'Magnificent animal': Record bull part of family's legacy

For the team at Kaharau Angus, claiming this year's top bull price of $220,000 represents decades of decisions paying off.

The Gisborne-based stud smashed the previous record price of $168,000 set a week ago at Marlborough's Taimate Angus, near Ward, as part of the East Coast bull sales week.

The bull, 24V314, was bought by a consortium of New Zealand breeders and an Australian stud farm - the Rolling Rock Angus stud in Te Akau, Waikato; Earnscleugh Station in Central Otago; and Ardrossan Angus, New South Wales.

Kaharau Angus stud is run by Pete and Penny Hoogerbrug at Rimunui Station - the stud having been started by Penny's father Colin Williams in 1957.

She said it was a "real privilege" to be able to carry on the legacy and the achievement had left her quite emotional.

"[I'm] just incredibly excited, overwhelmed and thrilled that he's gone to such a great home to Angus New Zealand breeders and also a share has been sold to Rob Bulle from Ardrossan Angus in Australia. So that's added a lovely dimension to the sale as well.

"It's been a very emotional moment for the family, for the whole family, who most of them were here and very proud."

Hoogerbrug said her dad had been "very strong on type and structure and frame score" - attributes and traits they continued to focus on in their bulls.

"He just really is a magnificent animal, a really terrific bull. He's really well balanced, phenotypically correct, really deep and thick and plenty of meat on him, structurally sound."

Hoogerbrug said this was backed up by a "good run of data" too which underscored his breeding.

She added he had a "magnificent temperament" and was just hard to fault in general.

Hoogerbrug said the bull's mother was also an elite donor cow with the value of her progeny in the sale netting $630,000.

Kaharau Angus Farm manager Nick Carr said it was about "keep[ing] it simple and just keep[ing] it in the direction that Colin started it" producing strong, sound cattle to go out into the paddocks and do their job on these hill country blocks.

"It certainly makes my job a lot easier when you're dealing with magnificent stock and such a strong cow herd and great clients and a great team with Penny, Pete and Penny, it makes it easy, my job a lot easier."

He said structural soundness was especially important for buyers as as the dairy industry grew many sheep and beef farmers ended up in the hill country, which especially on the East Coast, can be quite steep.

"So the bulls have got to get around pretty, pretty steep country to when they're out mating with the cows."

Carr said the bull was an "outstanding sire".

"He'll take anyone's herd to the next sort of level where they're looking to go. It's just very, very positive, and not just for Kaharau, for the whole for the whole cattle industry, and it looks positive for the next two or three years and it's good to be part of it."

Hoogerbrug agreed the record prices reflected strong returns for beef.

"Farmers are getting terrific returns and there's great confidence out there. And because they're realising more for the progeny that they're selling, it gives them confidence to invest more heavily in genetics for their herd. And obviously, they're thinking about their cow herd as well, a very important factor."

She said the bubbly was flowing on the night of the sale as they celebrated and it would take a few days to come down to earth again.

"I think we're pretty overwhelmed and very humbled by the incredible support of not just the stud buyers, but of also all our wonderful commercial clients keep coming back year on year."