Ashvale jersey bull rakes in $3700

The top-priced Jersey bull sold at Rodney and Jocelyn Dobson's 14th annual sale on their Gropers Bush property went for $3700. Photo: PGG Wrightson

Rodney and Jocelyn Dobson, of Ashvale Jerseys Ltd, held their 14th annual bull sale at their Gropers Bush property last week and they were delighted with the results.

Mr Dobson said they sold 51 DNA-recorded bulls, with an average price of more than $2700."We were ecstatic," Mr Dobson said.

"The average price was about $600 up on last year's average of about $2100."

Mrs Dobson said she was pleased with the sale.

"You never know how it is going to go," she said.

"We have 540 milking Jerseys, all fully recorded.

"We keep 50 or 60 bulls for us to sell, and the others are sold either as 4 days old or at weaning."

PGG Wrightson dairy representative Mike Broomhall said the bulls came from the Dobson's self-contained property, meaning they had been born, bred and stayed on the 156ha effective farm, and had not been exposed to Mycoplasma bovis.

"That made a difference that they can guarantee the M. bovis status," Mr Broomhall said.

"The top price was $3700 for a yearling, while two 2-year-olds fetched $2800 each.

"The average breeding worth (BW) was 175 with the top BW 204."

He said there were 20 registrations for the sale and prices were above what he thought they would be.

"A lot of the people there have been coming there for the past few years, and they just keep coming back.

"It was a really good sale," he said.

yvonne.ohara@alliedpress.co.nz