Everything you need to know about the calf sales
See our coverage from Hamilton, Casterton, Wodonga, Mortlake and Yea.
The second week of the annual calf sales have kicked off. Our experts bring you the buyers, sellers, market trends and top prices. Check back for regular updates from Hamilton, Casterton, Wodonga, Mortlake and Yea.
JANUARY 13 YEA FEATURE WEANER SALE
It was a breeders yarding and a backgrounders market at the Elders Yea feature weaner sale today as prices strengthened.
“Some cattle are $100 and dearer and others are on par with the rest of the weaners sales,” Elders Yea livestock manager Jamie Quinlan said.
“The backgrounds and the bullock fatteners were the driving force today - they pushed the top end,” Mr Quinlan said.
A fantastic lineup of around 4500 head, including some exceptional quality breeders’ cattle, topped at $2280 for the steers and $2240 for the heifers.
Killara sold the top prices pen of 21 Angus steers weighing 436kg for $2280 or 523c/kg.
“The commission buyers put a floor in the market, but the repeat buying backgrounders were the ones pushing the top end,” Mr Quinlan said of the tough competition seen for the top end.
“It’s such a credit to the vendors - that’s one of the most outstanding yarding of cattle you’d wish to see at a weaner sale,” Mr Quinlan said.
Most steers weighing more than 300kg sold above expectations, with cattle in the first and second runs returning between 510c/kg to 558c/kg.
In the heifer market, two distinct levels were seen.
The quality breeder heifers up front made from $1800 to $2200 to go back to the paddock, or they dropped back to $1300 to $1500, making 420c/kg to 480c/kg,” Mr Quinlan said.
The top-priced heifers made $2240 for a pen of 44 Angus at 368kg, offered by Villa Brae Pastoral.
Many repeat buyers from Gippsland and the local area acted as the heavy hitters of the sale while commission buyers Andrew Lowe, Campbell Ross and Duncan Brown were present and “operating to a rate,” Mr Quinlan said.
Another prominent commissions buyer sending cattle into southern and central NSW said the market was “$150 to $200 dearer on everything” with an “excellent run of cattle”.
The buyer, who had previously secured over 900 cattle at the same sale last year, was only able to pick up 20 head of steers and a couple of hundred heifers.
JANUARY 12 MORTLAKE FEMALE SALE
Joined Angus heifers showing breed quality and size sold to $3700 to meet expectations at Mortlake; however, plainer and coloured females often met selective bidding and could be purchased for less than $2000 at times.
Like the weaner sales, price results rolled back from the big rates of a year ago, with the lead pens of pregnancy-tested females mostly from $3000 to $3600 and the rest of the yarding fluctuating from $1750 to $2800.
Of the main feature lines specifically joined for this PTIC market, vendor Nampara received the top of $3700 twice for well-grown Angus heifers weighing around 580kg with a tight 8-week joining to start calving in the early autumn.
Other lead prices included $3600 for the lead pen of the Gumbridge Truest line that were PTIC to start calving in February for 10-weeks, and $3400 for the Glenavon Trading Trust heifers at 559k on an 8-week joining.
Auctioneer for Charles Stewart & Co, Jamie MacConachie, said it was a sale that favoured the better-grown-out and presented females.
“If you had those bit older 2.5-year heifers that had a bit of breeding behind them and were in a tight calving pattern, the price was in excess of $3000,’’ he said.
“But heifers that were not quite of the same descriptive quality came back under $3000 fairly quick. I think the best heifers sold exceptionally well today while the others were just around expectations.’’
It was a trend picked up by dairy farmer John Hooper, Glenavon Trading Trust at Panmure, who had his first line of PTIC heifers in this sale after judging females a safer trading investment 12 months ago when steers were at record prices.
“We bought these heifers in for about $1900 last year, and we are pretty happy with the result overall,’’ he said: “The best ones sold really well, and in hindsight, we tried to buy some cheaper heifers last year, and they were probably a bit small to start with.
“Maybe this time around, we just buy the bigger heifers from the get-go.’’
Some of the lower priced sales included PTIC Angus heifers weighing 494kg at $2025 and $1750 for Charolais Angus-cross at 488kg.
JANUARY 12 WODONGA FEMALE SALE
Confidence ebbed and flowed at Wodonga’s female sale today as buyers picked the eyes from the offering of 3000 breeders.
The opening laneway of Angus-Friesian heifers and calves targeting vealer producers started well enough, with the Brumby Hills breeding units making to $3900 three times while a pen from major vendor Charlock Pastoral broke through $4000, making $4020 and selling to a local Albury buyer.
