Cattle numbers surge at Naracoorte store sale

The Naracoorte store cattle sale saw numbers swell from 1200 to nearly 4000, driven by a tough season and high demand. See how it affected prices.

Dry weather and a dearth of feed, and of enthusiasm to feed cattle through another poor season, saw Naracoorte, South Australia’s store cattle sale swell from 1200 advertised to near-4000.

Despite the beefed up yarding and a small gallery of buyers, prices held up well, particularly on Angus steers and were quoted as similar to last week’s Victorian markets.

The condition of the stock was described as “as storey-est as we ever see at a store sale here”, but that seemed to suit volume buyers such as commission buyer Duncan Brown, trucking a large portion of the yarding to NSW.

Agents quoted the South Australian sale as around 20-40c/kg better on steers than Naracoorte late January store sales and “about as hoped” on last week’s rates.

Some of the better steer prices included McBride family’s Brooklyn property Angus steers, including 12 that weighed 447kg that sold for $1710 or 382c/kg, purchased by Teys Charlton.

Heathdale sold eight Angus steers, 469kg for $1790 (381c/kg).

Mack’s Flat had 18 446kg steers sell for 392c/kg, working out to $1748.

Koch’s 14 Angus steers, 480kg were knocked down at 372c/kg.

Henry Cartledge, Meningie sold steers and cull heifers at Naracoorte. Picture: Kate Dowler

Many vendors were motivated to sell this week following good southern store sale results, including Ballarat, last week, with some cattle sales brought forward several months due to the poor season and in some cases, shortages of water.

Elders agent Laryn Gogel said “we were a bit nervous when the numbers started to go up, but I think the result has been as good as we hoped”.

Other buyers included feedlotter, Teys Charlton, JBS for backgrounding, and volume buyer, South East South Australia’s Noel Ogilvie.

Mr Gogel said the cattle presented with “no waste on them, they will grow out very quickly once they have feed in front of them”.

“There has been a fragmented dispersal around here,” he said, adding the impacts of the lower cattle numbers would be felt into at least 2026.

Henry Cartledge, Meningie, sold off Simmental-Angus steers and cull heifers and said he was pleased at the returns.

His Simmental-Angus steers returned $1110 for a pen of 20 weighing 269kg and said prices were “creeping up”.

Chris Hentschke, Keith, sold a pen of 16 Belmore blood Shorthorn heifers at 278kg for 312c/kg, which she said she was “quite happy with”, which were returned to the paddock. Eighteen steers, 303kg made 330c/kg.

“I would normally hold these until June-July but I am hand feeding everything and I have had to also sell off older cows,” she said.