Prices dearer at Euroa: December 6, 2023

Buyers needed to dig a little bit deeper today to secure weaners at the annual Black Friday Euroa Angus cattle sale, as northern buyers also came to play.

Buyers needed $1000-plus to be competitive on the main lines of weaner steers at Euroa today as northern buyers came down to play against local restockers for the feature Angus yarding.

Bidding consistently trended above 300c/kg liveweight, auctioneers said, with orders from NSW and Queensland helping put momentum into the market.

Grown steers sold to $1610 for 555kg, while heavy autumn-drop Angus weaners reached $1320.

The annual Black Friday sale series held at Euroa each December is one of the early price and demand indicators for the summer weaner sales which sweep across Victoria, and the news today was positive.

The weight of calves held up better than anticipated with the majority in excess of 300kg, and the price surge of the past few weeks meant vendors were selling at price points $200 to $300 better than was on the table just last month.

“Everyone has had a week or two to let these dearer rates soak-in, but the mood was still very happy,” Elders auctioneer Joe Allan said.

“To be getting $300 more than what was in the market a month ago – no-one is complaining at such a turn-around but the last five or six months (of very low prices) is still pretty raw.”

Elders agents selling at the Euroa cattle sale, December 7.

The sale opened on a laneway of older steers, most vendor bred and ticking the boxes for feedlot orders, before agents moved into the feature offering of March-April drop weaner steers from the local North East area.

The following averages were recorded by AgriNous which is the company which handles all the sale transactions:

83 GROWN steers, 500-600kg, sold to $1610 and averaged $1523 at 286c/kg.

465 GROWN steers, 400-500kg, sold to $1490 and averaged $1337 or 307c/kg.

1067 WEANER steers, 330-400kg, sold to $1320 and averaged $1186 or 328c/kg.

780 WEANER steers, 280-330kg, sold to $1170 and averaged $1052 or 342c/kg.

251 WEANER steers, 200-280kg, sold to $990 and averaged $882 or 346c/kg.

The highest cents-a-kilogram rate was 452c/kg for some lightweight calves.

Commission buyers were active and while sale details are still being finalised, agents said they believed cattle were going as far north as Queensland and parts of northern NSW.

There was also a strong local focus, particularly from repeat buyers familiar with some of the name drafts of calves which are held specifically for this store event each year.

Mr Allan said local buyers appeared to have been spurred into action by the step-up in buying from the north and the shot of confidence this had given the industry.

“The market change locally is not moisture related (because it was never really dry) but more confidence related,” he said.

“A lot of locals which had been watching the market and speculating in the past two months have now started buying and paying $200 to $300 more for what they could have purchased cattle for, and that is a confidence thing.”