Tens of thousands of cattle hit market as producers bite bullet

Cattle numbers rivalling the annual weaner sell off are hitting markets across southeastern Australia and more are booked next week. We break down the numbers.

Tens of thousands of store cattle are being pushed in markets across southeastern Australia as producers bite the bullet after a failed autumn.

And yards are so full that sales are going for hours, with Wagga Wagga’s prime market taking about 12 hours on Monday, and Wodonga’s store sale seven hours on Thursday, with so many on offer that delivery and arrival yards were used to sell stock.

This week alone, about 21,000 cattle have flooded store markets across Victoria, the Riverina and southeast South Australia, with Wodonga offering about 6000 cattle on Thursday after selling 4000 the week before.

Another 15,500 are booked in to be sold next week at just three sales: Mortlake, Ballarat and Yea.

And numbers are also swelling the prime markets with big lines already booked into the Wagga Wagga prime sale this coming Monday, on the back of 8700 prime cattle sold this week and 3600 store cattle on Friday.

In its report on Monday’s sale, the National Livestock Reporting Service described the numbers as “unprecedented”, which surprised agents.

“The surge in numbers is primarily attributed to ongoing water issues and a lack of feed, which have forced many farmers to sell, with some farmers having no choice but to commence liquidating their cow herds,” the report said.

“Agents in the Wagga region expect this trend to continue as conditions remain dire.”

Wodonga’s store market on Thursday had an unseasonally high yarding, with vendors such as Peter Kirkbride from Baddaginnie selling off heifers to ease numbers.

Mr Kirkbride said he would normally have kept his future Angus breeders, with older sisters from previous years still in 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.

The sell off is starting to hurt prime prices, with all major indicators for Victoria down at the end of the week.

The biggest loss was for restocker heifers, which dropped 42c/kg liveweight, while processor cows were down 31c/kg for the week.

The benchmark Eastern Young Cattle Indicator shed 27c/kg carcass weight this week to close on Friday at 688c/kg, still higher than last year but back from its peak in late April of 725c/kg.