Renowned Tāirawhiti stud celebrates 75 years of breeding with the top price for a bull at a New Zealand on farm sale.

Before the weather intervened, the East Coast bull sales week at the end of June featured a big sale at Tangihau Angus. Celebrating 75 years of breeding Angus cattle at the station, this sale broke several records, turning over almost $1 million.

A total clearance of the 46 bulls offered included one bull that sold for $135,000 and another for $115,000, both exceeding the previous top price for a bull at a New Zealand on farm sale, which was $108,000. At $21,560 the day’s average price is also a new record for a New Zealand on farm bull sale. In addition to the packed rostra on farm at the ‘standing room only’ event, this was a hybrid sale with bidr in attendance, totalling 336 online watchers, of which 17 were registered buyers.

Emma Pollitt, PGG Wrightson Livestock Genetics Representative for Gisborne, Wairoa and Eastern Bay of Plenty, first saw the Tangihau bulls in late March, as she explains.

“I thought ‘Holy smokes, we’ve got something here.’ Stud Master Dean McHardy is such an astute cattleman. He has this knack of knitting modern sires over cows with traditional backgrounds and out come these bulls that give us a bit of everything, and they’re what everyone is after. These blends of power, bone, breed character and soundness, with balanced EBV spreads in one bull. No extremes, just everything in harmony.”

Emma says the top priced bull was one of 12 selling to other studs, this one to a partnership comprising Turiroa Angus and Kaharau Angus.

“He was a stand out from the start. He just ticked every box there is and that is very, very hard to find. When we get to the nitty gritty of top end stud bulls, they have to have everything, including star quality. 

“We pull them apart trying to find faults to steer clear from, of which there were none in this case. Hence the chase to the price he made – he has a lot of fans.”

Tangihau stud manager Dean McHardy was pleased with the sale.

“We are breeding bulls for our large commercial herd and the bulls need to be good strong functional cattle that can perform on the steep hills at Tangihau.

“Over the past 15 years or so we have been buying sire bulls from around the country that are structurally sound, have the data set we want to introduce, and will add value to the strong cow herd. We know if the bulls work and handle the hills at Tangihau they will work for anyone.

“The whole cow herd has had genomics done, and it has become an invaluable tool when selecting heifers into the herd,” he says.

Alongside Emma Pollitt, Jamie Hayward, Callum Stewart and Tom Suttor led the PGG Wrightson Livestock team at the Tangihau sale.

Visit the vendor, Tangihau Angus. 
Visit the purchasers, Turiroa Angus, and Kaharau Angus. 
Picture credit to Rebecca Williams Photography