Tens of thousands of cattle hit market

Tens of thousands of store cattle are being pushed into markets across southeast Australia as producers exhaust their options. And fears over a drastic price drop are mounting.

Tens of thousands of store cattle are being pushed into markets across southeast Australia as producers exhaust their options following a failed autumn.

Northern NSW and Queensland is keeping prices afloat for now – but fears are mounting of a dramatic drop when those buyers step back.

Trucks are hauling cattle hundreds of kilometres as local demand dries up, causing delays and logistical headaches.

Saleyards are being inundated. Wagga Wagga in southern NSW has yarded more than 8000 head at its weekly prime cattle market two weeks running, plus a big store sale last week – pushing total throughput close to 20,000 head in just eight days.

Wagga Wagga Livestock Marketing Centre general manager Paul Martin was relieved Monday’s yarding came in at 8600 head – down from the 10,220 forecast.

The Wagga Wagga cattle sale draw on Monday. Initially there were concerns more than 10,000 cattle could go under the hammer. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

Mr Martin said the centre had experienced big yardings before in dry times but current numbers were unprecedented.

“We don’t know how long it will continue for, it just depends how many (cattle) are still out there,” Mr Martin said.

He said the flow resemabled a “sawtooth graph” – surging one week, dropping the next – and predicted numbers would settle when conditions improved.

“We have been able to keep the logistics working well and last week we put about 1000 to 1500 (cattle) out into the paddocks to create some space,” he said.

Watching the action at the Wodonga store cattle sale last week where the offering of 6000 cattle mainly sold to northern buyers.

Last week alone, about 21,000 cattle flooded store markets across Victoria, the Riverina and southeast South Australia, with another 20,000 head booked for upcoming sales this week at Mortlake, Ballarat, Leongatha, Yea and Wangaratta.

Ballarat, which is tipped to yard as many as 10,000 cattle, has added an extra store sale this month to manage the surge in supply.

Online numbers are also climbing. Nearly 30 per cent of light steers offered on AuctionsPlus last week – those weighing 280kg or less – originated from Victoria.

Nutrien’s southern Australian livestock operations manager, Ron Rutledge, said the volume of cattle moving through the system is so high that some are being diverted to prime markets, which are typically reserved for finished stock ready for slaughter.

“Of the big yardings at Wagga, 90 per cent would be in store condition,” Mr Rutledge said.

He added that logistics issues of yarding, selling and then trucking stock vast distances in such big numbers was causing delays.

“We had 4200 cattle in Yea last Friday and of those, 153 stayed in Victoria,” Mr Rutledge said.

“Prices will flip and flop but there will be a point when the northerners stop buying and then what happens.

“This drought is putting pressure on yard staff and truck drivers as well as producers who have no option but to sell given there’s been two failed years in a row in many areas.”

Shanahan’s Transport is one of southern Australia’s biggest livestock carriers and owner Dom Shanahan said business had “kicked up a gear” in the past month.

“We are busy all the time but we are extra busy now,” Mr Shanahan said.

“It’s due to the big sales but also because we are usually doing many trips which are around 300km and now most of them are 800-900km heading up north to northern NSW and Queensland.

“You would have to go back to 1982-83 to think about a similar situation – we are lining up for two years in a row going back to back with not enough rain.”

Mr Shanahan, whose business is based at Barnawartha and Toowoomba, Queensland, said a large number of his fellow carriers were telling him they had never been so busy.

“It (cattle movement) has gone to another level and for us, we are carting store cattle north and bringing prime cattle south to be killed,” he said.
Wodonga’s store market last Thursday saw an unusually large yarding for this time of year, with vendors like Peter Kirkbride from Baddaginnie selling heifers to reduce herd numbers.

Mr Kirkbride said he would typically retain his young Angus breeders, noting that older sisters from previous years were still part of the herd.

“We’ve had no rain since early March, and want to keep the hay we do have for other cattle,” Mr Kirkbride said.

Bruce Klimpsch and his son David Klimpsch farm at Braeside near Mangoplah in southern NSW. They weren't selling at the cattle sale on Monday but took the opportunity to assess the market and were concerned about the dry conditions. Picture: Nikki Reynolds

David Klimpsch from Mangoplah was at Wagga Wagga early this week to assess prices.

Rather than selling, he adopted a wait-and-see approach, as his property still had adequate water available.

“Water is not an issue for us but winter feed will be if this dry continues,” he said.