Wodonga cattle prices fall from recent highs amid mixed quality yarding

Store cattle prices have dropped 40c/kg at Wodonga in a mixed quality yarding, but there was still some “exceptional” prices.

Selling cattle at the Wodonga store sale

The store cattle market went back a step at Wodonga today, price rates not matching recent exceptional levels.

Over 3000 cattle were yarded and quality was very mixed in regards to breed quality, which agents said fed into the softer trend with fewer steers selling above 600c/kg liveweight.

On paper there was a 40c/kg price drop on the younger steers weighing 200-280kg which sold to 655c/kg and averaged 556c/kg, compared to a top of 709c/kg and an average of 624c/kg for similar weighted calves a fortnight ago at Wodonga.

But auctioneers like Leigh McEvoy of Corcoran Parker said there wasn’t the depth of quality in the yarding to hold the higher rates recorded recently at markets like Wangaratta.

“If you look into the yarding the really well-bred calves have made similar money, but the plainer runs have taken the top off it,” he said.

Without the drawcard of a lot of feature lines, the sale didn’t have the crowd or buying power of the likes of Wangaratta a week ago. There was still the regular support from the JBS feedlot, commission buyer Andrew Lowe, and some southern support from the Warrnambool and Hamilton regions of the Western District where feed is reportedly booming. The rest of the buying was from local agents who picked through the sale.

In dollars-a-head a single heavy steer topped at $2400, a limited run of cows and calves sold to $3130, with the majority of steers sized between 250-450kg from $1500 to $2160.

Among the feature runs was about 200 Angus steers from Kimball Pastoral at Tumut, NSW. The lead draft of 93 steers weighing 323kg, sold for $1900 or 588c/kg to a Western District buyer. This was followed by 30, 272kg for $1590 and 30 weighing 263kg at $1560 to be tracking around 584c/kg.

Jake Smith of Smith & Co Livestock at the Wodonga cattle sale.

Smith and Co Livestock agent Jake Smith, who was representing the Kimball cattle, said it was still an excellent result even though the market had been quoted as softer. The calves would normally have been sent direct to feedlots, the tough conditions in the region earlier in the year forcing the move to marketing them as stores.

“But the cents-a-kilogram on these cattle at nearly 600c/kg is phenomenal when you consider what feedlots have been offering in the past few months,” he said.

One of the strongest results on the day was the Taslo Angus weaners, with 18 steers at 304kg making $1890 or 621c/kg and the next line of 23 at 268kg making $1680 or 626c/kg.

Later in the sale some lightweight calves under 200kg reached 733c/kg.

But as a rule most steers in the auction were between 500c/kg to 580c/kg.

The heifer sale also opened up softer, with the lead pens of Angus selling from 430c/kg to 480c/kg.