Wagyu heifer breaks price records at multimillion-dollar sale

A Wagyu heifer has sold for $400,000 with the buyer saying “we were prepared to take her home no matter what”.

The teams from Yulong and Sunnyside at last night's Australian Wagyu Association auction, which saw a heifer sold to a new record high at last night’s multimillion dollar auction.

A Wagyu heifer has set a price record, selling for an impressive $400,000 at the Australian Wagyu Association’s annual conference in Melbourne.

The heifer, Sunnyside S0014, was the first lot in the catalogue and was purchased by Yulong Invest.

She was sired by high marbling bull Arubial Bond MYMFQ0007, the son of Mayura Itoshigenami Jnr, and has an impressive range of estimated breeding values – putting her in the top one per cent across all Wagyu indexes.

The unjoined 13-month-old has a marble score of +3, and drew bidding interest from across the globe, reflectingoptimism and interest in the cattle industry.

Yulong Invest sales manager Troy Stephens said Sunnyside S0014 was “the heifer we wanted to buy”, identified early on as the best in the sale.

“We were prepared to take her home, no matter what,” Mr Stephens said.

“Our primary business is thoroughbreds, with farms up in the Nagambie region. The Wagyu operation is pretty new to us, we only started breeding in 2019.”

Mr Stephens said the heifer was a prime investment due to her well-rounded EBVs.

“She’s got a good spread of high-performing EBVs, putting her in the top one per cent,” Mr Stephens said.

“It’s an exciting industry. We want to be operating at that top one per cent … we’re relatively new to the industry, but we’ve got a vision, and we have to put those top genetics into our herd early.”

AWA chief executive Matthew McDonagh said the sale was a reflection of “the best breeders from around the world who are putting their genetic material into one sale with worldwide competition”.

The sale was live streamed to an online audience of around 100 viewers, with a further 300 attendees in person.

“There are a few world-renowned Wagyu breeders who were a real highlight of the sale,” Mr McDonagh said.

These feature breeders included Australian studs Mayura Station, Blackmore Wagyu and the Canadian based Wagyu Sekai stud.

“It’s a limited opportunity for breeders around the world to access those limited genetics, so that creates a lot of excitement.”

“Last night the breeders that were breaking the records were Wagyu breeders that aren’t those traditionally recognised breeders but are really pushing the forefront of genetic gain.

“The atmosphere in the room and the activity in the sale and the results ultimately reflects the confidence in the Wagyu sector globally – we’ve grown enormously in the last five years,” Mr McDonagh said.

The gross amount from last night’s auction was $2.7 million.

The top priced bull, Sahara Park Yasufuki R153, sold for $240,000 by Bar H Grazing.

The average price for bulls across the sale was $72,000.

The female portion of the sale averaged $67,000, while embryos sold for an average of $2620.