Farmers embrace online bidding
When the door slammed shut on New Zealand in March 2020 it also closed the gate to one of the viability fundamentals of the country’s livestock industry – stock auctions.
This year’s Huntly bull sale marked 14 years since friends Dave MacKenzie and Greg Straker combined forces to provide farmers with access to quality grade beef and dairy bulls.
MacKenzie recalls that the sale quickly became renowned for bulls which were well grown and provided the breed diversity dairy farmers were after.
“Until this year the NZ Farmers Livestock auction has meant that bidders needed to be ringside – but this year farmers were able to register to bid online via our hybrid auction platform which enables ring-side and online bidding.”
NZ Farmers Livestock general manager Bill Sweeney said the sale was very successful “with return buyers and around 100 registered buyers. Around 440 2yr bulls in outstanding condition and with excellent temperament went under the hammer”.
“The top Herefords realised up to $2,800 with an average of $2,400 while the average for Angus and Jersey was $2,300 and $1,950 respectively – up slightly on the prices achieved last year. Buyers were from as far away as Otago and Whangarei,” Bill Sweeney said.
