Just three pens above 400c/kg as buying strength dries up
A big drop in numbers was not enough to push prices up at Wodonga, with only three pens making more than 400c/kg.
The mood was sombre today at Wodonga’s store cattle sale as prices only broke through the 400c/kg mark three times for the whole offering.
While the actual yarding of 1438 was well short of the advertised 2500, it was not enough to produce much enthusiasm as auctioneers battled to find bids in the small crowd.
Views on prices were mixed, with some saying it was not the worst they had seen but others, including a few vendors, rating it as a reality check.
Corcoran Parker auctioneer Justin Keane said cattle were not any cheaper than recent sales, but the smaller lines of cattle, even if they were quality, meant the market “did not get excited”.
“To me, it seems cattle are very buyable given the kind of season we are having,” Mr Keane said.
Talk of the season and the predicted El Nino, as well as depressed prices for prime stock, also took their toll.
Vendors like Lex Masters from Corryong, however, were less enthusiastic about the prices and described the market as “very flat”.
Mr Masters sold an annual draft of Angus steer and heifer weaners, including 40 weighing 357kg that made $1230 (345c/kg); 16 at 261kg that sold for $930 (356c/kg); 22 weighing 304kg that made $1100 (362c/kg) and 25 heifers weighing 298kg that sold for $980 or 329c/kg.
Last year, the same steers sold to a top of $2300.
“There’s certainly been a bit of a price check and even today is flatter than we expected, but we are not in a position to hold on,” Mr Masters said.
John Atkins from Atkins Marketing Livestock at Albury was buying cattle for clients including Charolais-cross steers for $1200 (371kg, 323c/kg) and also represented clients cattle.
He said there would be some producers who had bought steers last year and then sold today who would have received only what they had paid for them a year ago.
“I know myself I have cattle at home that I bought for more than $2000 more than a year ago, and I am waiting for values to go up for heavy bullocks,” Mr Atkins said.
“It’s disappointing and certainly a buyers market.”
The sale’s top steer price was $1710 paid for a pen of 22 Angus that weighed 490kg and returned 349c/kg.
In prices tracked by The Weekly Times, steers over 400kg made 300-339c/kg; 350-400kg made 182-347c/kg; 300-350kg sold from 307-403c/kg; 250-300kg sold from 315-431c/kg and lighter than 250kg included a sale of 216kg Angus which made 375c/kg.
The three pens that made more than 400c/kg were:
– 28 Angus weighing 290kg that were weaned and sold for $1250 (431c/kg);
– 7 Angus weighing 310kg that made $1250 (403c/kg), and
– 17 Angus weighing 272kg that made $1090 (400c/kg).
In the heifer market, there was some competition for the best lines of weaned future breeders, but little restocker interest.
The best heifer price was $1630 paid for a pen of three European-cross weighing 502kg which returned 325c/kg.
Prices settled mainly in the 300-330c/kg range but there were a few pens that made less than 300c/kg and sold down to 227c/kg.
Weaner heifers consistently sold for less than $1000.
And while the lack of competition hit the market across the board, it was especially evident in the very small lineup of breeding females.
Young Angus heifers and calves did sell to $1780 to be the sale’s top price, but other pens of breeding units were passed in.
And lines of joined Angus heifers, due to calve in September/October and weighing 457-491kg, sold for just $1010-$1140.
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