Weaner sales 2024: Everything you need to know
Read our week 1 weaner sales results and recaps from Wodonga, Wangaratta and Yea.
Day four at Wodonga has seen the best prices for whiteface cattle hover above 300c/kg while at Yea heavy Angus steer calves sold for 330c/kg.
Our experts bring you the buyers, sellers, market trends and top prices. Scroll to see reports from across the week.
January 5: Yea
Heavy Angus steer calves trended at 330c/kg liveweight at Yea on Friday in a market where buyers were steady but controlled with their money.
The feature yarding of 2764 weaners, sold by Nutrien, averaged $1030 for steers and $735 for heifers, according to data from OutCross which manages transactions for the selling centre.
The sale was deemed on par with the strongest black sales recorded at Wangaratta and Wodonga earlier in the week, although there was some subtle changes to how buying played out.
The heaviest Angus steers at Yea received the strongest support, with the opening laneway of calves which weighed from 330kg to a top of 418kg selling to $1320 and averaging 330c/kg liveweight, based on figures analysed by The Weekly Times.
The top price of $1320 was achieved by the Broderick family for 22 Angus steers which had been weaned and weighed 418kg, working out to 315c/kg liveweight. They sold to a local Mansfield buyer, and demand at this sale was underpinned by local North East and Gippsland bullock orders rather than northern feedlot demand. That said, commission buyers Andrew Lowe, Duncan Brown and Campbell Ross did attend and purchase cattle.
The middle run of Angus steers went from 310c to 350c/kg liveweight to also average around 330c/kg liveweight, based on figures tallied by The Weekly Times as buyers stayed in a consistent pattern of $950 to $1150 for most of these.
Nutrien auctioneer Tyson Bush said buyers had obviously set limits and held to these.
“Everyone had their own price mark and that was pretty evident from up on the (selling) rail,’’ he said.
“As an example, there was a northern buyer who would go to $970 or so but you couldn’t punch them out much more as they weren’t going to go over $1000 per head.”
Mansfield agent Jamie Beckingsale, of Nutrien, was a volume buyer of Angus steers for bullock clients and said trading figures couldn’t support much more money than was paid at Yea.
“We’ve got a lot of bullocks going out now at $1800 and $1900 so the change-over from spending $1100 to $1300 on replacements is not really enough, being mindful that a lot of people have come off a period of selling finished cattle for less than what they paid for them (12 to 18-months ago),’’ he said.
Mr Bush agreed that price averages for the good Angus steers at Yea were probably as good as could be hoped for in the current environment.
“It was a consistent sale and above expectations by a touch – it certainly wasn’t silly but it could have been a lot tougher,’’ he said.
But the same sentiment didn’t apply to the Hereford and European-cross steers in the Yea yarding – some agents declaring it was the “harshest discounting they had seen in years’’ across the whiteface run.
The Hereford steers tracked at 280c/kg liveweight and less, keeping the majority of sales under $950. A pen of 10 heavy Herefords at 410kg sold for $1050 or 256c/kg liveweight.
Mixed quality and limited numbers were arguably factors which worked against these breeds on the day, with about 85 per cent of the yarding well-bred lines of Angus.
In the heifer section the lead pens of Angus sold from 250c to 290c/kg liveweight to be tracking just over 260c/kg.
But the top heifer price of $1170 for was 20 Speckle Park calves from vendor Jowenba that weighed 382kg and attracted a bidding duel between two breed fanciers which took them over 300c/kg liveweight.
At the other end of the scale there were light Hereford heifers at $440 which on the weight displayed made less than 200c/kg.
The majority of Angus heifers sold between $700 to $950. The best-presented pen of heifers bred by Andrew Fern, Banool at The Highlands, sold for $1030 on a weight of 349kg to a feedlot buyer.
January 5: Wodonga
A lift in quality saw rates lift at day four of the Wodonga weaner sales as rates hovered above 300c/kg liveweight for the best whiteface cattle.
The offering of about 2600 head included several laneways of Herefords, incorporating regular vendors at the January fixture, and buyers upped their competition in line with this.
But it was a pen of Black Simmental-cross steers that scooped the best overall price, with the tops of the steers from the Parker family of Glencoe Pastoral Company at Holbrook in NSW selling for $1225, which at 430kg returned 285c/kg liveweight.
While it was a coup to top the sale, Stephen Parker said prices were still well back.
“I guess you have to be happy that you are getting the top but the rates aren’t great,” Mr Parker said.