Some of the F1 female and calf units sold above $3000, but there were opportunities for buyers, like a pen of 9 Speckle Park-Friesian, with young Limousin calves, which made just $2200.
Competition then picked up again for lines of Angus females with calves, including the sale’s top price of $4160 paid for a pen of 16 Angus breeders, 556 kilograms, first and second calvers, with calves to six months weighing 186kg and the breeders rejoined. They were bought by Genevieve and Greg Johnstone, to stock a property they had just bought.
Mr Johnstone, who bought 73 Angus cows and calves and PTIC females, said the rates were about what he thought he would have to pay.
It was the highlight in the results which saw several pens of Angus heifers and calves make more than $3000, but other pens fail to reach this level.
Another good result was the $4020 paid by Simon Philips from Berrigan for a pen of seven Simmental-Angus heifers, 558kg, 2-1/2 years, with 189kg calves and PTIC, sold by Whyte Pastoral.
The best of the PTIC females made $3740 for the top pen of Neville Watkins Charlock Pastoral heifers, part of the draft of 420 he sold today.
The pen of 16 Angus, rising 2-1/2 years, 687kg and due to start calving at the start of February went to a Wangaratta buyer.
The balance of the Charlock heifers, which ranged in weight from 552-646kg and were due to calve in February/March, made $2880-$3580.
Mr Watkins said the sale went “better than I thought but not what I’d hoped for a few weeks ago”.
“We’ve already bought the replacements for these females to start the process again and at these prices, we can still make a return,” Mr Watkins said.
Other joined Angus females made from $1800-$3260.
Corcoran Parker director and auctioneer Justin Keane said the prices would allow people to buy in cattle at a reasonable changeover.
“Prices are back in line with what the weaner rates were,” Mr Keane said.
“People have the chance to buy really good replacement females by trading in their old cows at say 340c/kg or about $2000, and if they have sold their weaners for $1600-$1800, and they would get change here today if they bought PTIC females.”
The yarding was dominated by Angus, with the best black baldies making $2640 for the pen of rising two-year-olds sold by Brooklyn Pastoral and due to calve in March,, while a pen of 646kg Hereford heifers, 2-1/2 years and due to start calving in March made $2840 for vendor Maree Paton.
JANUARY 11 HAMILTON AND CASTERTON:
3.20pm: There were dull spots in selling and also some price surprises as the main yardings of Hereford and European-bred steers came out at Hamilton and Casterton today.
Price returns above $2000 were rare as buyers pulled back rates for most whiteface steer calves to between 440c to 478 cents per kilogram. There were lower dips in bidding down to 400c, with buyers discounting pens on factors such as horns, not being weaned, or just having plainer-looking animals.
The surprise came late in the Hamilton sale when some bidding duels for the annual feature draft of pure Limousin steers from the Neeson brothers sold from 502c to a top of 566c/kg for calves weighing 287 kilograms. It was the only time in this sale series that the market has shown a c/kg price premium for lighter calves.
There was also a couple of stand-out sales for heavy Simmental and Charolais steers which meant, in dollar-per-head terms, they topped the Hamilton yarding ahead of the Herefords. Alva Downs sold 15 big Simmental steers at 418kg for 498c/kg to be the only pen to break $2000 at $2081.
Another notable sale was 510c for a pen of heavy Charolais steers weighing 380kg bred by Ricky Willis of Carney Dell. It worked out at $1938.
Only one pen of the feature Herefords had made over $2000, which meant it had been a nervous wait for the vendors of the European breeds who had braced themselves for a possible tough outcome.
“Must admit I was very concerned,” said Pat Neeson, who runs Innisfail Limousins: “It’s different when the market is flying along; you know you will get a good result, but there was some nice Hereford calves not making a lot of money.
“This has been a great result for us.”
These few higher 500c/kg sales helped support the overall result for Hamilton today, which was tracking at 471.5c/kg lwt for an easing of around 8c on yesterday’s sale of Angus and whiteface calves.
The dollar per head average was sitting at $1580 with agents still selling the final laneway when this report was compiled.
The Hamilton sale followed on from Casterton, where a smaller yarding of 1200 Hereford steers showing less weight received subdued support at times.
Prices at Casterton didn’t go over $1700, this sale suffering from a lack of NSW support which in the past has soaked up some of the lighter Hereford calves. Some Gippsland orders, which had been buying decent volumes of calves at Hamilton, didn’t operate at Casterton.
