Story by Conor Fowler, photos by Zoe Phillips, The Weekly Times April 11, 2024
Te Mania Angus at Mortlake in Victoria’s Western District is known for its focus on genetics, and co-manager Tom Gubbins said it was pleasing to see their work rewarded this bull season.
“I think more and more we’re finding that the highest correlating indicator to bull price this year is index,” he told The Australian Ag Podcast.
“So that was pretty rewarding considering we’ve spent a lifetime breeding animals on quantitative genetics and index, so to see our clients actually buying according to that was nice.”
Tom said he thought that prices should be higher than what they currently are, but expects the market to come out of its slump in the next year.
“I think the beef market at the moment is coming out of a difficulty in having a bit too much product,” he said.
“The American situation looks like they’ve got less supply than demand, and I think over the next 12 months it’s going to be very seasonally related to see whether farmers are confident to keep hold of animals or perhaps downsize because of a lack of feed.”