Fellow vendor Robert Hiscock, from Pyalong, sold three pens of Herefords from $990 to $1095 at 302c/kg liveweight, and said he had been told anything over $1000 would “be a bonus”. His 70 steers, which weighed 328-363kg, averaged $1035.
“I said a couple of years ago that the market was getting overheated when we got $2300 for our steers, and I was right,” Mr Hiscock said.
Most Hereford steers sold from 290c to 315c/kg liveweight, while Euro-cross steers sold more often in a range from 270c to 290c/kg liveweight at a discount to the whiteface lines. This was in contrast to the Thursday sale, where prices for both types of cattle were level pegging.
The sale was missing a major draft of about 600 Herefords from Tarabah at Morundah, NSW, which were unable to truck their cattle due to 100mm of rain earlier in the week.
Away from whiteface cattle, Shorthorn weaners made to $1070 with a pen form Armac Ag weighing 360kg and returning 297c/kg liveweight.
The best Charolais-Angus steers made $1185 (415kg, 286c/kg) while black baldies sold to $945 (299kg, 316c/kg).
Heifer prices were on par with rates seen earlier this week and settled mostly in a range from 260c to 280c/kg for most lines.
The best heifer weaner price was for a pen of 19 Charolais-Angus, which weighed 419kg, offered by A Turnball, which made $1125 and returned 268c/kg liveweight.
A feature offering was sold by G Prichard Nominees, with their black baldies, 248kg-334kg, making $725-$920 (275-292c/kg liveweight) while its blue roan heifers returned $740-$880 or 278-285c/kg.
The northern sales series at Wodonga finishes up on Saturday with 600 cattle to be offered.
January 4: Wangaratta
Black baldy results were the highlight of the Hereford and coloured sale today at Wangaratta reaching 343c/kg for steers and 317c/kg for heifers.
The offering of 1500 weaner and yearling cattle followed on from Wodonga earlier in the day, and prices were largely in line with what was seen in that morning’s results.
Northern buyers were active with cattle heading to Toowoomba, Queensland and to Tamworth, NSW, while commission buyer Graeme Ward was also believed to be buying for an operation on the Queensland-NSW border.
But as was seen at Wodonga, the sale lacked some of the oompf seen for black cattle in day one and two of the northern weaner series.
There were plenty of sales either side of $1000 across the whole offering of steers with heavier weights making above $1100.
The sale’s top steer weaner price was $1315 paid for the top pen of unweaned steers sold by C Healy, with the pen of 12 weighing 426kg selling at 309c/kg liveweight. A lighter pen, at 363kg, made $1180 or 325c/kg.
Granite Flat Pastoral from Mitta Mitta was also amongst the top prices, with their black baldy steers, with the top pen, which weighed 426kg, making $1295 to return 306c/kg. A lighter pen from the same vendor, again black baldies, made $1075 (335kg, 321c/kg liveweight).
Pens of Hereford steers sold to mixed competition, with the best presented pen of whiteface cattle, the tops from a line bred by Brooklyn Pastoral, making $1120 (358kg, 313c/kg liveweight. The balance of the weaners, which were Glendan Park blood, made 293-299c/kg, or $910-$950.
Hereford weaner prices settled mostly under 300c/kg, in contrast to the black baldy results which were almost all above 300c/kg.
Charolais-Angus steers topped at $1315 for a pen of 452kg calves that were marked as not weaned, for vendor Glen Valley Pastoral.
Euro-cross steers sold 280-300c/kg while a pen of Shorthorns returned 310c/kg (326kg, $1010).
In the heifer market, the best result was for a pen of black baldies, which managed to climb above the 300c/kg mark.
A Myrtleford buyer paid $1190 for a pen of 16 black baldy heifers, unweaned and weighing 375kg, sold by C and T Healy.
Most heifers settle in a range of 240-280c/kg liveweight.
Away from the northern competition, many cattle went locally and a line of Euro-cross steers was put together by a Gippsland agent.
There are two more sales in the northern series at Wodonga – one on Friday and one on Saturday, while Yea will also have a big weaner sale on Friday.
January 4: Wodonga
The weaner bubble burst at Wodonga today with some steers selling at a 60c/kg discount to yesterday — and it was all about breed.
Figures from the National Livestock Reporting Service showed heavy Hereford steers weighing 330-400kg averaged 296c/kg liveweight — down more than 20c/kg from the Angus steers in the same weight category on Wednesday.