It left breeders such as Bill Lambert, Taronga Herefords disappointed with the level of demand.
“We needed a bit more agency support from elsewhere, but it just didn’t show up,” he said: “Coming into this sale, we were hoping to be in the 450c to 500c range, but we didn’t get near 500c today.”
The top pen of the Taronga Herefords, 20 head at 363kg, sold for 460c to an online buyer on AuctionsPlus. As rates at Casterton drifted down, there was more bidding activity online.
At Hamilton, the yarding opened on Leon Wheeler’s annual draft of Herefords which had made spectacular money a year ago at the peak of $2635.
Today his lead pen of 23 calves weighing 409kg made 472c or $1930; this price was then exceeded by his adjoining pen of 26 head at 402kg, which spiked to 498c to return just over $2002. His biggest line of 82 steers weighing 371kg sold for 482c or $1788. Buying these calves was repeat buyer Paul Mason from Wellington in NSW, who finished EU-accredited bullocks.
JANUARY 10 HAMILTON:
3pm: Steer prices tended to drift lower at Hamilton this afternoon, although some of the feature lines of black and Hereford calves did hold their value thanks to repeat buyers.
The price average was sitting at 476.6c/kg liveweight or $1662 per head after 2700 calves had been sold, with agents still selling at 2pm when this report was compiled.
The yarding wasn’t as neat as the opening steer market, showing more quality variance and different breed types. It included the first runs of Herefords at Hamilton and also some Euro-cross types.
Only a few pens managed to creep over the $2000 mark, with buyers tending to pull back on the heaviest black calves, which mostly sold from 460c to 486c/kg liveweight and bidding in the early laneways was dominated by processor and cattle feeder JBS.
Only a few sales fell outside this range, including 23 Angus steers from breeder and local agent Kevin Lane, Amaroo at Grassdale, with these calves selling for 500c on 409kg to a repeat South Gippsland bullock buyer. This gave them a dollar value of $2045.
The Harton Hills steers also broke the 500c barrier on a decent weight of 389kg, the 37 calves also selling to a repeat order from Gippsland at 512c or $1991.
The top dollar value of the market of $2083 was achieved by the Sandy Camp operation, the money generated by a big weight of 447kg. Penned in the front row, the calves sold for 466c to the JBS order.
This sale marked the first feature runs of Hereford steers, and with these Western District sales being grass buyer-dominated, prices for the whitefaces were on-par with the blacks.
The annual draft of Hereford steers bred by John and Liz Craig, Inverell at Hamilton, sold to $1828 for 22 head weighing 389kg which made 470c. The second run of 68 calves at 363kg sold for 492c or $1786 – these lead drafts selling to repeat EU bullock producer Paul Mason from Wellington in NSW.
The thirds of the Inverell steers, 42 at 324kg, sold for 486c or $1574 to an online buyer using the AuctionsPlus platform.
Mr Craig said it was a pleasing result and showed the market was fairly stable for well-bred calves of all breeds.
“The Herefords have made similar money to the Angus, and I think anyone that has got some breeding behind their cattle and has repeat buyers will get an equivalent result,’’ he said.
It was a comment supported by sale data, with the preliminary Outcross report from the market showing the main run of Angus calves at 481c/kg lwt and the Herefords at 484c on less volume.
Where the market showed some price dips were on smaller lots of plainer bred or crossbred calves, these selling from 418 to 460c/kg lwt.
Like yesterday, it was southern grass finishers stretching from Gippsland through to Mt
Gambier in South Australia that held the market together.
JANUARY 9 CASTERTON:
More buying orders emerged, but Angus steer prices still weakened at Casterton, where all sales stayed below $2000.
The average for the all-black yarding was at tracking at 476c/kg liveweight after 2189 calves were sold, with agents still selling the final 400 head when this report was compiled.
The price is 14c/kg off the pace of the opening Hamilton result, where 4000 steers averaged 490c/kg on Monday.
The positive from Casterton was the emergence of some new orders, including the northern based Mort & Co feeding operation which has cattle on grain in the south; commission buyer Andrew Lowe who was buying European-accredited calves plus additional restocking activity from Cootamundra in NSW and more southeast and Gippsland support.
Despite this, the market still had more holes in it than Monday’s sale at Hamilton, to use the phrase of one buyer.
There was just one sale at 500c/kg for the heaviest steers, with breeder Troy O’Connell receiving this money for his pen of 48 Tora Downs Angus steers, which weighed 395kg, working out to $1975.
The dollar per head range across the sale was $1341 to the top of $1975, based on preliminary data from saleyard operating system OutCross.
