Bush TelegraphBy: Steve Carle June 21, 2021

Mt Mable Angus celebrated their 54th year of consistent cattle breeding with an excellent sale of rising two-year-old Angus breeding bulls on Monday, June 14. There were 43 bulls offered for sale to a discerning bench of buyers, with only one failing to find a home on the day.

The top price of $18,000 was paid by a Wairoa Station for Lot 9, a cracking bull weighing in at 826kg sired by the Rangatira Mack 15-32 bull which Mt Mable had paid $50,000 for themselves in 2017. The average price paid over the 42 bulls sold was $10,809 indicating demand for, and the evenness of, the entire catalogue of bulls.

There were 40 of the 42 bulls sold snapped up by repeat buyers of Mt Mable cattle genetics. Mt Mable prides itself on never having vendor credits on their buying bench – if a bull disappoints both buyer and breeder a refund over the three years of their comprehensive guarantee is made in cash so as to not to make a disappointed buyer beholden to buy another Mt Mable bull, interfere with the sale averages or affect buyers’ valuation of the bulls on offer – over the past 10 years as few as 10 bulls have let the team down resulting in a refund.

This is exceptional in view of the fact over the same period more than 450 bulls have been sold at auction. The Friels stand behind their bulls and stay in contact with their bull buyers to ensure satisfaction with the bull’s performance.

Mt Mable is now gearing up for calving with the added excitement of calves due from their $92,000 bull purchase, in partnership with Kenhardt Angus, from Cricklewood Angus in 2020. This bull, christened Cricklewood Pandemic P056, is a grandson of Mt Mable Thor 660, who himself appeared in many other sale catalogues from premier NZ Angus studs over this bull-selling season. In September, up to 40 yearling bulls will be offered for sale at auction, with many of these being specialist heifer-mating bulls.