But the gap between whiteface cattle and Angus was bigger across the 280-330kg pens, with today’s offering averaging 287c/kg for Herefords compared to 350c/kg liveweight for Angus yesterday.
Results were better for black baldies, with the heavier end weighing 330-400kg averaging 306c/kg liveweight and the lighter black baldies, weighing 280-330kg, averaging 324c/kg.
European-cross cattle also fared better than whiteface cattle for the lighter end, with 280-330kg steers averaging 307c/kg liveweight and heavier steers weighing 330-400kg averaging 296c/kg.
The sale’s top steer weaner price honours did go to the Herefords, however, with $1285 paid for a pen of 23 Herefords, weighing 355kg, which returned 362c/kg liveweight for vendors M and J McNamara. The second pen from the same draft, averaging 302kg, made $900 or 298c/kg liveweight.
The best-presented pen went to David Trethowan from Cookardinia NSW who sold 50 Hereford steers, weighing 382kg, for $1205 to return 315c/kg liveweight. His lighter pen, at an average 328kg, made $900 or 274c/kg.
Mr Trethowan said he had hoped to get 310-320c/kg liveweight for the annual draft. Last year, his steers averaged 494c/kg liveweight.
“You can still make money at this – making $1200 at 300 days old means they earned $4 a day since they were born,” Mr Trethowan said.
Jeff Cooper from JA Cooper Agencies at Corryong was one of the buyers taking home yearling Hereford cattle from Running Creek for about 299c/kg, and said it was possible to make money when buying steers for $1000-$1200.
Trevor Ralston from Euroa sold Hereford weaners for $900-$980, well down on the $1800 he received last year and more than $2200 in 2022.
“This year I’d hoped to get $1100-$1200,” Mr Ralston said.
“When prices were at $2200, they were probably at boiling point, but they should not have come back as far as they have.”
Early heifer prices were judged to be similar to the previous days’ sales.
January 3: Wodonga
Properly weaned cattle earned at least a $100 premium at Wodonga today as buyers opted to secure lines that were weaned.
While there was a lift for all cattle compared to day one of sales, the weaning status of lines of steers was a factor that meant some buyers bid or not.
Given the quality of the offering, and the demand from a mix of buyers including from northern NSW and southern Queensland, the penalty for not weaning was not as great as it could have been.
Several buyers told The Weekly Times their preference was for weaned cattle, as they performed better when they arrived at their destination.
Aside from the weaning issue, prices were judged to be up on yesterday’s big fixture where almost 10,000 cattle were offered at Wangaratta and Wodonga.
The trend for steers showed cents-a-kilogram rates jumped as weights fell, with a 50c/kg difference in the average for 330-400kg steers compared to 200-280kg steers.
But the same trend was not seen for heifers, with averages across all weights sitting at 260-270c/kg liveweight.
The offering today of 3300 cattle topped at $1310 for the top pen of Angus weaners, a line of 22 that were not weaned weighing 427kg sold by A Wallace, which returned 307c/kg liveweight.
It was one of two pens of weaner steers that made $1300 or more, with the other sold by C Boyd and Sons, with their pen of 20 Angus, 440kg, selling for $1300 or 295c/kg liveweight.
The best presented pen of Angus steer weaners was sold by Spring B Estate, with the tops of their draft, a pen of 25 that were weaned and weighed 393kg, selling for $1290 or 328c/kg liveweight. Their next pen of 30, lighter at 356kg, made $1215 or 341c/kg.
In a breakdown of Angus weaner steer averages from the National Livestock Reporting Service:
330kg-400kg STEERS made 288-344c/kg to average 324c/kg liveweight
280-330kg STEERS made 300-376c/kg to average 350c/kg liveweight; and
200-280kg STEERS made 348-388c/kg to average 375c/kg liveweight.
The best price on a cents-a-kilogram basis was paid for a pen of 19 Angus steers sold by B and K Dedic, with the 250kg Angus weaners making $970 to come back at 388c/kg liveweight.
One of the big lines of steers was offered by OzTrust Grazing Company, with its top pen of Angus weighing 377kg making $1275 (338c/kg) while the second pen of 23, at 382kg, selling for $1130 or 333c/kg liveweight.
The heifer market was judged to be similar to day one results, with the best yearling heifers selling for $1150 for a pen of Angus weighing 404kg sold by Keystone Cattle Company, which returned 285c/kg liveweight. The lighter pen from the same draft, at 358kg, made $980 (274c/kg) and sold to a Tamworth NSW buyer.
Five pens of heifers made $1000 or more, with most making $800-$950.
