Cattle prices: Yea store sale attracts strong competition

Wet conditions did nothing to deter buyers at Yea, where quality steers of differing weights were in demand.

A wet and wintry day at the Yea saleyards was met with strong competition from a full crowd of buyers.

A smaller yarding of around 1600 cattle had some standout pens but lacked strong support from local buyers due to the persistent wet conditions of the area.

“It was a very wintry market here today following on from 35mm of rain in the last 12 hours,” Nutrien Ag Solutions Yea agent Tyson Bush said.

Grant Sims, left, sold two pens of highly sought after Angus calves which achieved a top of $2340 or 870c/kg. They were bought by Jack Coldar from Koonwarra, right.

“We would have had 10mm in that shower then,” Mr Bush said of the rain that fell throughout the sale.

However, despite the wet weather challenges, Mr Bush said the sale was “very strong”.

“I think that’s been consistently what’s been happening,” he said.

One of the top-priced lots of the day fetched a high of $3220 or 486c/kg for a pen of three Angus steers weighing 662kg.

Heavy steers from 450kg and more returned rates between 560c/kg to 590c/kg.

Steers from 350kg to 450kg made from 640c/kg to 680c/kg while those below 350kg returned from 700c/kg up to 870c/kg.

A highly sought after line up of two pens of Angus calves sold by Grant Sims of Sims Farms elicited a bidding war from two eager buyers.

After several minutes of back and forth, backgrounder Jack Coldar from Koonwarra purchased both pens to a sale top of 870c/kg from 24 weighing 269kg.

The usual host of feedlot and commission buyers were present, including the AFA feedlot, commission buyers Duncan Brown and Campbell Ross and prominent Gippsland buyers.

“We didn’t know what to expect today, we’ve had a lot of rain throughout the week,” Mr Bush said.

“We always had about 1600 cattle booked in and I thought we might have had a lot more pulled out because people struggle to get cattle out of their paddocks but a lot came on Wednesday.