Simmentals start sales with a bang

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

THE region’s bull sales season got under way this week with sales by Kerrah Simmentals on Tangiwai Station near Whakaki and Gold Creek Simmentals at Otoko.

Gold Creek got the season started on Monday with their inaugural on-farm auction and two New Zealand Simmental records were broken.

“It was a great day,” said studmaster Tom Sanson. “We set a record price for an R1 Simmental bull of $27,000, and his semen will be exported to Australia by his new Aussie owners.”

The other record was a new top price for straws of Simmental semen — $850 a straw.

The stud sold a couple of rising one-year-olds for $27,000 and $6000.

“We sold 21 out of 22 of our rising two-year-old bulls. They averaged $6800 with a top price of $11,000 for three of them,” Sanson said.

“We also sold three out of our R1 heifers for up to $3500.”

Kerrah Simmentals had a record result in their sale on Tuesday.

They sold 72 out of 76 of their R2 bulls for an average of $8640.

The top price was paid for Lot 17, a bull worth $45,000, which sold to Glenside Simmentals from Otago. That was a record high New Zealand price for an R2 Simmental.