Landmark Casterton steer weaner sale
Yarding: 2132
INTERSTATE support boosted the Landmark Casterton’s steer weaner sale on Tuesday.
Bigger drafts of heavier Angus cattle set the positive tone for the sale.
A pen of 32 Tora Downs’ Angus calves, Boonaroo blood, had the heaviest average weight at 431kg. Ray White Keatley, Mount Gambier, South Australia, secured them for 362 cents a kilogram liveweight, which equated to the highest price per head at $1560.
Faroe Partnership, The Gums, Muntham, had the first pen of the sale. Their 58 Boonaroo bld calves, 397kg, were knocked down to Landmark Leongatha for 374c/kg.
Landmark Leongatha, represented by Terry Ginnane, bought the most cattle of any buyer to fill four trucks.
The Gums farm manager Mick Kearns said it was a “phenomenal sale”. Their draft also included 48 at 357kg that made 403c/kg; 33 at 326kg that made 413c/kg and five at 274kg that made 434c/kg. He said the last pen made $1189/head, which was more than their tops sold for last year.
Kelvin and Julie Bateman were also thrilled by the prices their Baroona calves made. The top 64 of the Pathfinder bld weighed 392kg and sold for 370c/kg to Thomas Foods International, which kept them in the EU accredited system.
The other calves to weigh more than 400kg sold for 360-375c/kg. Angus calves, 380-400kg, mostly sold for 370-375c/kg. Those weighing 350-380kg mostly made 370-380c/kg.
Most of the Angus calves in the 320-350kg weight range sold for more than 390c/kg, with about one-third of them selling for $4/kg or more.
Prices per kg continued to rise as the sale progressed, with most 280-320kg cattle, include Angus and Hereford calves, making 400-420c/kg.
In the handful of lighter calves, Meteranvale’s pen of 15 Angus steers, Boonaroo bld, 261kg, sold to a local account Mattlock, for the top per kg price of 444c/kg.
A further testament to the quality of Meteranvale’s draft, their top pen of 23 at 349kg sold for 401c/kg to Miller Whan & John (MWJ), Mt Gambier.
Mattlock also purchased the second highest price for weight pen – Wyandra’s 21 Angus steers, 249kg, for 441c/kg.
In the Herefords, Welbanite’s pen of 34 Banemore and Bowmont bld calves, 374kg, sold to Andrew Lowe, Landmark. This equated to the highest price per head for the breed at $1395. Mr Lowe was strong on the EU accredited Herefords.
Landmark Casterton’s Greg Bright said they’d encouraged more of their clients’ Hereford cattle to be EU eligible. He said by giving people more marketing options, there was a 10c/kg premium.
The final pen of the day was lighter Herefords, including eight from Jack Rees’ Retreat property, and three from Ivan Wombwell’s Hazelbank property, both near Casterton. These averaged 263kg and sold for the highest price for weight for the breed at 430c/kg.
Mr Bright said the sale was stronger than his team had expected.
He said it was terrific to welcome back volume buyers including Mark Barton (Landmark’s national livestock manager) and Andrew Lowe. He said through these buyers and others, many of the cattle would head north. He said there was also strong support from South East South Australia, including agencies MWJ and Pinkerton Palm Hamlyn & Steen, Naracoorte.
Michael Grant, Greaves Marketing Services, Tasmania, bought a B-double load at this sale, after doing the same at Colac on Monday. He was buying for his Tasmanian clients who had good feed.
JBS was also very active.
“It’s huge; nothing made less than $1000 and we’ve never had a sale like it before,” Mr Bright said.