THERE are good weeks in the livestock marketing industry, then there are really good weeks - and I reckon this week falls into the latter category.
To be perfectly accurate, the fun started last week.
I do not quite know what the catalyst was but cattle prices seemed to take off - rainfall throughout pastoral areas of SA, NSW and Qld certainly contributed - however it seems more likely that processors have come to the sudden conclusion that the number of good quality cattle available for slaughter have evaporated at an alarming rate.
I am far too modest to remind anyone that last week's back page predicted a rosy future for cattle producers, but I never for a moment thought when I wrote that illuminating text Tuesday evening last week that 12 hours later at the Mount Gambier sale I would see my predictions come true in a fashion that surprised nearly everybody.
It is not every day that you go to a cattle sale and witness price rises of up to 20 cents a kilogram across most categories of trade cattle.
South East producers who specialise in rearing and finishing bullocks had smiles that I have not seen for a long time.
Young Angus bullocks made about $2.10/kg and one company in particular seemed to have an unquenchable thirst for black cattle.
This desire for blacks extended to yearlings, and heifer prices in particular lifted sharply under the onslaught.
Of course, this demand causes a snowballing affect throughout all of the quality cattle offered, buyers develop a sense of urgency to accrue numbers and bid accordingly, pushing prices ever upward.
Then, lo and behold, Monday rolled around and the Dublin cattle sale offered up the best quality yarding seen at that centre for months.
It was a typical autumn-winter yarding at Dublin, there was a good selection of mixed weight, grain finished yearlings and buyers were keen to secure them.
The aforementioned company that set the pace at Mount Gambier were again at the forefront of the bidding, however the significant small butcher contingent were not to be outdone as they picked their way through the yarding.
The small butcher brigade at Dublin are not significant in the number of cattle they buy, but they sure are voracious bidders when they select a target animal to buy.
It was quite humorous on Monday when an auctioneer would offer a pen of cattle containing mixed brands and a certain prospective buyer would offer a price for the whole pen, on a lot of pens any of the small butchers would trump the offer with a better offer for a pick of the pen and the battle would commence.
These little melodramas would play out with mixed results, sometimes the big player would win the duel and then being the smart operator decided the rules were that the highest bidder could have a pick, he would then proceed to attempt to pick the beast that his opponent would have picked so when the balance of the pen was sold he would have eliminated the competition.
Good in theory, however not always successful.
Anyway, this partially explains a spike in prices from 15c/kg to 30c/kg, but it does not explain yearling steers at $2.24/kg or one sale of a steer that weighed in at 575kg that sold at $2.23/kg.
* Full report in Stock Journal, April 10, 2014 issue.
