{"id":514733,"date":"2026-03-02T22:59:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:59:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514733\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:59:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:59:18","slug":"good-looks-drive-235000-record-breaking-sale-of-south-australian-angus-bull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514733\/","title":{"rendered":"Good looks drive $235,000 record-breaking sale of South Australian Angus bull"},"content":{"rendered":"

Perfect skin, good looks and a sparkling personality. It may sound like a romantic partner wish list, but this is what buyers are after when selecting the perfect bull.<\/p>\n

A South Australian Angus bull sold in February near Kingston possessed the attributes and more, helping it reach a new record price for the state of $235,000.<\/p>\n

So how can one animal demand so much money?<\/p>\n

The record-breaking bull, Granite Ridge Velocity V42, was purchased by Herb Duddy from Sara Park Angus stud at Glen Innes in New South Wales.<\/p>\n

\"Three<\/p>\n

Herb Duddy (centre) with family members Jeff (left) and Robert Duddy. (Supplied: Sara Park Angus)<\/p>\n

Mr Duddy had been searching in Victoria and South Australia to find the right animal to improve his stud’s herd, a breeding operation focused on producing high-quality cattle.<\/p>\n

A prized bull is a long-term investment for studs that look to improve the quality of their herds over time.<\/p>\n

“When I couldn’t find other bulls to suit me, I decided to secure the bull,” he said.<\/p>\n

“So [I] didn’t expect to pay that sort of money, but good ones are very, very hard to find.”The ‘complete’ package<\/p>\n

Mr Duddy described the bull as a complete bull, meaning he was the full package.<\/p>\n

“His conformation, his bone, very good temperament, he’s got beautiful skin and hair, he’s very well grown \u2026 he had pretty good data, which we need in the stud,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Bulls were sold at Granite Ridge Angus Stud’s auction day in February. (Supplied: Granite Ridge Angus Stud)<\/p>\n

While Mr Duddy is no stranger to spending large amounts of money on bulls \u2014 having bought a bull last year for $140,000 \u2014 this year’s animal was his largest purchase to date.<\/p>\n

He said the investment would be worth it in the long run.<\/p>\n

“It’s always stressful, but you make the decision on the moment, and you stick to it, you don’t look back,” Mr Duddy said.<\/p>\n

“In this case, I am sure I have done the right thing.”<\/p>\n

All investments come with risk, and a prized bull is no different. Valuable breeding bulls are typically insured in case they are injured, become infertile or unexpectedly die.<\/p>\n

But because of the high price of the animal, Mr Duddy had to take a bit of a gamble.<\/p>\n

“Insurance companies would not insure him for his full amount,” he said.<\/p>\n

“All insurance companies have a maximum of $150,000, so the bull is insured for $150,000.”<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

There is a lot for buyers to consider when picking the right bull. (Supplied: Granite Ridge Angus Stud)<\/p>\n

Mr Duddy received interest from breeding companies, including overseas, that wanted to collect and sell the bull’s semen.<\/p>\n

Bull semen is a big business, with some farmers paying top dollar to have access to the genetics provided by a quality animal.<\/p>\n

Great sign for SA Angus<\/p>\n

The new record has surpassed the previous record set in 2017 by $150,000.<\/p>\n

Elders’ state livestock sales manager Laryn Gogel helped sell the record-breaking bull.<\/p>\n

He agreed the animal was a particularly impressive specimen.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Laryn Gogel auctions off cattle on the sale day. (Supplied: Granite Ridge Angus Stud)<\/p>\n

“He is the sort of bull you could bring in the lounge room, and he wouldn’t break the china,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Gogel said it took outstanding animals to attract such a high level of competition.<\/p>\n

“He [the bull] gained a lot of attention leading up to the sales, we had Beef Week last week and a lot of people saw him,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The commercial guys were marking him in their catalogue and then ultimately we had stud inquiry which achieved what we saw on the Friday.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

There was lots of interest from interstate at Granite Ridge Angus Stud auction this year. (Supplied: Granite Ridge Angus Stud)<\/p>\n

There was hope the new record would help bring attention to the animals being produced in South Australia.<\/p>\n

“We have probably been a little bit forgotten in South Australia on the bottom end, the eastern states always seem to \u2026 create the records,” Mr Gogel said.<\/p>\n

“It’s really good for South Australia to have those big premium prices paid and the attention.”<\/p>\n

Confidence boost for local stud<\/p>\n

The prized bull came from Granite Ridge Angus Stud near Kingston in the state’s South East.<\/p>\n

Owner Scott Finlay said the interest blew him away.<\/p>\n

“He was a hell of a bull,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Granite Ridge Angus Stud was expecting strong interest for the bull. (Supplied: Granite Ridge Angus Stud)<\/p>\n

The stud has already benefited from the bull’s genetics, using him to improve its herd over the past year before selling him at the auction.<\/p>\n

The strong price will help the stud to recover from tough conditions over the past two years.<\/p>\n

“The buying confidence, the clearances that we have all got over the last couple of weeks here has just been great,” Mr Finlay said.<\/p>\n

“It’s really good to see that there is a bit of confidence back in what we do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perfect skin, good looks and a sparkling personality. It may sound like a romantic partner wish list, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,257448,257447,257443,257449,257444,257446,257445],"class_list":{"0":"post-514733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-granite-ridge-angus-stud","12":"tag-how-expensive-are-bulls","13":"tag-record-bull-price","14":"tag-sara-park-angus-stud","15":"tag-south-australia-record-bull-price","16":"tag-whats-a-most-a-bull-in-south-australia-has-ever-sold-for","17":"tag-whats-the-most-a-bull-has-ever-sold-for"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}