Surprisingly large cattle yarding at Leongatha store sale fetches strong prices
More than 4500 cattle yarded at Leongatha’s latest store sale have sold to strong demand. And one factor continues to drive hungry buyers.
The strong cattle market of recent months drew 1500 extra cattle out of Gippsland for Leongatha’s store sale on Friday of last week.
In what was a surprisingly large yarding for the centre, 4500 cattle were yarded, with more cows and calves yarded than initially expected.
Almost the entire opening run of Angus steers sold directly to feedlot buyers, who dominated the steer portion of the sale.
Throughout the yarding, larger steers weighing from 500kg to 600kg and beyond fetched strong prices, reflective of the quality of the cattle which drew many comments along the rails.
Not only did the larger yarding take both livestock agents and vendors by surprise, but the recording of a number of record-high prices was also a surprise.
A number of pens of steers topped the market at $3000 a head, a record for the selling centre.
Steers sitting in the 300-350kg range frequently made between 530c/kg up to 575c/kg.
The lighter cattle also sold well, with steers weighing between 200kg to just shy of 300kg making returns across the 500c/kg range.
One pen of 23 Angus steers weighing in at 296kg made vendors J and P Fleming $1780, or 601c/kg.
Larger steers weighing from 530kg to 590kg made solid returns in the 430c/kg to 480c/kg range.
The heifer portion of the sale also recorded strong results, although there was a gap between what buyers paid for female stock compared to the steers.
One pen of 16 Angus heifers from vendors R and C Donat weighing just 230kg made 565c/kg.
Hefiers ranging from 270kg to as high as 390kg made returns from 477c/kg to 529c/kg across the sale.
Nutrien Leongatha livestock agent Jack Ginnane said it was a good day for Gippsland producers, who continue to be able to sell their cattle into a strong market.
“It was certainly very strong today, with a lot of feedlot competition,” Mr Ginnane said.
“I don’t think any cattle in the first run of the steers went back to the paddock at all. It was very heavy conditions.
“There were a couple of record prices too. We got about $3000 for some steers at the store sale, which I don’t think has ever happened,” Mr Ginnane said.
“It was record numbers and record prices. It was huge.”
Mr Ginnane said it was mainly feedlot buying driving the market on the day.
“The restockers are trying to get in on the smaller cattle … and it’s been in the high 600c/kg and high 500c/kg range all day.”
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