34 | RURAL PEOPLE » Mt Mable Angus Quality bulls with 3-year guarantee Mt Mable Intrigue 1790. His sons are for sale at this year’s two-year-old sale on June 13. Virginia Wright With over 50 years of breeding behind them it’s perhaps not surprising that Mt Mable Angus guarantee both their yearling and their R2 bulls for three years. Their con dence in the quality of their animals remains constant year on year, and if anything only increases. While the bulls are the same, and their focus on the attributes they breed into the bulls is also the same, one thing that has changed at Mt Mable Angus Stud sales in recent years is the introduction of Wrightson’s online bidding platform Bidr. With a representative at the auction responsible for live-streaming the auctioneer and the animals in the ring, people can choose to simply watch the proceedings or they can register as a bidder and have the opportunity to purchase animals whether they can attend the on-farm sale or not. Whether Megan and Kevin Friel would have adopted this platform quite so early or not without their daughter Caitlin’s involvement is a moot point. Before travelling overseas for 6 months in 2018, Caitlin was Wrightson’s youngest and only female stud stock agent. When she returned, and was offered a position with Bidr, it was still in its infancy. There are few sales today where Bidr isn’t present as, responding to an immediate and growing demand, they quickly organized themselves from being only able to attend one sale at a time to now attending multiple auctions at once. “It’s so simple but it’s amazing,’ says Megan. “It’s really changed the face of a lot of auctions. We were a bit slow off the mark getting them into our 2020 two-year-old sale,” says Megan, “and they were already committed to another stud down in the South Island. But they were at our 2021 Yearling sale when Auckland was still in lockdown. “I looked around the crowd once everyone had their seats and thought ‘oh oh’ because there were so few buyers present, but happily, we ended up selling six bulls to on-line bidders and it just lifted the tempo in the whole room basically. We’re converts and that’s not just because Caitlin’s involved in it.” For the last two years Mt Mable’s Angus yearlings have sold for the some of the highest average “Kevin rings all our buyers about now to check on the animals’ pregnancy rates, whether they’re still sound, and because we want to know if the buyers are happy with them. If someone even hints that they don’t like the way the bull looks at him we say ‘well send him to the works and we’ll give you your money back.” prices in the country, something that Megan puts down in part to their loyal clientele who come back year after year. Then of course there’s the threeyear guarantee on all their animals, including their yearlings, which would more usually only have 12 months. “It’s very hard to judge foot structure on a young animal,” explains Megan. “Something that’s got perfectly good feet as a 12-month-old bull may not be walking quite so well at 18 months even. We just don’t have foot problems in our cattle and very rarely does our guarantee on our two-year-old bulls ever get called on either. Kevin rings all our buyers about now to check on the animals’ pregnancy rates, whether they’re still sound, and because we want to know if the buyers are happy with them. If someone even hints that they don’t like the way the bull looks at him we say ‘well send him to the works and we’ll give you your money back.’” Even after years of successful bull sales Kevin and Megan still get excited about the calibre of some of their animals, such as Mt. Mable Intrigue 1790. His sons are for sale at this year’s two-yearold sale on June 13. “His calves are always top weaners and this year’s lineup of bulls by him are really impressive. He’s just good all round. He’s a meaty, deep, thick, sound individual and we expect a lot of interest,” says Megan. For their yearling sale later in the year on September 19th they generally offer bulls that are sons of their own two-year-old heifers. “Sired by our specialist yearling mating bulls that we bought or bred for easy calving,” explains Megan. “With very smooth shoulders, and a narrower body because the idea is to get a live calf without calving trouble basically. Generally our bulls are easy-calving but you still wouldn’t use some types of bulls over a yearling heifer” This year they also held an on-line-only sale of their surplus in-calf yearling heifers in March, most of which went to new breeders of Angus stud animals, in a clear indication of the on-going popularity of the breed around New Zealand. MURDOCH TRANSPORT 61 Short Road, Pahiatua, New Zealand, 4982 brandfmurdoch@xtra.co.nz PH. 06 376 7181 MOB. 0274 778036 Specialising in livestock cartage & general freight transport in the lower North Island region Agricultural Cultivation | Hay | Baleage Barley & Feed Requirements Kevin Hermansen: 027 485 5755 Email: hermycontracting@xtra.co.nz Proud to support Mt Mable Angus Farm Materials • Building Materials • Electrics Stock Feed • Water Tanks • Culverts • Hardware Proud to support Mt Mable Angus We now stock Rural Direct products ~ more than just fencing ~ Phone Ross 06 374 8193 or email ross@turtons.co.nz
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