Yea cattle sale: Small crowd and low prices

Cattle buying confidence completely dried up at one of the final store sales before next week’s big calf sales. See the full report here.

Store cattle prices have taken a further price hit at Yea today as feed pressure becomes another negative for the embattled market.

Prices were quoted as $50 to $100 lower than a month ago at Yea, and people who had been to more recent store sales such as Ballarat, Pakenham and Euroa said it had performed worse than those markets.

“You couldn’t put in the paper what I would like to say about this sale,’’ Mansfield agent Jamie Beckingsale, Nutrien, said.

“It has probably lost another $50 to $100 a head on a month ago, bearing in mind though that the cattle have lost a bit too and are starting to show signs of the season.’’

The yarding comprised 1500 steers and heifers with just a few pens of cows and calves, and while it wasn’t a feature event it still had some handy lines of cattle alongside a plainer mix of small pen lots.

Agents and local vendors became nervous when the laneways were still empty 10 minutes before the Yea sale was due to start. Pictured are the few people who turned up for the opening pens of cows and calves, which reached $2450. The crowd increased for the main steer run, but the majority were watchers rather than buyers and stood back from the action. Commission buyers dominated.

Just one pen of grown steers managed to break the $2000 mark, with vendor Zambezi Moon selling 16 black baldies that weighed 582kg for $2100, or 360c/kg liveweight.

The sale had opened on a pen of 20 heavier Herefords at 590kg which made $1900 or 322c/kg.

The older steers aged above 16 months struggled the most in the market, missing feedlot inquiry and only receiving subdued support from restockers.

The low point in the opening laneway was $1390 or 308c/kg for eight Charolais steers, a disappointing outcome for Hugh Homewood, Kalima Estate.

“It’s rock bottom isn’t it – I didn’t expect this market to drop as much as it has,’’ Mr Homewood said.

The cents-per-kilogram cost for steers in the opening laneway was 308c to a top of 410c/kg for Angus steers aged about 16 months and weighing 417kg. Most sales were from 320c to 380c/kg.

The sale did hold up better on younger yearling and weaner steers, with agents attributing this to buyers having more time and re-sale options with stock under 14 months compared to the heavier and older steers, which could possibly only go on to bullocks.

Some notable sales included A and M Stone’s pen of 19 March-April drop Angus steer weaners which weighed 356kg and sold for $1570 or 441c/kg; and Weemalah Pastoral’s 367kg weaners at $1590 or 433c/kg.

The results had some people scratching their heads, as for an extra $100 buyers could have bought much bigger and heavier 16-month-old cattle.

The head scratching went on as some very young and light calves were sold, with Larkefield Pastoral receiving $1200 for 51 Angus that averaged about 250kg, working out at 480c/kg.

Some onlookers suggested small calves would require a lot less feed to get through to the autumn break, and feed – or the lack of it – was the big talking point at Yea.

“Plenty of places have become tight for feed, and if you had said that would have happened after all the rain in the spring no-one would have believed you,’’ local selling agent Chris Pollard, Nutrien Yea, said.

Exaggerating the feed shortage locally was the prolonged flooding of river-flat country in the Yea region, which destroyed pastures.

Mr Pollard said some properties were down 50-70 per cent of their grazing area, which was usually used at this time of year after the hill country had dried out.

Tom Oliver, Homewood, with some of the family’s 36 grown Angus and black baldy steers, which were caught up in the cheaper trend for heavier and older cattle at Yea today. Their best price was $1760 for 484kg, representing 363c/kg.

Local farmers the Oliver family from Homewood sold 36 Angus and black baldy steers they had bought during the price drop caused by foot-and-mouth disease fears last year and sold them due in part to the tightening season.

Grown out to 16 months and weighing 417kg to 484kg, they made from $1710 to $1760 – just enough for them to get back the original money invested.

“We are running out of feed and the cattle job is tough and we didn’t see much point pouring feed into them,’’ Tom Oliver said.

Mr Beckinsale described the sale as feeling the “classic pinch’’ of a general lack of confidence and feed, with more farmers wanting to sell store cattle compared to those wanting to buy.

Restricted local support allowed commission buyers to dominate the sale, the volume buyers being Scott Homann, Campbell Ross and Duncan Brown. Agents from Kilmore, Euroa and South Gippsland did purchase some cattle.

In the heifer run, Zambezi Moon received the top price of $1680 for grown Angus at 520kg, representing 323c/kg liveweight. There were a lot of joinable-size Angus heifers that sold from $1400 to $1600, or 320c/kg to 360c/kg liveweight.

Duncan Brown said, in his opinion, the heifer run sold better than the steers.

“It was the steer run which looked very buyable today,’’ he said.