The NLRS breakdown of Angus heifer weaner values showed:
330-400kg HEIFERS made 238-286c/kg to average 267c/kg liveweight
280-330kg HEIFERS made from 233 to 293c/kg to average 264c/kg liveweight; and
200-280kg HEIFERS made 255-290c/kg to average 270c/kg liveweight.
Sales continue tomorrow at Wodonga and Wangaratta as the action moves on to whiteface and coloured cattle.
January 2: Wangaratta
Northern competition was a feature of the offering of more than 5000 Angus cattle at Wangaratta today as buyers booked load after load to NSW and southern Queensland.
Rates followed from the sale earlier in the day at Wodonga, and many of the drafts of Angus steers were making 310-350c/kg liveweight as buyers operated in a tight price range.
It meant most Angus steers were making more than $1000 and a number of pens also topped $1200 as buyers stepped up to pay more for weight.
At the other end of the scale, lighter steers did sell well too, with those near 300kg liveweight returning 340-350c/kg for select lines.
Results from AuctionsPlus showed the sale grossed $4.4 million and averaged $1031 a head.
Corcoran Parker director Kevin Corcoran said the sale results were solid.
“There was nothing too low or nothing really outstanding and prices really just settled in the same range we saw at Wodonga,” Mr Corcoran said.
Where Wangaratta differed to Wodonga though was in the big lines of cattle on offer, with two vendors offering more than 700 each.
The Manning family’s Davilak Pastoral from Mansfield sold 750 Angus weaned steers, which had an average curfew weight of 325kg.
These topped at $1245 with Jalna Feedlot buying 144 in five pens from the tops of the offering, which weighed 360-376kg and returned 331-346c/kg.
The next run of 186, at 326-333kg, made $1110, with rates here ranging from 333c/kg to 340c/kg.
Rodda Manning said in 2020 their steers had the same average curfew weight overall and returned 313c/kg.
The other big run came from Dennis Heywood from Everton, who sold 780 steers and heifers, all of which were weaned.
He said he was feeling anxious before the sale started, but was happy when the tops of his draft of steers, weighing 417kg, which made $1285 to return 308c/kg. Final averages are yet to be worked out for the big run.
Yet it was another vendor who topped the sale with a pen of 25 Angus, 430kg, making $1375 for vendors M and J Scott, though the steers were 12-14 months. They returned 320c/kg liveweight.
Seaton Park-Deepdale was a repeat vendor with steers at the top end quality wise, and the best of these, a pen of 17 weighing 426kg, making $1370 to return 322c/kg liveweight.
In the heifer offering, prices topped at $1100 for a pen of 422kg Angus, which returned 261c/kg for vendors L and S Heywood.
Heifers mostly made 250-280c/kg with Seaton Park Deepdale again at the top of the rates selling a pen of 218kg Angus breeders for $805 to return 286c/kg.
January 2: Wodonga
Angus steers hit 377c/kg in the first weaner sale of this year at Wodonga, as the annual run of calf sales kicked off on Tuesday with a yarding of 5200.
Results from the steer portion showed about one third of the cattle were heading north and some as far away as southern Queensland.
And while there was the northern competition that all were hoping for, buyers bid in a tight range of 310-350c/kg liveweight to secure most lines.
RMA network chief executive Chris Howie said the cattle market had been trying to find a level before Christmas, and it had done so now.
“Everyone is buying to a limit, and it is pretty solid in the 310-350c/kg price range,” Mr Howie said.
He estimated about 30 per cent of the cattle were heading north, to NSW centres like Tamworth, Narrabri and Bathurst, as well as competition from Gundagai.
Corcoran Parker auctioneer Justin Keane said prices “did not look dear” for the quality of annual drafts being offered at the sale.
“I don’t think we can reasonably expect cattle to be making more, and they are making around about the rates we saw pre-Christmas, though we are not comparing apples with apples when it comes to quality,” Mr Keane said.
The sale’s best price for steers on a cents-a-kilogram basis was for a pen from Michael McCormack and Ruth Hill, from The Cascade Pastoral Company at Tallangatta, with their pen of EU-accredited Angus steers, 308kg, making $1160 or 377c/kg. The second pen, weighing 271kg, made $940 or 347c/kg.
There was a handful of pens that made $1200 or more, including the first pen to be offered from Woolshed Creek Pastoral, with their weaned steers, 392kg, making $1250 returning 319c/kg. The lighter pen, at 321kg, made $1070 or 337c/kg.
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