Australian record heifer price likely made at Charters Towers store sale
A likely national price record for heifers has been set at a store sale in Charter Towers. All the details here.
NORTHERN Australia has set a new beef benchmark with a line of yearling heifers making 1174.2c/kg in what is believed to be a record national price.
The line of commercial Brahman heifers made 1174.2c/kg or $3546 for the 302kg future breeders at the Charters Towers store sale last week.
The were sold by Kenilworth Brahmans from Mount Coolon.
The extraordinary result stunned Elders Charters Towers branch manager Mitch Braithwaite who said they had initially hoped the heifers might make 400c/kg.
Mr Braithwaite said there were pre-sale expectations that the future breeders would sell well but not as well as they did.
“These are commercial cattle, but the depth of breeding is there, and people had the chance to buy into that breeding,” Mr Braithwaite said.
“One buyer said to us that they have got the actual cattle for 10 years, but the progeny of these heifers will live on for 40-50 years.”
The entire line of 266 grey polled heifers, 2019-drop, averaged $3068 and grossed $816,088.
The cattle were extensively marketed before last week’s store sale and were initially going to be retained by the vendors to stock a planned new property which did not come off.
And while interest came from as far as northern NSW and across Queensland, the heifers all stayed within a 200km radius of Charters Towers.
Mr Braithwaite said the result was not typical of north Queensland heifer prices, with the best 2020-drop weaners making up to 400c/kg in last week’s sale of 4500 cattle.
“We are sensing a bit of urgency to restock at the moment due to the predicted good wet season, and southern buyers (from NSW) are also having an impact on our sales,” he said.
“Any cattle which have some Angus or Euro-cross in them are making more money and are heading as far south as Dubbo, so the south is definitely having an influence on our sales even up here.
“When you think that these guys are paying 40-50c/kg to get them south, those steers and heifers have a large postage stamp (freight cost) on top of their sale price.”
And while not at the level of the Braham heifers, AuctionsPlus set a record steer price for non-Wagyu cattle last week.
The line of Herefords from Port Fairy weighed 175kg and sold for $1216 or 695c/kg to a grass finishing program in Gippsland.
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