Steers reach $2270 at Wodonga sale
Low cattle numbers and promising rain forecasts have kept store cattle prices steady at Wodonga, with steers selling to $2270 despite just 790 yarded.
Slim pickings and more rain to keep hopes of a spring season going kept the fire under store cattle prices at Wodonga today.
Just 790 mixed and wintery cattle were yarded but despite this there was still a reasonable roll-up of buyers including representatives from three meat companies looking for suitable feeder steers and heifers.
Steers sold to $2270 and heifers to $1730, and while prices didn’t break out of recent ranges there was plenty of competition on the better-bred lines of cattle.
On a cents-a-kilogram basis young steers sold to 632c/kg and averaged about 550c/kg liveweight, while the better quality heifers sold to 473c/kg in a market that was pulled back to an average of about 425c/kg for smaller heifers due to plainer types in small pen lots.
The talking points of the market were the low numbers and if this week’s rainfall was good enough to cement the spring feed outlook.
Auctioneer Scott Campbell of Peter Ruaro Livestock and Property Rodwells, said the big sell-off of cattle early in the season was impacting what buyers had in front of them now.
“It’s still winter and a lot of young cattle which would normally have been coming out now have already been sold so numbers are fairly sparse,” Mr Campbell said.
“There was still good competition on the better quality cattle and I don’t think anyone could be disappointed in the prices for what was here today.”
Feedlots continued to start the sale off strongly, with JBS buying all the suitable heavier black steers, paying from $2000 to a top of $2270 for 14 Angus which weighed 431kg, returning 526c/kg.
There was one feature line of Angus calves from the Lowry family of Glenmore at Wymah, in NSW, who sold their annual draft of 180 Angus calves aged nine to 11 months.
The lead pen of 24 steers weighing 314kg made $1900 or 605c/kg, with the next pen of 21 at 277kg selling for $1610 or 588c/kg, followed by 18 at 231kg for $1380 at close to 600c/kg again.
Stepping into the market was Chiltern farmer Russell Martin who secured the top pen of the Lowry steers at $1900. He had watched the store market skip ahead in recent weeks, and said he still felt the price pressure at Wodonga.
“These steers are about $100 per head more than I wanted to pay, but I’ve had a bit more rain and I’ve been looking (for replacements steers) for the past five weeks and every week it seems to get a lot dearer,” he said.
“We definitely need more rain; we are on granite country and it needs more rain than average.”
Opinions on the season remain divided after what many in the crowd described as “patchy” falls across Victoria and southern NSW in the past week.
Livestock agent Adam Roberts from Peter Ruaro Rodwells, who was representing the Lowry calves, said September was shaping up as more crucial than ever in regards to rainfall and temperatures.
“It is all on a bit of a balance point at the moment, and if we don’t get more decent rainfall the spring could be over before it really gets going,” he said.
“But at the moment there is still a lot of positivity around for cattle – these Lowry calves have sold really well.”
The yarding was dominated by light calves and the price range for a run of mixed breed steers in the 200-280kg range was $600 to $1610 to average $1320 at a cost of 548c/kg, the best out to a high of 613c/kg, according to data from NVLX.
There was also a lack of weight and condition in the heifer run, and by volume it was light calves in the 200-280kg range which also dominated. The 200 heifers in this weight bracket sold from $610 to $1210 to average $1012 at a cost of 421c/kg.
The wide price spread illustrates just how mixed the yarding was for breed type and condition.
The feature line of young Angus heifers from the Lowry family sold to $1420 for 24 weighing 300kg (473c/kg); followed by 38 heifers at 259kg for $1210 (467c/kg); 16 at 235kg for $920 (391c/kg); and 17 at 219kg for $890 (406c/kg).
Most of the cattle stayed in the local area.
