Everything is in place for the inaugural Sugarloaf Black Angus sale on August 5.
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Owner Jim Tickle runs the historic property just out of Dungog with wife Sally and children Ben and Becky.
He has built a new undercover selling complex for the event and has an outstanding catalogue consisting of 50 Angus bulls, five Black Simmentals and between 30 and 40 Angus females.
Feature bulls include three sons by Basin Payweight 107S.
“We will have the only sons of Basin Payweight 107S for sale in NSW this season,” Jim said. “Three of those bulls are over 1000kg at two years of age.”
Another standout is a son of Reality. These four bulls offer stud sire potential.
“They’re super docile, very thick meaty bulls, with a lot of weight for age and they will thrive in any conditions as they have been rared in steep country,” Jim said.
All bulls have been fertility tested, are vacinated for 7 in 1, vibrio, 3-day sickness and tested free of pesti virus.
The females are commercial, not stud, and consist of young cows with calves at foot and heifers with calves at foot, and also PTIC heifers and unjoined heifers.
Sugarloaf was established in 1857 and originally ran fat bullocks and breeders.
Jim’s dad Cecil moved the operation over to all breeders in the 1950s with a focus on Hereford.
Jim started the push for Angus in the 1980s with the development of his own herd.
“We found they worked hilly country better than the Herefords,” Jim said. “They’re less susceptible to eye cancers and the females are great milkers and rare good calves.
"We breed cattle with a lot of weight for age. An example recently was the annual Coal Country weaner sale in May where there was over 1000 weaners on offer. A pen of steer weaners by Sugarloaf bulls weighed 350kg at nine months old and got champion pen of the sale and came back at $1255 per head.”
Jim keeps a self-replacing closed herd and brings in new genetics through AI and embryo transfer each year with two double programs of each.
He has sold bulls privately for many years to various clients ranging from hobby farmers to commercial buyers and is looking forward to the property’s first ever public auction.
“We held our open day on July 1 and had about 60 people turn up, with good local interest from the Maitland, Hunter and Gloucester areas.
“It was good preparation for the bulls, too, to have people walking in and around them because the sale process can stress them out.”
The sale will take place on August 5, with inspection from 10.30am and the auction to begin at 1pm.
There will be caterers on site with all proceeds to go to the Dungog A&H Ladies Auxiliary.