Ballarat store sale: Heavy steers climb 20c to 30c

Heavy steers climbed 20c to 30c on a day with plenty of heavy hitters on hand in Ballarat. Full details here.

Prices jumped another $100 in places for quality cattle at Ballarat today.

The top end of the market hit a high of $3210 or 548c/kg for a pen of 18 Angus steers at 586kg sold by T & P Missen.

“There was big demand from the feeders and exporters for heavy steers and they were very strong – up 20c to 30c on last sale,” TB White and Sons auctioneer Tom Madden said.

“Most of our steers were over 270kg so we didn’t have a lot of light (weight) stuff,” Mr Madden said.

Sisters and business partners Lauren and Catherine Maher from Brewster sold several pens of Angus steers to a top of $3180 or 540c/kg for 16 at 589kg.

Medium to heavy weight steers from 450kg to 500kg cracked $6/kg for quality types including a pen of 14 Angus at 475kg by Bullaharre Park who returned 615c/kg or $2920.

A heavy-weight run of Charolais steers topped at $3080 or 521c/kg for 25 at 591kg sold by Grigg Farm at Bungaree.

Peter and Gloria Walker sold several pens of steers and heifers under Bullaharre to a top of $2920 or 615c/kg for 14 Angus at 475kg. They are pictured with their agent Tim Healey at the Ballarat store sale.

They were followed by a run of Hereford steers that topped at $2930 or 588c/kg for 25 at 498kg, sold by B & M Maher.

Smaller steers continued to impress dollars-per-kilogram wise, almost hitting $8/kg in places.

A pen of 24 Angus by Jarrett weighing in at 270kg returned $2140 or 792c/kg.

Influential buyers active on the day included regular heavy hitters Campbell Ross buying for Hopkins River Beef, Don Bowman from Elders Korimburra, Teys Australia, Thomas Foods International and JBS feedlot.

Local vendor Karl Britt from Dunnstown sold a large line of Angus steers and some heifers which topped at $2800 or 597c/kg for 13 steers at 469kg.

The heifers portion of the sale also neared the $6/kg mark for the heavy end which set up the breeders for keen bidding competition.

“Once the breeders got onto those heifers they were very keenly sought,” Mr Madden said.

Leading the charge for the heifers vendors Glenleua achieved a heifer top of $2720 or 503c/kg for their eight, 18 to 20-month-old Angus weighing 541kg.

Another pen of 16 Angus heifers at 493kg made $2570 or 521c/kg.

At the other end of the scale, a lightweight pen of 12 Angus heifers at 253kg made $1860 or 735c/kg.

“The back end of the heifers eased off a bit (in price),” Mr Madden said.