Wangaratta weaners: Strong money as summer sales continue
Dear price trends for young heifers and steers continued at the Wangaratta weaner sale. Here’s how the sale ended up.
THE recent trend of weaner cattle making returns of 500c/kg and beyond continued today at the Wangaratta weaner calf sale.
It look less than an hour for weaner calves at Wangaratta to break 500c/kg, soaring as high as 545c/kg in the opening run, with later pens going on to reach as high as 599c/kg.
A pen of 11 Angus steers weighing 236kg sold for 599c/kg.
Heifers also attracted the attention of buyers, with prices settling between 307c/kg up as high as 564c/kg.
But many producers, attending the sale with the intention to buy, sat tentatively on the rails as feedlot and commission buyers swooped in to pick up midweight steers and heifers.
More than 3000 steers and heifers were offered at today’s sale, with feedlots active on steers weighing in from 317kg to 390kg and are selling between 470 to 599c/kg.
Buyers and vendors alike quickly punched numbers into calculators to confirm prices for steers were surging into the mid 500c/kg range.
DKF Heywood and Sons offered 97 Angus heifers over three pens, with an average weight of 285kg.
They sold to $1610, or 564c/kg.
Molyullah producer Angus McMillan sold a number of Angus cattle, including a pen of 11 Angus heifers, weighing 296kg, for $1520 or 513c/kg, and a pen of Angus steers weighing 345kg for $1765kg, or 511c/kg.
Mr McMillan said he was glad COVID-19 restrictions eased at the end of last year, allowing vendors and buyers to attend sales instead of being relegated to a television screen or online sale.
“I thought it was pretty consistent. Which is unusual. When you get to the lesser weights, prices goes off by quite a bit. But today it was all in perfect balance, from a farmer’s point of view,” Mr McMillan said.
“The yard is fairly full, which is good.”
He said while prices were high, it was possible to make a return off expensive cattle.
“It often crosses your mind. At the end of the day, buyers would have some sort of an outlet somewhere. It would be hard to see people going to buy stock to lose money,” Mr McMillan said.
Davilak Pastoral Company manager Rodda Manning offered a huge 526 Angus steers, with three pens of steers weighing 317kg making 545c/kg.
Mr Manning said prices were a testament to the strength of the season, with feedlots chasing cattle.
“The feedlots have taken plenty,” Mr Manning said.
“It’s incredible. We’ve had a very, very good season … this is exceptional. Twelve months ago our calves averaged $1000.”
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