ONLY seconds after the auctioneer declared “Lot 407 sold for $55,000 to Redskin Droughtmasters”, Shane Hauschildt’s phone started to buzz.
“My pocket was literally vibrating as text after text came in,” says Shane.
“People from all over were sending congratulations; they’d been watching the livestream or were at the sale … it was incredible.”
To set the scene, Shane and Sarah Hauschildt from View Field Droughtmaster Stud at Tallegalla had brought five bulls to the National Droughtmaster Bull Sale in Rockhampton.
One of those young bulls was View Field Issac, who had gained celebrity status on the West Moreton and Brisbane Valley Show Circuit this year through his significant wins and through the coverage he’d received in stories in the Fassifern Guardian and sister newspaper, the Moreton Border News.
“I felt like a rock star,” Shane recalled after coverage on Issac appeared in the Guardian’s Boonah Show feature.
“So many people came over to the stud beef ring saying they had read about him and others said he was the reason they had decided to come to the show.”
Many of those messages causing his phone to vibrate almost continuously on the Wednesday of the National Droughtmaster Bull Sale were from the Hauschildt’s network of family and friends and from people who had been following Issac’s progress through the newspapers.
Tipping the scales at 880kg, the two-year-old homozygous poll son of Billabong Kosmo and High Country Kimba first gained status in the show ring at the Droughtmaster Futurity Show at Toogoolawah, in early March.
Chief judge, Renee Rutherford, selected Issac as the Supreme exhibit saying he had good growth for age, his structural correctness was very sound … and he was a good example of the breed.
The young bull went on to pick up four more Supreme exhibit trophies on the West Moreton and Brisbane Valley show circuit.
“The day before we left for the National Sale in Rocky, we opened an email telling us Issac had been declared the Overall Champion Stud Beef Exhibit on the circuit and we were invited to a gala function next month for the trophy presentation,” said Shane.
But it was the outcome of the two day National Sale that was the ultimate accolade.
“We took five bulls to the sale including Issac and two of his half brothers.
“The three were born within days of each other – Issac on August 2, 2023, Isiah on August 4, who sold for $23,000 and Ishmael on August 7, who sold for $15,000.”
The Hauschildt’s bulls achieved an average price of $21,200, well above the overall sale average of $16,315 from 328 bulls.
Shane believes Issac’s purchase price of $55,000 would have a significant impact on South East Queensland studs.
“The Central Queensland market is a very hard market for South East Queensland studs to crack,” Shane said.
“The National Droughtmaster Bull sale in Rockhampton is the biggest sale stage in the Southern Hemisphere and for Issac to achieve that price and to be purchased by a big Central Queensland stud … well it’s something that has rarely happened.”
Adding further impact was the buyer.
“Very rarely does the ‘judge in the ring’ buy the bull and Renee Rutherford was the judge at the Futurity at Toogoolawah. Renee and her husband, Ken, own the Redskin Droughtmaster Stud,” Shane explained.
“I really believe that the sale has taken our stud’s reputation up several levels.”
The only dampener on the sale day for Shane and Sarah was that their mentor, the late Bruce Wilson from Valley View Droughtmaster stud in the Scenic Rim, wasn’t with them.
“When we started our stud in 2017, it was based on a bull and cows from Bruce’s stud.
“And it was seven or eight years ago when we went to our first national sale and Bruce introduced us around … we’ve made a lot of friendships as a result.
“Bruce was with us when we sold View Field Gambler for $18,000 three years ago and used the money to buy Issac’s sire, Billabong Kosmo.”
Looking ahead, Shane and Sarah will be taking two bulls to the Diamond Genetics sale at Silverdale on Saturday.
“Those bulls are equal in quality to the ones we took to Rockhampton. We kept them back as we wanted to support a local sale.”
And of Issac?
“We walked him onto the back of the new owners’ truck,” Shane said.
“We’ve been told he was put straight to work on their property at Morinish [west of Rockhampton].”
