Cattle prices: Big Mortlake yarding sees prices drop 50c

Prices came back up to 50c at today’s Mortlake store sale. See the full market breakdown.

Prices trended down by up to 50 cents at Mortlake today amid ballooning sale numbers and persistent wet conditions across Victoria and New South Wales.

Just under 5000 filled out the yards today – several hundred cattle short of the advertised yarding of 5500 – but the large lines of well-bred cattle were still present.

Claire Templeton’s family farm Emu Downs sold a huge line of 500 mixed sex cattle at the Mortlake store sale. She is pictured with agent Nick Maddison from Nutrien.

“The job was 30 to 50 cents cheaper than our sale here last fortnight,” Nutrien Ag Solutions auctioneer Josh McDonald said.

Steers weighing 350kg to 400kg made from 660c/kg to 680c/kg while those between 290kg to 320kg returned from 660c/kg to 680c/kg.

The top price of the day cents-per-kilogram-wise was achieved by Square Mile Group who sold a line of 229 Angus steers weighing 215kg to a top of 782c/kg or $1681.

“We had a fairly good run of weaner cattle that started off a bit sticky but once they got going it certainly improved,” Mr McDonald said.

“It’s definitely cheaper than what it has been in the last fortnight and last month but it’s still good money,” Mr McDonald said of their weaner cattle draft.

A sea of black cattle, scattered with the occasional Hereford pen, saw agents move swiftly through the pens to knock down the entire yarding in just four hours with the lack of cross-bred types to drag out the bidding.

Twin brothers Gerard, left, and Peter Ryan, right, sold a line of 283 steers and heifers at Mortlake store sale. They are pictured with their agent Glen Judd from Southern Grampians Livestock.

The heifer market “had more go about it” Mr McDonald said.

Several vendors offering both steers and heifers achieved better prices for the heifer portion of their draft.

The best of the heifers, and of the yarding as a whole, was a huge line of 500 mixed sex cattle sold by Emu Downs from Glenormiston.

A total of 240 Emu Downs Angus heifers topped at 752c/kg or $2008 for 28 weighing 267kg.

A line of 260 Emu Downs steers averaged $1897 to top at $2081 for 20 Angus weighing 314kg, however many remarked that the Emu Downs cattle were roughly 50c to 60c above the market.

Mr McDonald said the bearish market was down to a combination of less activity out of the north and an influx of numbers.

“There is a Northern influence; they want the cattle but they can’t carry them yet with the flooding,” he said.

“There’s also a lot of numbers on the market and not just in store sales, the kill cattle are starting to come out of the woodwork too.