Top prices at Glanworth's bull sale

PGG Wrightson Livestock auctioneer Bjorn Anderson takes the final bid for lot 1, Glanworth Waigroup 17013 which went for $20,000, with Glanworth owner Shaun Fouhy to the right.

Top prices were better than Shaun and Joe Fouhy thought they would be at Glanworth's second bull sale held on Thursday, June 27.

Lot 1 went for $20,000 (Glanworth Waigroup 17013) but was beaten by lot 5 (Glanworth Waigroup 17030) at $21,000, with the average price for the 30 bulls sold being $7400.
"It was long-term clients, large operators with large cow herds who paid the top two prices," said Joe Fouhy of Glanworth whose son Shaun operates the stud.

These Angus bulls are used to being handled at Glanworth.

"Its difficult to get an animal that's in the top percentage for low birth weight, good calving and has very good growth and good fertility traits. Both those bulls — you would look up and down the country to find there are not too many bulls with a spread of figures across the board as good as that.

"They don't come up very often. that's why there was a lot of interest. The new owners will be able to get the best reward from the genetics they are buying. They are taking those cattle through to killable.

Inspecting bulls before purchase.

"There were good bulls there at reasonable money and that's important for clients. There are a lot of people out there who can't afford big money for a bull. They want to be able to buy bulls that are affordable — which they were from $4500 upwards. There were some new buyers present this year at the auction.

"The stud is part of Waigroup Angus New Zealand which was founded in 1967. It was set up by Joe Fouhy's father and Willy Falloon's father when there wasn't a lot of performance recording for cattle in New Zealand. We employed a geneticist to design a breeding programme at that time. It was foreign and new technology at that time.

Bidders showing interest in the ring.

"We were able to pool the resources of four herds that belonged to Waigroup in terms of new genetics. We were able to work together to the advantage of all of us. What we couldn't do as individuals, we could do as a group of people. It's been a good development over the years."