Steers to 461c/kg, heifers to 376c/kg at Wodonga sale

Wodonga’s store cattle market hit peaks not seen for months on Thursday. Read the full sale recap.

Prices at Wodonga’s store cattle market reached levels not seen for months, but only the very best cattle could achieve them.

The offering of 2452 cattle was described by many as “patchy”, with pens of well-bred cattle but also clean-up lots of small numbers and mixed breeding.

Yet the willingness of buyers to pay up to 461c/kg for Angus steers and 376c/kg for Angus heifers for breeders showed the right item could spark good competition.

Three-year-old Dusty Rafferty and his father Simon Rafferty from Ray White at Tamworth, NSW, were part of the small buying crowd at the Wodonga store cattle sale.

Peter Ruaro Livestock auctioneer Scott Campbell said the quality of some of the heavy black steers helped in terms of prices, and Herefords sold at a 40-50c/kg discount in this weight range.

“Overall, the recent lift we have seen in store markets has been sustained at Wodonga, even though the quality was a bit patchy,” Mr Campbell said.

“What we can say is the prices are way better than January.”

Results monitored by The Weekly Times showed steer prices broke through the 400c/kg mark several times, as they did at Euroa the day before, and all were for Angus weaners.

The best result was achieved by Geddes Pastoral from Holbrook, NSW, which sold a pen of 24 Angus steer weaners, 269kg, for $1240 or 461c/kg liveweight.

It was one of 10 pens that achieved 400c/kg or more, and buyers opted to pay more for quality and bigger pen sizes.

Ray Vinge from Berringama made the decision not to sell his weaners in January, and it paid off, as the cattle gained weight and two pens sold for more than 400c/kg at the Wodonga cattle sale.

Ray Vinge from Berringama was one of those who achieved 400c/kg and more for his Angus steer weaners and said the decision to wait and sell now rather than in January had paid off.

“I had the feed to keep them and they have put on weight and the prices have gone up, so it was a good move,” he said.

Joe Klippel from Berringama with his daughter Joely sold Limousin cross cattle at the Wodonga sale, with a pen of 328kg steers selling for $1050 or 320c/kg.

At the heavier end, a pen of five Herefords offered by T and T Murphy made $1650 but these were big steers tipping the scales at 624kg and returned 264c/kg liveweight.

It was one of the few sales that dipped below 300c/kg, and the preference for younger and lighter cattle was seen when the same vendor sold 16 Hereford and roan steers, 402kg, for $1320 (328c/kg liveweight) and another pen, 344kg, made $1120 (326c/kg liveweight).

A nice pen of Euro cattle from Kenmere Charolais at Holbrook, NSW, weighed 334kg and sold for $1180 to return 353c/kg liveweight or one of the best prices for this category on the day.

Kenmere’s heifers were the first to sell in the unjoined female offering, and the pen of 20 weighing 443kg sold for $1370 to commission buyer Andrew Lowe, to achieve a liveweight price of 309c/kg.

Selling action at the Wodonga store cattle sale where this pen of pure Charolais heifers was offered by Kenmere Charolais at Holbrook, NSW. The unjoined heifers, 443kg, made $1370 and returned 309c/kg liveweight.

Heifer prices did break through 300c/kg on a number of occasions, and hovered around the 280-310c/kg mark for most lines of better bred young females.

But the standout result was achieved by P and R Hilton and R and T Brown, who sold a pen of 12 Angus weighing 402kg for $1510 or 376c/kg liveweight. The heifers were bought by Nutrien Wangaratta agent Daniel Fischer who said they would go into a herd as breeders.

The limited offering of cows and calves topped at $2180 paid for a pen of Angus-Friesian heifers, 460kg, with calves to three months sold by R and V Dawson.