‘Very active’ interstate bidders at Yea’s monthly store cattle sale

Feedlot buyers drove demand at Yea store cattle sale on Friday, snapping up heavy pens for South Australia and northern NSW.

Rachel Simmonds

@chel_simmonds

less than 2 min read

June 6, 2025 - 5:55PM

The Weekly Times

Winter chill moves into the southeast as polar blast to drop temperatures even further

Interstate competition was strong at Yea store cattle sale on Friday, with buyers targeting the heavier end of a larger yarding of spring and autumn-drop calves.

A total of 3407 cattle were yarded, averaging $1097 per head. Steers received a top weight of 534kg and a top price of $2380. Heifers topped $1900 at 520kg, while cow-and-calf outfits sold to a high of $1875. The overall weight average across the yarding was 289kg.

Nutrien Yea branch manager Tyson Bush. Picture: Rachel Simmonds

Nutrien Yea branch manager Tyson Bush said feedlot interest was “very active”, particularly on cattle weighing 400-550kg, with many pens heading to South Australia and northern NSW.

“The 250-350kg black steers did get up to 500c/kg for the lighter cattle, and similar to the feeders they had 470-480c/kg,” he said.

“What we’re seeing in the market were a lot of spring-drop calves. They were September/October/November drop and we’re seeing autumn-drop calves making 200-350c/kg.”

Mr Bush said the yarding included a large number of spring-drop calves, predominantly born in September, October and November, as well as autumn-drops, with prices ranging from 200c to 350c/kg.

“I thought our numbers might’ve eased a bit now but they haven’t yet, people are still trying to hold on to what they can, it’s just gotten harder and colder and people then dive into the next level of what they want to get rid of,” he said.

“Hay is very scarce and very costly, so people are resilient but can only do what they can only do. Then they go into another phase of selling what they can offload to feed what they can.”

Incoming rain failed to lift market confidence, with weekend forecasts downgraded from 25mm to just 10mm.

“We need a proper old-fashioned wet winter where springs are running again, creeks are running again, water in dams and water in tanks,” Mr Bush said.