Line-up of 70 beefy bulls

Sale bulls lined up and ready for the on property Kandanga Valley sale on Saturday, 7 December. (Supplied)

This year’s Kandanga Valley Charolais and Charbray fifth on-property ‘Summer’ bull sale will be held earlier this year, on Saturday, 7 December, commencing 10am.

In total, 70 beefy young bulls have been catalogued for this year’s ‘Summer’ sale, all of which have been sensibly prepared on quality hay and a specially designed high roughage diet supplied by Norco, Windera.

Amongst the 70 extraordinary bulls are 40 Charolais bulls with 23 that are polled or poll scurred, including five homozygous polled and 30 Charbray bulls with 14 that are polled or poll scurred.

All bulls are vaccinated with three-germ blood, three-day sickness, Vibrio and seven-in-one and will be semen motility and morphology tested three weeks prior to sale day, along with weights and muscle and fat scans.

Co-stud principal John Mercer said the Charolais are complete meat machines. “These bulls would be excellent for crossing over Bos Indicus females, plus there are low birth weight bulls in the line that would also suit the heifer job,” John said.

“The Charbray bulls are typical Kandanga Valley types designed to perform in more rugged environments where Charolais bulls may struggle they still display excellent muscling and weight for age to go on breeding heavy weaners well sought after at markets all around Queensland and northern New South Wales.”

The bulls are reared on ticky, coastal country and are renowned for their survivability and constitution especially in northern and coastal breeder herds.

“All the bulls display that good soft Kandanga Valley muscling plus have great tidy sheaths for that extra longevity,” John said.

“Free delivery will be arranged to many centres, north to Sarina and west to Roma plus locally.”

Located in the Gympie district, John and co-stud principal Roz Mercer have been breeding Charolais and Charbray bulls for 36 years with their herd now consisting of over 1300 head.

Turning off over 180 bulls each year, John believes next season they will offer 300 bulls for sale.

The pairs motto at their first on-property sale was ‘Bulls are our Business’ and things certainly haven’t changed.

John explained why he and Roz decided to sell in December rather than January.

“We have it in this time of year to beat the wet season and extreme humidity that can happen at Kandanga most summers,” he said.

“Anyone who missed out on bulls at the southern sales or has had older bulls fail their vet checks, or northern buyers just looking for fresh young bulls ready to put straight into cycling cows or heifers, should take a look at these quality flatback bulls.”