Good season and predicted rain unable to turn cattle prices

Confidence has been stripped from the store cattle market and returns took a big hit at Wodonga today. Read the prices here.

Good seasonal conditions in the region and talk of rain next week could not turn around the fortunes of the Wodonga store cattle sale where bids for some steers started at less than $100.

While this was for lines of pure Friesian steers, the market could not even sustain the momentum of a fortnight ago, with confidence stripped from the market.

Steer prices settled at 220-260c/kg for many lines of Angus steers and only the best bred could drag rates above it.

Corcoran Parker auctioneer Justin Keane said it was difficult to talk about the market.

“What I can say is that there are opportunities around right now if you have feed and you are certainly in a buyer’s market,” Mr Keane said.

The scene was set when the first pen of Speckle Park heifers, with calves to six weeks, made just $1120 and then a pen of light condition Angus cows out of Cobargo, NSW, with calves to four weeks, made $1060.

Then the bulk of the offering, steers, struggled to gain momentum and it was only the support of the agencies’ own clients that prevented values from falling further.

The sale’s top steer price was $1200 but paid for a pen of Angus that tipped the scales at 559kg so returned just 215c/kg.

The best steer price on a cents a kilogram basis however was paid for a well-bred pen of Table Top Angus blood steers sold by Norm and Cheryl Blacker from Bungowannah, NSW and weighed 393kg, which made $1120 to return 285c/kg. The same draft last year, which were about 20-30kg lighter, made $2350.

Cheryl and Norm Blacker from Bungowannah sold Angus steers for $1120, one of the highest prices on a cents/kilogram basis at 285c/kg liveweight and $1120 for the draft that weighed 393kg.

It was just one of six pens of steers that made $1000 or more, and to achieve this, cattle had to weigh 380kg or more.

The fickle nature of the market and the lack of competition meant prices bounced around – two pens of 358kg steers from different vendors made $950 (265c/kg) and $850 (237c/kg) despite being side by side.

Don Lang from Wodonga with Heidi, 8, and Theo, 5, Gilltrap, at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

And the trend from the sale a fortnight ago of price per kilogram drifting down as weights got lower was repeated.

A case in point was the draft from T and L O-Keeffe, with their top pen of Angus steers at 382kg making $1040 (272c/kg) but then the next pen at 326kg making $790 (242c/kg).

It was repeated with the Angus steers from T Blacker, with the top pen at 398kg making $1100 (276c/kg) and the lighter steers at 336kg making $790 (235c/kg).

Off the lines of Angus, prices became even tougher slipping to 220-230c/kg with a pen of 337kg Herefords, 10-12 months, making $760 or 226c/kg.

Euro-cross steers were also penalised, with Charolais-Angus selling down to 200c/kg while Limousin cross made 190c/kg or just $800 for 420kg steers.

Three generations of the Wolki family – Otto, 6, his father Jake and Jake's grandfather Klaus, at the Wodonga cattle sale. Jake bought cattle at the sale.

It was not unexpected then when drafts of pure Friesian steers failed to ignite any enthusiasm, with bids beginning below $100 in some cases.

The best price here was $300 paid for 339kg Friesian steers, or 88c/kg, but even Angus-Friesian steers weighing 305kg could only make $435, or 143c/kg.

If the going was tough for steers, it was even harder for heifers.

The best price was $950 paid for three Speckle Park heifers which weighed 578kg and returned just 164c/kg.

Heifer prices did not break through the 200c/kg for any lines, with rates settling mostly in a tight bidding range of 150-160c/kg for most drafts.

Dawn and Graeme Macaulay from Huon sold Angus steers to $1020 (397kg, 257c/kg) and heifers to $650 (356kg, 183c/kg) at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

Again a couple of pens of Angus proved the exception to this, with the Macaulay family’s 356kg Angus heifers, 10-12 months, making $650 (183c/kg) while B and E Benion sold Angus heifers, 405kg, selling for $770 (190c/kg).

This pen of 19 Hereford heifers, 14-15 months and 363kg made $550 or 152c/kg at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

But Limousin-cross heifers sold down to 145c/kg and Angus cross down to 100c/kg.

Some of the lightest Angus heifers could only make $300 with one vendor selling 227kg for $300 (132c/kg); 242kg for $300 (124c/kg) and 201kg for $100 or just 100c/kg.