Prime cattle: Dry conditions impact cattle prices as the female sell-off continues
There was another big offering of cows in markets on Monday.
CATTLE prices appear to be succumbing to dry conditions and the problem of numbers outpacing demand as producers face up to a difficult summer.
The major saleyards in both Victoria and NSW on Monday reported cheaper trends across young trade and store cattle, with some sales up to 30c/kg lower than recent results.
The bright spot of the market continues to be slaughter cows, with prices rising on the back of record prices for manufacturing beef in the US. It comes as the sell-off of female stock continues due to a lack of feed and water, with authorities confirming last week that Australia’s herd is still contracting. There was another big offering of 1170 cows put through the sale ring at Wagga Wagga on Monday. The main run of heavy D4 beef cows (D-muscle and in fat score 4 condition) sold from 230c/kg to 286c/kg to average 246c/kg liveweight — a lift of 12c/kg, according to the National Livestock Reporting Service.
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In dollars-a-head these cows peaked at $2232 and averaged $1572 over a weight of 639kg.
Medium sized cows with less fat cover, weighing 400-520kg and in fat score 3 condition, made 211-234c/kg to average 224c/kg, a spike of 19c/kg on a fortnight ago (NSW did not hold sales last Monday due to a public holiday).
At Pakenham good beef cows were also quoted as a few cents dearer, the lead pens making 220c/kg to 265c/kg.
The most negative trend to hit saleyards on Monday was a price correction for trade weight slaughter steers and heifers despite some reasonable quality still being available.
The NLRS quoted most trade cattle as 15-30c/kg cheaper at Pakenham, with only limited sales of very good B and C-muscle yearlings and vealers managing to stay above 300c/kg for a top of 326c/kg.
The same pattern was evident at Wagga Wagga, where good trade steers sold to 302c/kg and averaged 293c/kg, while the decent domestic heifers fell back to an average of 273c/kg.
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