Pictured with the $38,000 Banquet Angus Sydney RAS Angus sale topper and equal record Angus auction price for a female are (back) Stephen Branson, Banquet Angus, Mortlake, Vic; Ross Milne, Elders auctioneer, Hamilton, Vic; purchaser Stephen Handbury, Anvil Angus, Acheron, Vic; & Gordon Branson, Banquet. In front holding the calf is Banquet handler, Jasmin Nixon, Crookwell, NSW; & Hamish, Dianna & Noeleen Branson, Banquet Angus. (Stock & Land photo)
Banquet Angus principals Stephen and Noeleen Branson, Mortlake, Victoria were ecstatic last Saturday after their cow, Banquet Kite A197, with a heifer calf Banquet C250 at foot, sold for an equal Angus female record price of $38,000 at the Sydney Royal Angus sale.
As this year’s Sydney Royal had the Angus breed as its ‘feature breed’, the Bransons thought it fitting to offer a special female from the heart of their herd.
This decision was duly rewarded as Banquet Kite A197 topped the Sydney sale when Stephen Handbury, Anvil Angus, Acheron, via Alexandra secured her with the winning $38,000 bid. This price equalled the Angus female record price previously set when the Grange stud in WA sold a female to the Alpine and Vermont studs in conjunction.
From a Queensland perspective, this result is quite exciting as these genetics are also at work in this state. Brad and Jane Saunders, Charlevue Brangus, Dingo have been utilising Banquet genetics for 3 years now and are having great success with them in their Brangus breeding operation. They have been using Radar W42, the $40,000 bull from the 2003 Angus National Show and Sale. This bull is a maternal brother to Kite A197, as is Banquet Barton B027, a bull Brad and Jane purchased from this year’s Banquet sale for $9,000.
To most, $38,000 is a large outlay for a breeding female, but to Stephen Handbury it was a very sound investment. Fresh from the success of his own on-property bull sale, Stephen said, “We consider any Banquet Angus purchase to be a very sound investment. We have purchased a lot of supposedly high quality genetics in the establishment of our Anvil Angus herd and I have to say everything we have purchased from Stephen and Noeleen has worked and paid for itself, some many times over, which is not the case with some of the others.”
Stephen has just gone through his 2008 calves and said everything he saw in them was a positive reinforcement of his Sydney buying decision.
“If equating our cattle purchases to a stock market portfolio, then our Banquet purchases are a ‘blue chip’ investment. The success of our recent sale can be attributed to the wonderful breeding base Banquet genetics have given us”, Stephen said.