Livestock breeders and traders have surged into a grass-driven buying frenzy as the end of the first month of spring sales draws to close.
With early September sheep sales at Hillston, Hay, Temora, and Narrandera in New South Wales all completed, store sheep markets held at Swan Hill and Wycheproof on Friday – a public holiday for most – set a cracking pace, with records broken along the way.
Not to be outdone the demand for finishing cattle has also surged further into uncharted waters.
There was living proof at Hamilton on Thursday when a yarding predominantly spring 15-drop steers - offering weights mainly from 300- 450kg - returned an average price of 425c/kg liveweight while selling to a best of 458c/kg on the day.
During this spirited attack lot feeders mostly stood aside in awe while their assault on heifers saw topped at 412c/kg and averaged 390c/kg to leave some would-be buyers empty-handed and other bewildered and clueless in what chase next as the rain continues fall.
And yet for the traders and breeders who have remained in game, and managed to keep their numbers up during the previous 12 months of dry weather, the rewards are now free-flow as the long term commodity outlook for beef, cattle, lamb, mutton and wool all look amazingly strong and bright.
Reflecting on the Wycheproof sheep sale and the attending huge crowd were left numbed when the opening yard of BLM-cross ewes, rising 2.5 year-old, with almost 160 percent of marked lambs at foot sailed fluidly at breathtaking $456 a head after a $320 a head starting bid.
The question frequently asked on the day was were these over-priced. Breaking the sale down into unit values and the 160pc of lambs at foot times $80 per head times equates to $128. While the value of a young two year-old ewe at $260-$280 for a total sum of $408 then perhaps, maybe yes is the answer to the initial question.
But when it is considered that a younger 1.5 year-old ewe, at $280- $300, may stand in the paddock for 12 months before providing a return on investment then maybe the answer becomes no.
Or perhaps then is a price of $280-$300 for maiden young ewes affordable. That again is subjective but when the industry rule of thumb in applied that the combined tally of a culled ewe and her lamb should carry the purchase cost of her replacement then again the envelope is perhaps being pushed to the limit.
The same can be said for cattle and in particular the buying of steers. Many may view the obligation of paying $1500-$1600 a head for 330-380kg of live steer as a huge ask but if one is selling, or on the verge of selling steers already in the paddock that are returning per head values of $2200-$2400 a head then the margins have never been better.
