Kenny's Creek Angus Stud

Autumn Bull Sale Wednesday 2nd May 2012

On property at "Hillgrove" Boorowa.

Selling 55 HBR and APR registered Bulls

To Request a Catalogue (click here)

To view online catalogue (click here)

To view video footage of each lot (click here)

Southern Slopes Angus Female Sale, 900 hd on 2nd May 2012, Boorowa Saleyards 11 am start.

Details for the females that Kenny's Creek Angus will be offering (click here)

Introduction to KCA Autumn Bull Sale 2012

This year we celebrate 25 years as an Angus Stud.  The intervening period has seen the waxing and waning of many fashions and trends in our industry but the values we founded on have never been more valid.  As commercial cattle producers now running some 20,000 head of cattle, our program is rooted in the commercial imperative that drives you our client: fertility, growth that does not compromise cow size, structural integrity that allows bulls and cows to perform over a longer life and carcase quality that creates premium selling opportunities for our product.

As an extension of these ambitions we started some years ago the branded beef product: Kenny’s Creek Beef.  While the drought hijacked the project, Sam Burton Taylor has now picked up the ball and has purchased a meat retailing business, Sam’s Paddock, that is now marketing Kenny’s Creek Beef into the Sydney market.  Hillgrove Pastoral supplied the first group of Kenny’s Creek steers and long time client David Smithers, Yass, supplied the second group.  The results have been very encouraging.

It is rewarding as an Angus beef producer to enjoy another marketing avenue for your product but most satisfying is the customer and restaurant feedback on the eating quality.  A quick check on our website gives more background and recent feedback on the initiative together with Sam’s contact details, if you wish to market some steers bred on Kenny’s Creek bloodlines.

Last year we bred and sold over 400 bulls and have in ongoing production 50 donor cows in an ever-fresh flushing program.  The robustness and independent discipline provided in our evaluation and sire selection process shows that our program has the highest level of integrity.

The sale comes at an interesting time in the evolution of the Australian beef industry and indeed a realignment of the world beef export environment.  Since our foundation in 1987 as a stud we have not seen such tectonic forces at work.  It all points to the need for producers to maintain maximum flexibility in their breeding programs combined with the relentless pursuit of productivity gains.

On one hand the American cattle herd is in a process of systemic decline and now is at levels that are the lowest in more than 50 years.  At the same moment in history the Australian herd is in a rebuild phase following the destocking of the drought period experienced on and off over the last decade.  Further, the Australia and the USA have now moved to the lead in terms of beef exports and represent the leading edge of exporting countries.  The USA is assisted in its export ambitions with a cheaper US dollar and Australia is compelled by the need to increase exports to sustain the production gains being achieved on herd rebuild and better seasonal production levels.

As if to demonstrate these commercials imperatives one only has to look at a number of key items on the international and domestic market to catch one’s attention:

·         90 CL cow prices to the USA @ 208c per pound is the highest on record

·         USA cattle futures have increased to an all time high

·         Record levels of exports out of the USA on a weak US dollar

·         Japan volumes are starting to increase at modest levels and show year on year increased growth of 4%

·         Argentina still struggles to gain any foothold on the export market and the cattle herd is at a twenty year low with low incentive for producers to invest

·         Argentina has gone from No.4 exporter in the world in 2009 to just make it into the top 10

·         Australian cattle prices are expected to rise in 2012 (RABO Bank Global Focus Report).

·         Global beef supply is expected to ease in 2012 to the lowest level since 2005 with a number of major producer countries seeing their production decline mainly the EU, Russia and China

The best defence against all these changes in market environments is to achieve the best genetics base for your breeding herd.  At Kenny’s Creek we have sought to maximise the flexibility by breeding bulls which are, to a large degree, dual purpose in being able to cover heifers as well as cows.  A review of our birthweights for bulls in this sale indicates that nearly 90% of bulls on offer fit this very flexible category.  Further, we have focussed very strongly on the 400D EBV.  We have done this because many of our clients sell their progeny as 18 month old steers and all of our clients benefit from having their heifers hit a joining weight in excess of 280 kilos at 12 months of age.  A focus on the 400D EBV is thus a key fertility and productivity driver.  Interestingly, the group of bulls represented in this sale have a sale average 400D EBV of +78 against average +69.

