in the last
couple of weeks. The high levels of mercury that accumulate in humans who regularly
eat fish in Australia can have quite drastic effects including early abortion.
Pregnant women have been warned not to eat some fish species such as shark more
often than once per fortnight. There have also been warnings for the general
population not to eat fish species at the top of the marine food chain more
than once per week.
Maybe hormone free, low fat beef with its high iron content is a pretty good
alternative to fish, given the high incidence of iron deficiency in our population.
Tara Sells Five
Tara Limousin Stud operated by Peter, Celine and Brad Kupsch at Allanooka near
Geraldton in WA had a very good result at the recent Gingin multibreed sale.
They sold five bulls to a top of $5,400 and an average of $4,600 which was up
by $450 on the previous year.
Aldgate and Heritage Sell Nine
Steve, Pat and Penny Terpstra who run the Aldgate and Heritage studs at Byford
WA have reported a very good on farm sale of nine 18-22 month bulls to a single
commercial buyer for an average of $3,720.
Another example of the strong paddock sales that are occurring as a result of
good results at auction.
Angus X ?
I sometimes wonder what the other half is when I see an Angus X top the sale
in Wodonga (Vic). My suspicions were confirmed in the report of a recent Wodonga
sale where the top priced vealer steers at 208.2 c/kg (15 cents higher than
the next lot quoted) were sold on behalf of J & L Christensen and quoted
as Angus X.
J & L Christensen also topped the heifer vealer sale at 196.2 c/kg (13 cents
above the next lot quoted) and this time they were described as Limousin X.
I am more than a little suspicious that the top priced vealer steers were Limousin
X Angus. If I am correct the top four pens each of steer and heifer vealers
at Wodonga were Limousin or Limousin X. What's new?
Top of $7,500 at Colac
The highlight of an "up and down" sale at Colac Vic was an average
price of $5,218 for eight bulls offered by Danny Modrusan of the Eyrie Limousin
Stud at Elmhurst Vic. This draft included the top priced bull in the sale, The
Eyrie Xplosive Power, which sold for $7,500 to Kurt Nessler, a commercial breeder
at Princetown Vic.
Volume buyers GP & ME Evans of "Avon Park" Gnawarre took home
three The Eyrie bulls to a top of $6,000 and an average of $5,500.
Overall 29 bulls sold of the 38 bulls offered for an average of $3,853.
The top price female was Graham and Anne Simmons' Ben Darroch Wooldon, an August
2001 daughter of Broadmeadows Tombola from Collian Park Henrique which sold
for $3,000. Ben Darroch had the top female average with three females averaging
$2,333.
There was a complete clearance of the eight females offered for an average of
$2,137.
Elke does it Again
In an earlier newsletter I reported that Elke Lissenden of Mount Teken Limousin
Stud at Vesper Vic was doing well in the weight gain section of the Gippsland
Field Days Feedback Trial.
Bruce Gill called yesterday to report that Elke's pen of steers were successful
at the business end of the tightly contested competition. Her Limousin X Murray
Grey and Limousin X Angus entries were the top scoring pen of steers in the
carcase section with a combined total of 166.3 points and also had the top live
yielding carcase with 38.5 percent. Live yield is the weight of retail beef
as a proportion of the live weight of the animal, so rewards both high dressing
percentage and high yields of retail cuts from the carcase.
Well done Elke. Again!
Cull Cows are Worth Money
To complete a good couple of weeks for Danny Modrusan of The Eyrie, he sold
three cull cows ranging from eight to eleven years in the Ballarat Saleyards
for a $911 average. The three aged matrons averaged 670kg liveweight and sold
for 136 c/kg which is a very good price in the current market.
To put this into perspective, he sold an Angus cow of similar weight for $660
on the same day. That's a bonus of $251 per head! And the butcher who bought
them had to beat off a commercial breeder who thought there was still some breeding
potential in them.
Danny also sold an 18 month heifer weighing 520kg for $1.44 c/kg or $752.
Strong Demand for Limousin Store Steers at Stanthorpe
Limousin and Limousin X steers topped the steer section of last Thurday's Stanthorpe
QLD store sale.
The 18-20 month steers which had been "on the market" for five months
due to the drought were offered by Phillip Attard of Legume QLD and purchased
by feed lotter Ian Dieckmann of "Keystone" Clifton, QLD.
He paid $730 for a pen of black Limousin X steers and $735 for a pen of pure
Limousins. With an estimated liveweight of 410kg this brought them out at 178
c/kg and 179 c/kg respectively. The steers will be fed for 60 to 70 days and
sold to Teys Bros of Beenleigh for the export market.
Late Puberty in Limousins!
Kathy Curran of Deepfields Limousin Stud at Catherine Fields NSW is offering
a young DEVT Polled Deon son at the Sydney Royal All Black Sale on 4 April.
She thinks so much of the young bull she is going to retain a semen share in
the bull. When she informed the Herd Improvers semen collection man that the
bull was just nine months old she was told not to waste his time.
However, Kathy persisted and to the great surprise of the technician he collected
30 straws of very healthy semen which has also frozen successfully. The technician
said he had never collected such good semen from such a young bull of any breed.
Watch out for Deepfields Honey's Yumm in the show ring and then the sale at
Sydney.
Cow Inventory Fees
March 31 is the cut off date if you wish to take advantage of the "early
bird" cow inventory fee of $18.70 (GST inclusive). After that you are required
to pay the invoiced amount of $20.90 (GST inclusive) for each female over two
years of age.
National Catalogue
The catalogue for the National Show and Sale will be posted next week to all
financial full and junior members. With 46 bulls, 40 females and 9 genetic packages
it is the largest catalogue for some years and packed full of quality genetics.
Election of Directors
The Annual Report and ballot papers for the election of Nationally elected Directors
will also be posted next week.
Upcoming Sales
The Lardner (Vic) bull sale with 30 quality bulls and 9 selected females is
on Friday 2 April.
The West Moreton Promotion Group will offer 26 females and four bulls at Laidly
(QLD) sale yards on Saturday 3 April. Catalogues are available from Primac Elders
Brisbane. Ph (07) 3844 2442
Off to Sydney Royal
I will be in Sydney for the latter part of next week so there will not be a
newsletter next Friday.
Judging of some 230 purebred steers commences at 8.30am on Friday 2nd April
and judging of Limousins at 8.30am on Sunday 4th April. The Sydney Royal All
Black Sale is at 3.00pm on Sunday 4th April.
I look forward to seeing many of you there.
Yours in Limousin
Alex McDonald