The depth and consistency of the Palgrove program was on show last Friday with 473 head of predominantly Ultrablack commercial females offered through the Auctionplus selling platform.
A three-state buying panel from South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland competed strongly, with buyers willing to pay a market premium to secure Palgrove genetics.
Palgrove business development and genetics manager Ben Noller said this was the first time Palgrove had opened up access to their commercial herd on the open market.
“Our stud and commercial numbers are at an all-time high, with the change in season and the herd rebuild in full swing, we thought this would be a great opportunity for commercial producers to set their business up for the future,” Mr Noller said.
“The Ultrablack breed is gaining significant traction making up 60-70 per cent of Palgrove’s total bull sales.
“Commercial producers are seeing the real benefits from using Ultrablack bulls, they are adding fertility, maternal strength and carcase quality traits to their herds.
“I think the breed still has a lot of growth potential in Australian, they’re ideally suited to our markets and conditions.
“It was great to see the diversity in the people who purchased, 65pc of the females went to new clients, with the other 35pc having previously purchased bulls out of the Palgrove program.”
A total of 473 commercial females consisting of pregnancy-tested-in-calf cows, PTIC heifers and non-station mated heifers sold for an 88 per cent clearance, with all females clearing at the conclusion of the auction.
At auction clearance, 29 PTIC Ultrablack cows averaged $5782, 123 PTIC Ultrablack heifers averaged $3681, 190 NSM Ultrablack heifers averaged $2516, and 21 NSM Charolais cross Angus heifers averaged $2280.
Top sellers were 16 PTIC Ultrablack cows aged five to six years joined back to Palgrove Ultrablack bulls, selling to Barry Sleep, Meningle, South Australia, averaging $6020.
Mr Sleep has been buying Palgrove Ultrablack bulls since 2020 and said the cattle were some of the best on offer.
“They’ve got good butt shape and good eye muscle. They’re just something that I really like and there’s none of these cattle in South Australia,” he said.
“I like their coats, they always look good. The Ultrablacks don’t look quite as hairy when they go to sale, particularly being in the south country where the winters are reasonably cold.
“I’m just going to keep these going with the good genetics to breed a type of animal which I like.”
The second top price pen of nine PTIC Ultrablack cows reached $5360/head, selling to longterm Palgrove supporter Peter Hewett, Tottenham, NSW.
Mr Hewett also secured a pen of 10 PTIC Ultrablack heifers averaging $4680.
The high selling pen of PTIC Ultrablack heifers reached $4880, selling to David Estreich, Fairy Hill, NSW.
Other strong support came from longtime Palgrove client Luke St George, Townsville, who purchased two lots of PTIC Ultrablack heifers totalling 22, to average $3375. The bulk buyer on the day was Hatton and Sons, Monto, operating through Ashley Steel, Hourn and Bishop Moura, who selected a group of 22 PTIC heifers to average $4380 and two lots of NSM heifers totalling 62 head to average $2637.
Story By Clare Adcock QCL