An element of emphasis in our breeding program is the inherent qualities of carcase.  The sale average of EMA +4.8 compares to a breed average of EMA +3.2.  Further, the sale average for IMF % of the sale bulls is an average of IMF +1.8 which is double the Angus breed average.

These breeding objectives have been achieved without any compromise with regards to structure or the development of an animal that has strong muscularity and strong butt profile.

The new sires that have been picked up this season of new bulls being offered include Dunoon Midland A17, Te Mania Berkley, Ardrossan Equator and KCA Examined C13, an exciting new sire by the Te Mania Examined bull.

We remain curious in the extreme to hear feedback from you, as it is the connectivity to our commercial cattle production that keeps us in touch and avoids us wandering off into fashionable pursuits, that are seductive to so many in the stud industry.

Nick & Julia Burton Taylor

Hillgrove, February, 2012.

Female Sale Results 2011

Kennys Creek females to $8000

A SMALL but focussed crowd were ring side at last weeks Kenny’s Creek Angus female sale, Boorowa, pushing the top females to $8000 and taking home some top females at good money.

The sale offered 70 live lots and four embryo lots, with 26 of 30 cow and calf units, including donor dams selling to the sale top of $8000, averaging $3769, all 12 PTIC cows topped at $6000, averaging $3042, 26 of 28 PTIC heifers averaged $2192 and four embryo packages sold to $550 tops per egg.

The top female was a Te mania Examined X60 daughter, from a Kennys Creek Champagne Z893 cow, with strong 600 day, eye muscle area, intra muscular fat and fat indexes, with a bull calf at foot by Kennys Creek Darwin D392 and was bought over the phone by Macksville High School, Macksville, for $8000.

A regular face at Angus female sales Keith Kerridge and his Manager Glynn Langford, Bannaby Angus, Taralga, again picked through the sale taking the top females home, securing six to $6000 tops on three occasions to average $4667.

The first was a classy Te Mania unlimited daughter, with low birth and good growth at $6000 and then what was regarded as the top donor on offer for $6000 by Booroomka Warwick W245, PTIC back in calf to Papa Equator A241, due to calve in March and finished with a third $6000 cow and calf unit by Te Mania Examined, who showed good birth, growth and carcase traits.

Mr Kerridge said he was looking for cows to go into their donor program.

“We were simply after good cows , with plenty of capacity and good udders and mainly focussing on good type, “ he said.

AuctionsPlus paid it’s way on the day buying a cross section of 14 young and old females to $5500 tops and averaging $2857.

Rogialyn Platinum Angus, Mossvale, rounded out the top donor cows paying $5500 for Kenny’s Creek D212, a stylish 2008 drop Papa Equator daughter with plenty of capacity and a great balance of figures, rounded out with a heifer calf at foot by Regent D145.

James Jackson, Bathurst, bought nine females, mainly focussing on the younger PTIC females, averaging $2139, while GS and KA Wilkinson, Ballarat, Victoria, bought the same amount to $4500 tops, averaging $2500.

There was also good stud competition on the day with Petandra Angus, Stroud, taking home four heifers at $2250, Fred Geard, Premier Angus, Berrima, with two heifers at $3000 and $3500, while Roger McIntosh, Myanga Angus, Crookwell, paid $4000 for a Leachman Boom Time daughter with a Regent D145 son on her.

J and N Holmes, Toowomba outh, Queensland, rounded out the sale buying four cow and calf units for $2938 and then the top embryo package of four eggs at $550 in Te Mania Emperor E343, the $91,000 record priced bull sold in March this year out of a Kennys Creek Bara A612 female.

The sale was conducted by Elders with Andy McGeoch as the auctioneer.

By BRETT TINDAL