Leongatha store sale: midweight steers and heifers shine
Large numbers of cattle continue to be yarded at the Leongatha livestock facility, with midweight steers and heifers the highlights at Thursday’s sale.
Mid-weight steers and heifers were the highlights of today’s store cattle sale at Leongatha in South Gippsland, where strong numbers of quality black cattle continue to be yarded.
The solid throughput of stock – with more than 4400 yarded today – are reflective of an ongoing trend in the wake of VLE’s closure of the Pakenham yards earlier this year.
It was the second week the livestock exchange has broken up the selling agents into two groups, in a bid to accommodate the high numbers of both cattle and bidders lining the rails at the yards, since the closure of the Pakenham sale yards a few months prior.
Mid-weight cattle, both steers and heifers, in the high 200kg range up to 400kg shone, with prices for some pens fetching close to 500c/kg in places.
One pen of lighter Angus steers by producer JW Dunbar at Traralgon, weighing in at 269kg, sold to $1330 a head or 494c/kg.
Opening lines of heavy steers between 550kg to 650kg attracted the attention of major feedlot buyers, including JBS.
One pen of 17 Angus steers by Foster producers P and A Van Kuyk, weighing 541kg sold to $2340 a head, or 432c/kg.
The heifer portion of the sale garnered strong bidding attention from local stock agents such as SEJ and Nutrien, with mid-weight heifers weighing in the low 400kg range making returns around 390c/kg.
A pen of 13 Angus heifers by producer Von Pace Pastoral, weighing in at 427kg, sold for $1690 a head, or 395c/kg.
One of the opening pens of heifers – 22 Angus heifers by Glencoe Angus – weighed in at 434kg and sold to $1750, or 403c/kg.
Two Creeks Pastoral Company operator Andrew Barker sold several pens of both heifers and steers across the sale, a total of 196 steers and 140 heifers.
One pen of 22 Angus steers, weighing 387kg, sold to 478c/kg or $1850 a head.
His heifers also were met with strong demand from bidders along the rails, with one pen of heifers almost reaching 400c/kg.
The Tocumwal-based producer said while prices were sitting around where he had anticipated they would, he was still satisfied with the returns made on his cattle.
“They’re going out to people to grow out on paddocks,” Mr Barker said.
“They were just ready, and our feed was also ready. The winter has been dryer than usual, but they were finished on lucerne and they’ve had plenty of feed.”
Today was the first time Mr Barker has sold his stock through the Leongatha yards, having traditionally sold through the VLE’s Pakenham yards in the past.
He said he was impressed with the breadth of the sale yards and the capacity to hold high numbers of stock.
“It’s paid off, I’m glad we sold here. It’s a smart facility.”
Prices impress at Yea store cattle sale
Prices hit 500c/kg at Yea’s store market in a vote of confidence by producers. See our analysis of the sale.
Light calves make more than expected at Wodonga
Two major lines of heifers helped carve-out a stronger cents-a-kilogram price average for light calves at Wodonga’s store cattle sale today. See the details.