Strong prices hold at Wodonga’s fourth calf sale for 2021
Hereford and Euro-cross cattle sold at Wodonga on Friday are destined for restockers’ paddocks spanning Australia’s eastern states after attaining extraordinary prices amid fierce competition.
THE final stage of the four-day weaner fixture at Wodonga saw prices cross 600c/kg for steers and 545c/kg for heifers.
The insatiable demand to restock saw cattle sold as far north as Toowoomba, Queensland, and as far south as Tasmania as buyers continued to find more money to secure numbers out of the offering of Hereford and Euro-cross cattle.
The results for the top steer weaner rates showed the spread of that competition with the Campbells’ 31 black baldy steers, 422kg, selling for $1970 (467c/kg) to Princess Royal feedlot, Burra, South Australia.
This was equalled by the Renkins’ 21 Charolais steers, 438kg (450c/kg), which also made $1970 and sold to Jeff Garland, GDC, Toowoomba, Queensland.
The sale was judged every bit as good as fixtures earlier in the week and some observers thought rates could be slightly dearer for better cattle.
The 2671 weaners and grown cattle grossed $4.48 million and averaged $1677.
Buyers were not afraid to spend up early, with the second pen of weaners making 520c/kg (black baldies, 358kg, $1860)
Just a few pens later, a pen of Hereford steers weighing 287kg made $1650, or 575c/kg, for the Elliot family, with their heavier pen, 344kg, selling for $1785 or 534c/kg.
Rates for Herefords and black baldies ranged from 470c/kg-540c/kg with several sales above this including 275kg Hereford-Shorthorns for 589c/kg ($1620), 269kg Herefords for 580c/kg ($1560) and 274kg black baldies for 578c/kg ($1585).
Peter Ruaro from PRL Albury said the sale was “every bit as good as the other sales this week”.
“It didn’t matter that there were sales on all over the state or that we ran them four days in a row — you could sell cattle on a Saturday and a Sunday at the moment,” Mr Ruaro said.
The Euro-cross steers carried more weight than some of the straight bred lines and sold mainly from 430-490c/kg.
Heifers again sold to keen interest, though not as many sold online today as in the past few days with just 5 per cent of the market booked to absent buyers.
Heifer weaner prices topped at $1810 for the Renkins’ Charolais heifers which weighed 413kg (438c/kg) and sold to GDC from Toowoomba.
Several pens of heifers made more than 500c/kg including the draft from Richard Mazarek who sold black baldies, 280kg, for $1525 (545c/kg); Tony Machese, who sold Herefords, 292kg, for $1560 (534c/kg); J Witherow, Herefords, 273kg, for $1400 (513c/kg) and M Swasbrick, who sold black baldies, 284kg, for $1445 (509c/kg).
Most of the heifer weaners made 450-480c/kg.
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