Tough season: Feature calves steam ahead, while prices fall

Prices for weaners were reasonable at the Ballarat store cattle sale with one vendor saying he was pleased, despite “one of the hardest seasons we’ve ever seen”.

Weaner cattle are making their way through Victorian saleyards with reasonable results, despite “one of the hardest seasons we’ve ever seen”, according to vendors.

But there was some softness in demand for cattle overall.

Elders agent Nick Gray from Ballarat said across the board, cattle were about $150-$200 a head cheaper at the Ballarat store cattle sale on Friday, where 5100 cattle were yarded.

“There were pockets of it that were very, very good, the run of the mill across the board was a good result considering the season, and there was the odd soft spot,” he said.

“Most of the weaner steers sold very, very well, a lot of the heavier weaners made 380-390c/kg to 410-415c/kg, they were the lighter-weight calves.

“All those feature-type lines of calves, they all sold well in the steers.”

Elders reported an average of $2265 or 340c/kg for steers above 600kg, $1835 or 350c/kg for steers between 500-600kg and $1540 or 345c/kg for those at 400-500kg

Steers at 330-400kg averaged $1285 or 355c/kg, while steers 280-330kg averaged $1120 or 370c/kg lighter steers up to 280kg averaged $800 or 370c/kg.

Cherrymount owners Mick and Dawn Ernest offered 300 mixed-sex Angus weaners at Ballarat on Friday. Picture: Supplied

Cherrymount owners Mick and Dawn Ernest from Streatham sold 300 Angus mixed-sex weaners, 10-months-old, Francs blood, at the sale on Friday.

Their steers topped at $1570 or 405c/kg with an average weight of 387kg, and $950 or 276c/kg for heifers with an average weight of 344kg.

Mr Ernest said they were “quite happy” with steer prices, and generally pleased with the outcome of their sale, despite a dry season.

They recorded 289mm of rain to date with most falling in late summer, and normally record 609mm for the year.

“It’s one of the hardest seasons we’ve ever seen here,” he said.

“There’s very little feed, there was no grass, hardly any growth at all. It didn’t rain, and we had frosts.”

Mr Ernest said they always targeted the November sale for their weaner cattle.

“We hope the cattle perform to expectations and work well for the buyers. They’ve got big hearts to do that,” he said.

Nutrien Ballarat livestock manager Xavier Shanahan said the “pressure was on” seasonally, with lighter heifers most affected.

He said feedlotters were noticeably quiet with lots of feedlot cattle in the system now, but buyers were from across Victoria, NSW and SA.

“Gippsland picked up a bit of slack on the heavier steers,” he said.