Prices buoyant as wet weather puts meatworks under supply pressure

The wet weather, especially in the southern regions, has impacted supply which in turn has pushed up cattle prices.

Tight supply: Renard Blond stud owner Ian Fox from Cobram at the Yea store cattle sale.

CATTLE prices ramped up again as the wet weather of the past week impacted supply.

It was particularly noticeable in southern regions, which recorded big rainfall totals, with Pakenham only yarding 870 cattle on Monday — nearly 300 less — and Mortlake a token 200.

In NSW numbers at key saleyards were higher, although this was influenced by the public holiday the week before seeing centres skipping a sale. The pressure on meatworks to find enough supply was evident in the latest available slaughter figures.

For the first week of October the Eastern States cattle kill dropped to 103,000, 5 per cent lower than the previous seven days and a massive 31 per cent less than the production levels of a year ago. All states put forward less cattle, and there are now some big contractions in female kills happening as herd rebuilding becomes more intense.

Meat and Livestock Australia listed the female cattle kill in Queensland at just 21,636, 40 per cent lower than same time last year. A similar percentage decline in female slaughter was seen across NSW.

Cow prices have been very buoyant at saleyards as exporters struggle to find suitable supplies and multiple sales above 300c/kg liveweight have been reported in the past week.

At Wagga Wagga in NSW on Monday the main run of 247 heavy beef cows sold from 296c/kg to 315c/kg averaging 308c/kg liveweight to be 7c/kg better than the previous sale. In dollar per head terms results have been impressive, with these cows averaging $2244.

At Pakenham earlier this week, the pick of the higher yielding beef cows sold to 340c/kg lwt in a buoyant market for cows. Export steers were also in strong demand amid fairly limited numbers. Bullocks weighing over 600kg sold from 385c-392c/kg at Pakenham, lifting by 8c to post an impressive dollar per head average of $2635 over 45 cattle sold, according to data from the National Livestock Reporting Service.

Overall, there were few gaps in the cattle market in early trading this week as all categories sold to higher levels as buyers chased numbers.

The pick of the vealer steers sold to 466c/kg lwt at Pakenham earlier this week in one of the dearest calf sales recorded.

The NLRS said some sales were up to 20c/kg dearer than a week ago. Some young calves returned up to $1900, with multiple sales above 400c/kg as the market pushed higher.

Grown and yearling heifers also increased in value as these categories received better support from processors in their quest for numbers.

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