Ballarat store cattle sale: Feedlots dominate with high prices
Quality grass-fed cattle continued to keep cattle prices soaring at the Ballarat store sale with current rates $600 above this time last year. See the full sale report.
FEEDLOT buyers dominated at the Ballarat store sale today with, small-scale producers struggling to buy into the elevated market.
Nutrien Ag Solutions Ballarat livestock manager Xavier Shanahan said while feeder steers made similar money to previous sales, prices for grass-fed have continued to climb.
“The market has been enormously good and the grass-fed cattle seem to get dearer every month we front up. You notice it on the bottom of cattle the most, those making $1100 or $1200 which is just enormous money,” Mr Shanahan said.
“Heavy steers weighing between 520kg and 640kg returned between 385c/kg and 430c/kg while steers weighing 350kg to 450kg made from 420c/kg to 490c/kg.”
One of the top-priced lots of the day returned $2510 or 395c/kg for a pen of seven grown Angus steers which tipped the scales at 635kg.
They were sold by B & J Cahill.
Lighter cattle from 250kg to 350kg returned from 490c/kg and up to 540c/kg including a pen of 10 Angus steers at 278kg, offered by E Comelli which made $1500 or 539c/kg.
Mr Shanahan said the heifer market was equally strong today with some heifers in the 400kg bracket making “nearly the same money as the steers”.
Heavy heifers from 450kg to 520kg made mostly from 370c/kg to 415c/kg while medium-weight heifers from 350kg to 400kg returned from 400c/kg up to 435c/kg.
One of the top-priced heifers pens sold for $2340 or 361c/kg for a pen of three Angus heifers weighing 648kg offered by vendor Pretty Tower.
Very light heifers weighing around 220kg to 250kg made consistently over 500c/kg and almost up to 600c/kg.
Prospective buyer Frank Eldridge from Colac said the market was too strong to buy into for him to realise a good sale margin.
“The feedlotters are too full on for the steers and heifers today – I haven’t been able to get into (the market) yet. I have bid on cattle but I’ve been burnt off by the feedlot guys,” Frank said.
Frank runs a backgrounding and trading operation at Colac selling from 750 to 1000 cattle each year and buying “opportunist cattle” where he can.
“We’re at most of the sales and we buy what we think there’s a margin in.
“The cattle that we bought this time last year we got an enormous upside on them. Now it’s hard to buy back in at these prices. We were buying cattle last year for $1000 and they’re $1600 or $1700,” Frank said.
MORE:
Eastern market booming
See how the restocker movement on the east coast is having an affect on cattle in the west.
Only way is up for cattle rate
Cattle prices continue to rise week after week. But producers are beginning to wonder, how high can prices go? Here’s what the industry experts have to say.