‘One-in-a-million’ bull sells for $100,000
HOURS after the hammer fell on the $100,000 sale of Clukan Axel 333/7, his semen was already being sought by keen buyers.
The grey brahman bull was purchased by Kelvin and Libby Harriman of GI Brahman Stud in Muttaburra.
“We’d been looking for a bull like him for quite a while. He’s a one-in-a-million kind of bull,” Libby said.
“He’s polled and has great fertility and still has those true brahman traits.”
After seeing photos of him online, Kelvin said they had to see him in the flesh.
“It’s hard to judge when you’re just looking at a photo of him,” he said.
“When we saw him on Sunday we thought he was a very handy looking bull and
❝ The emotions when the hammer fell were very mixed because it’s a lot of money but we were elated and it was a sense of relief because we’ve tried to buy bulls in the past. — Libby Harriman
thought he would work well for what we wanted.”
Kelvin said the high figure was their benchmark for the bull and were excited to report back to his parents Ron and Grace after the purchase.
“We wouldn’t have been surprised if we missed out in him,” he said.
“We had to ring home after we bought him and tell them we’d spent all the money and Mum and Dad didn’t believe me at first.”
“The emotions when the hammer fell were very mixed because it’s a lot of money but we were elated and it was a sense of relief because we’ve tried to buy bulls in the past,” Libby said.
The couple said the bull’s genetics would do a lot for their stud.
“The anxious and exciting thing about breeding is selecting the genetic crosses for the calves,” Libby said.
“The combination of his genetics and ours will thicken up our future cattle and put some very good eye muscle into them,” Kelvin said.
For the next three months Axel will reside in the yards at Rocky Repro for semen collection before heading to his new 8093ha home.
“We’ve had a lot of interest from people already who are keen on buying semen from him,” Kelvin said.
“We can’t wait to see what progeny he produces when he gets back home and hopefully it’s rained a bit by then so he has some nice green grass to eat,” Libby said.
Previous owner of the bull, Theresa Taylor of Clukan Brahmans, said the bull had attracted a lot of attention.
“We had one buyer come and see him as he was walking off the truck,” she said.
“The interest in him was very consistent. People were hearing he was a good bull and they were coming to have a look.”
She said the name Axel suited the bull from when he was a calf.
“I thought Axel was a strong
name and as a calf he was strong and masculine and he had a presence about him,” she said.
“We’re very pleased with the result. We thought a lot of him.”