Texas Defies the Odds

Facing the worst drought on record, Ben and Wendy were very concerned during the lead up to the sale of whether buyers were needing bulls in such a trying season. They knew they had the largest number and most even line up they had ever presented and were completely taken by surprise with the result.

With only standing room, Texas Angus achieved a full clearance of 138 bulls that topped at $32,000 and averaged $11,580. Principal Ben Mayne was blown away with the result.

"Never in my wildest dreams did we believe we could achieve such a result in this horrendous drought" Ben Said. "The general comment on the day was the evenness of the bulls, structure, fleshing and temperament. Our goal for many years of breeding was that if a buyer missed Lot 10 in the sale he or she would still be happy to buy the last lots of the sale."

Lot 49 Texas Hector N046(AI)(ET), a Coonamble Hector son was the topped priced bull weighing in at 818kgs with an average weight gain of 1.41kgs/day was knocked down to a syndicate of repeat buyers including Murdeduke Angus, Winchelsea Victoria and commercial producer John & Jen Hurley of Goondwindi QLD. Since the sale Semex Pty Ltd(an International Semen Company) has formed a joint venture with John & Jen Hurley, Murdeduke Angus and Texas Angus to market N46 worldwide, particularly in the North American market.

Ben Mayne, John & Jen Hurley, Wendy Mayne, Michael Glasser GTSM & Andrew Wardel GDL St George

The maternal background of N46 is incredibly strong. His dam Texas Undine H647(AI)(ET) is a daughter of the great Texas Undine Z183 who has sold almost $700,000 of bulls and like her mother, H647's 5 sons are in demand and currently averaging $18,000. N46 was in the top 5% for all growth traits, Top 2% for NFI-F and Docility and Top 1% for EMA.

His 2 full brothers were hotly contested with Lot 50 Texas Hector N027(AI)(ET) (770kgs) selling to Granite Ridge Angus for $20,000 who has been purchasing Texas bulls since 2014. While Lot 58 Texas Hector N030(AI)(ET)(774kgs) was quickly snapped up by Permeate Pty Ltd of Kempsey NSW for $15,000. They also took home Lot 15 Texas Korporal M326 for $15,000 who weighed in at 940kgs.

The commercial buying was very strong with return clients Cadelga Cattle Co, Inglewood QLD took home Lot 54 Texas Mountain Man N023(AI)(ET) (K2 son - 856kgs) fgor $28,000 who had the highest daily weight gain of 1.53kgs/day of the sale. They also purchased Lot 67 Texas Magic Millions M380(AI) for the same money who was the second heaviest bull of the draft at 1028kgs. Interestingly a prominent Western Australian stud purchased a semen package in Magic Millions prior to the sale. Both bulls have the same dam Texas Pride E030 who is breeding extremely well with 11 of her sons currently averaging $13,227.   

Above is Scott Fitzgerald Elders Inverell, Maureen& Jason Johnstone, Inglewood QLD, Ben & Wendy Mayne with Michael Glasser GTSM

Long term commercial clients Wes and Sue Presho of Taroom QLD invested in Lot 16 Texas Plateau for $20,000 and Lot 47 Texas STud Muffin M387 for $18,000. Both bulls weighed in at a hefty 1012kgs and 914kgs respectively.

Return clients Vicky and Sophie Hartley, Injune QLD took home 10 bulls for an average of $9,200 while Rob Sinnamon of Yulibar Santas purchased 2 bulls for an average $12,000 including Coonamble Handyman son and a Texas Mount K2 son.

Volume buyers of the day included Booky Cattle Co, Tenterfield NSW who invested heavily into the Texas Program taking home 17 bulls for an average $11,000. While Landmark St George put together a great line of 18 bulls that averaged $10,555 for a client at Charleville Qld.

It was humbling for Ben and Wendy to see 124 bidders register and 80% of the buyers were return clients. Buyers were looking for weight for age, temperament, caracse, do-ability and a solid breeding program with proven results. 

The only dampener of the day was Ben Dad's Bill couldn't attend the day to celebrate the 50th sale for the Mayne Family.

A big thank you to our extended team including Hayden Chapell, Brenton Sessions, BJA, GTSM, Falls Transport, Warialda Apex, Laura Lockhart Photography and many others that all help make our day happen!

Photos courtsey of The Land Newspaper

Catalogues Available

2018 SALE CATALOGUE CLICK HERE

2018 BULL SALE VIDEO

2018 SALE BULL PHOTOS CLICK HERE 

2018 SALE BULL EBVs CLICK HERE

2018 Supplementary Sheet

Texas Takes Out Grainfed Export Chiller Class of Australia's biggest Carcase Competition - against 492 Head

Who would have ever thought after Texas Angus's success at the Royal Sydney Beef Challenge we could follow it up with a win at Rockhampton's Beef Australia in the most hotly contested Class with of 492 head?

Ben and Wendy's decision to entered the last handful of steers they had left in late 2017 into the prestigious Beef Australia's ANZ National Carcase Competition turned out to be a very good one! There were 1077 head graded at 21 processing plants from every state, making it Australia's largest Caracse Competition and was described by the Chairman, Mr David Hill, "as the most unique carcase competition in the world." "This competition is not about a ribbon any more, its about the opportunity for education and benching marking  performance against the best in the country for eating quailty and yield."

They knew their steers would be competing against the best all breed beef producers across Australia and feedlotters including Prime City, Rockdale and Teys. However Ben and Wendy really wanted to further expand our bench marking program and identify sirelines particularly in the grainfed export trade. They were reassured by sending their steers to MacCues Wilga Feedlot would give them the best comparable chance and with the help of Ben Hiscox BJA and Mike MacCue they selected the steers into their pens of 3 for only Class 6 100 Day Grainfed Export Chiller Bullocks (300 - 420kgs). To win this class, which had the largest entries of the competition (492hd and 330hd more than any other class) and being their first time time entering the grainfed class was an absolute thrill for them and really emphasised their point of difference of their high performaing cattle hitting market specifications without compromising carcase qualiy.