THE inaugural ‘Golden Opportunity’ cattle sale was held on Wednesday 31 August at the Coonamble Showground, held jointly with online selling platform Auctions plus. The sale was multi-faceted, with 1000 commercial females being sold from 10 am and the Stud Bull and Female Sale commencing from 2pm. The female cattle were sourced locally from Coonamble and the Stud cattle from across NSW. 

Event organisers Stephen Martin and Bruce McColl identified that producers are still having issues restocking from the 2019 drought. 

“The cattle sale was designed to be a ‘one stop restocker shop’, whereby cattle producers were able to attend the day, pick up some quality female cattle in the morning and buy a bull in the afternoon to put with them,” says Mr Martin. The agents who conducted the selling was Elders and the Auctioneer was Lincoln McKinlay. The cattle sales were interfaced with Auctions plus, whereby the buyers can bid from the grandstand or they can bid from home via the online bidding system. The sale included audio and video commentary and the animals are sold to the highest bidder at that time.

“The event attracted approximately 100 potential buyers on the day and it is hard to know how many people were following online,” Mr Martin said.

“About 50 percent of the cattle sold, went to online bidders,” says Mr Martin. The stud cattle showcased mainly Simmental and Fleckvieh; and Charolais males and females, from 9 studs. “The Simmental cattle were the most popular breed on sale day, topping the sale at $28,000.

“They are becoming hugely popular across Queensland, which is where majority of the buyers reached from” says Mr Martin. The top Charolais bull on the day was bred locally at Myona Charolais, east of Coonamble, fetching $10,000. The average price of the Simmental bulls sold was $11,538, whilst the stud heifers averaged $5,278. Average price of Charolais bulls was $7,235, whilst the stud heifers averaged $6,300. The Fleckveih bulls averaged $5,300 with no stud heifers on offer. Other items included in the sale were show steers and semen straws.

This is the first year the “Golden Opportunity” sale has run and Coonamble was chosen to host the event as it is centrally located and not that far for buyers and sellers to travel. “The event was good for the town as it bought outside money to our local businesses. “The Castlereagh Lodge and the Terminus Hotel were booked out for accommodation,” said Mr Martin. Paul Jameson is the NSW Studstock manager for Elders. He assisted with vendor enquiries prior to the sale.

 “Given the current climate and the current cattle prices, it was a great concept to be putting on a bull sale at the end of a commercial cattle sale,” said Mr Jameson. 

“We have had a great first sale and really have a solid foundation to build on for next years ‘Golden Opportunity’ sale.”