There was a low price of 430c/kg for some Murray Greys, with the majority of black steers over 330kg selling from 450c to 485c/kg liveweight.
Like other store markets, vendors could only watch as the big income gains of 12 months ago were wiped away.
“We are virtually back on par with 2021 prices,’’ breeder Kelvin Bateman, Baroona at Dunrobin said.
“Last year was exceptional, and we didn’t expect to get those prices again.’’
Mr Bateman sold some of the bigger runs early in the auction, receiving a top of $1766 for 76 weaned Angus that had a weight of 389kg and sold for 454c/kg. The second draft of 73 at 347kg sold for 470c/kg or $1630.
There were limited sales above 500c/kg to a top of 526c/kg for lighter steers weighing from 280-325kg.
JANUARY 9 HAMILTON:
12.30pm: Southern support for heavy Angus steers has been the highlight of the opening calf sales at Hamilton today, with prices reaching $2131.
Gippsland agent Terry Ginnane from Nutrien paid 516c/kg for a pen of 22 Angus steers from Coffey Partnership, which were 413kg, weaned, and European Union accredited.
It was the first of a few pens of several Angus steers, which sold to Gippsland buyers at just more than 500c/kg.
Early in the sale, there has not been any sign of increased premiums for lighter cattle, with an example being a pen of 50, which weighed 344kg and sold to Alex Scott and Staff in Gippsland for 492c/kg.
To date, bullock producers have outpaced feedlots and northern orders.
There is a yarding of 4075 Angus steers at Hamilton today, which have an average weight of 345kg.
The sale is finding a level of 460-485c/kg as the sale progresses.
4.30pm: Southern grass demand was the driver behind an OK start to the Hamilton calf sales today, with heavy Angus steers selling to $2128 to claim the highest steer price of the Victorian New Year sales so far.
But it was a very different sale to 12 months ago in the Western District, both in terms of price and buyer competition for the 3777 all-black yarding.
All the calves sold at Hamilton are weighed, and bidding is in cents per kilogram liveweight rather than the dollar-a-head system used at most store selling centres.
Today steers sold from 436c/kg to a top of 540c/kg liveweight to average 490c/kg according to preliminary data from the Hamilton Regional Livestock Exchange, with the final result still to be confirmed. In dollar terms, the spread was $1137 to $2128 for an average of $1703.69.
It marks a fall of just more than $700 on last year’s stellar result when weaner steers sold to $2894 and averaged $2411 at 680c/kg liveweight.
While producers were quick to acknowledge the exceptional result of last January and didn’t want to dwell on the price fall, it still hung over the sale in terms of mood.
“Last year spoiled us,’’ John McErvale, Cadell at Branxholme, said after his annual draft of calves sold to $1900 or 465c/kg for 409kg.
“No point grumbling about it.’’
The most excitement was in the opening laneway after southern agents buying for bullock clients paid more than 500c/kg for some of the heaviest steer calves.
Gippsland agent Terry Ginnane, Nutrien Leongatha, paid the top price of $2128 or 516c/kg for the lead pen of Angus bred by Michael Coffey and family, Coffey Partnership. Weighing 413kg, they had been weaned and were EU accredited.
Local Hamilton agent Michael Kerr also competed strongly for some lead pens, paying to $2061 or 504c/kg for 38 Angus steers from IS & HJ Brown, which weighed 409kg and won the prize for the best-presented pen.
But overall, only seven pens of steers in the sale sold above $2000.
The majority were in a range of $1500 to $1900, with cents per kilogram rates not really lifting for lighter steer calves under 350kg; the exception being some of the bigger lines from noted breeders known for their quality.
The top c/kg rate of 540c was paid for 33 Angus from Sarona Pastoral, which weighed 292kg, working out to $1577.
There was a noticeable lack of northern buyer and feedlot competition at this sale when compared to recent years. Regular faces such as commission buyer Andrew Lowe and agency orders from around Tamworth, NSW, and up into Queensland were absent.
There was some feedlot buying from JBS and the Killara Feedlot but only at a price, with these buyers generally walking away once rates started climbing above 465c/kg liveweight. NSW agency Ray White Emms Mooney, from the Bathurst, NSW, area, and Ray White Albury, were some of the stronger interstate orders to operate.
It was southern competition that dominated, with volume buyers including Nutrient Leongatha; Alex Scott & Co at Warragul; MC Kerr & Co at Hamilton; HF Richardson at Colac; and Miller Whan & John Naracoorte and Mt Gambier.
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