Leongatha store sale: Top prices for cattle

Gippsland farmers made “unbelievable” prices at the store sale, with The Ridge Pastoral selling about 300 cattle.

Large runs of cattle from notable breeders Conisbee and Co and The Ridge Pastoral sold to eager buyers at Leongatha. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Large volumes of high-quality cattle sold to “unbelievable” prices at Leongatha today.

Buyers flocked to the yards to secure their piece of the 5000 head strong yarding of steers and heifers which soared.

Nutrien Ag Solutions Livestock Auctioneer Brian McCormack said he witnessed “unbelievable prices” at the sale today.

“Some cattle would be $100 dearer and right across the board too,” Mr McCormack said.

“The bigger steers and feedlot cattle drove on the smaller cattle and onto the heifers.”

Heavier steers 550kg and above returned between 450c/kg to 530c/kg while those from 400-520kg made in the high 500c/kg range and well in 600c/kg.

Yearling steers at 300-360kg were making 700c/kg and better, especially the lighter end Mr McCormack said.

Vendors Conisbee and Co had a large run of EU accredited cattle which sold to a top of $2600 or 697c/kg for 18 Angus at 373kg.

The Ridge Pastoral also had a large line of around 300 cattle which made to a top of $2580 or 653c/kg for 17 black baldy steers at 395kg.

Most of the better heifers at 330-450kg made in the high 500c/kg range and into 600c/kg.

Mr McCormack accredited the price jump to the volume and quality of the offering which he said “wasn’t there a fortnight ago” at their last sale.

“That’s what we’re seeing today, you get a good quality yarding like this and everything steps back up again,” he said.

While the conditions in south Gippsland has been very wet, with many paddocked that would normally be thriving at this time of year substantially bogged down, Mr McCormack said it hasn’t deterred restockers.

“Yes, it is still quite wet in places but people are getting to the stage now where they need cattle,” he said.

“You look at Ballarat and Bairnsdale and places like that and they haven’t got a lot of cattle so where a big yarding comes up people want to buy.”