Early sell-down of store cattle sweeps across Victoria

An extra 66,000 store cattle were sold through three of Victoria’s main store markets in the last year, but saleyard numbers have rapidly dropped in the past week.

There has been 30 per cent more store cattle sold at major markets this past year.

An extra 66,000 store cattle were sold through three of Victoria’s main store markets in the past 12-months.

The end of financial year figures just released for the Barnawartha (Wodonga), Ballarat and Mortlake saleyards point to an early sell-down of store cattle across the south with about 30 per cent more cattle offered.

It comes amid a dramatic drop in saleyard numbers of cattle at store sales and prime markets in the past week, signalling a major change to supply and demand dynamics.

Schubert Boers livestock agent Craig Schubert from Wodonga said numbers have decreased rapidly.

“We’ve (Wodonga store sales) have gone from nearly 4000 cattle a fortnight ago and 6400 a month back to less than 1500 yarded (last week),” he said.

Elders livestock agent Bruce Elliott from Yea said the extreme seasonal conditions had caused significant disruptions to sale patterns of cattle which would be felt across the industry in coming months.

“Grown steers which were destined for bullocks were sold as heavy feeders, while a lot of younger calves were sold early at much lighter weights rather than being held for feeders,” Mr Elliott said.

“So I can see some big holes coming up for buyers.”

Kerr and Co agent Craig Pertzel from Hamilton said the sell-down of cattle out of the drought hit south-west went back months and had claimed significant numbers.

“Due to the season or lack of one a lot of cattle have been sold forward – if I had to guess I would put it in the range of 25 per cent,” he said.

Selling action at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

According to saleyard operator Regional Livestock Exchange there was 102,000 store cattle sold at Wodonga in the 2024-25 financial year, up 30 per cent or 24,000 head on the 77,800 cattle marketed as stores in the same period in 2023-24.

At Mortlake the figure was an average of 4281 cattle sold each fortnight this past financial year for a total of 111,295 cattle sold, up 20 per cent on the 93,000 store cattle in 2023-24, while at Ballarat 80,122 cattle were sold in 2024-25, up 42 per cent from the 56,117 cattle sold the previous financial year.

Despite the big numbers cattle prices have held fairly strongly for the past 12-months, with the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator not dropping below 600c/kg carcass weight since July 2024. The EYCI is currently at 712c/kg, 131c/kg higher than a year ago.

And as numbers have dropped cattle prices have gained traction at both store and prime markets, including feature lines of small Angus steers selling above 500c/kg liveweight at Wodonga last week.

Restocking from southern regions is viewed as a key factor which could influence a dearer cattle market going forward, but agents warned many farmers would be intent on replacing hay and silage reserves rather than rushing out to purchase stock.

“People will want to build up a feed bank again first,’’ said Mr Elliott, who suggested this could see the strongest demand for store cattle emerge after hay making, subject to how the season played out.