MOUNT Gambier Combined Agents sold 3164 head at the monthly store cattle sale on Friday, with returns soaring across all classes of cattle.
Prices were 40 cents a kilogram to 90c/kg up on January prices, thanks to very strong competition from restockers, feedlotters and local graziers, with rates consistently breaking through the $4/kg mark.
"Everything from noted annual drafts to the tail-end weaner cattle sold extremely well from the start to the end," Nutrien Ag Solutions Keatley's Dale Keatley said.
"Feedlotters were very active on the top end, graziers were strong on the middle run of cattle and buyers desperate to buy smaller backgrounding heifers paid from $750 to $1000, and drove heifer prices up to $300 more than January, where you could buy heifers all day at $600-$700."
He said the prices per kilogram paid, harked back to the 'good old days' of a few years ago when prices regularly exceeded $4/kg.
"At the end of the day, all cattle sold very well, with rain in NSW and Qld obviously having an effect, with the flow of any cattle coming to a halt," he said.
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Heavy Angus steers weighing 450kg-plus sold from $3.09/kg to $3.67/kg, with coloured steers in this weight range selling from $2.77-$3.56/kg.
Angus steers from 360-450kg made $3.06-$3.82 /kg; coloured steers 360-450kg sold from $3.11-$3.63/kg. Angus steers from 320-360kg sold at $3.01-$4.12/kg, coloured steers of the same weights returned $2.80-$3.62/kg.
Lighter Angus steers 280-320kg were $3.28-$4.31/kg, with coloured steers $2.94-$3.92/kg, and Angus steers under 280kg sold from $3.31-$4.08/kg, while lighter coloured steers made from $3.15-$3.99/kg.
Nampara Pastoral Co, Kingston SE, led the charge, snapping up a draft of eight Glatz Black Angus, Boonaroo and Pathfinder-blood Angus steers, 20-22 months old, averaging 563kg, from Wistow West, Heywood, Vic, at $1740 or $3.09/kg, and paid the dollars per head high of the sale at $1810 or $3.58/kg for Wistow West's 506kg second draft.
O'Connor & Graney Mount Gambier bought 20 Pathfinder-bld Angus steers, 353kg, from AJ&JS Reichelt, OB Flat, at $1380 or $3.91/kg and a 325kg second draft at $1340 or $4.12/kg.
Teys Australia were back in the hunt on Friday, buying 160 steers for their Charlton, Vic, and Jindalee, NSW, feedlots, including 16 Angus, 480kg, at $1720 or $3.58/kg from RW Passauer, Yahl; eight Angus, 441kg at 14-15mo, at $1600 or $3.63/kg from Glendoo Pastoral, Mount Gambier; 13 Angus, 18-22mo and 417kg, at $1540 or $3.69/kg from Stenmara Adelaide Hills and 12 Chelma-bld Angus/Simmentals, 446kg, at $1620 or $3.63/kg from Chelma Heywood.
Selling 56, 10mo Granite Ridge-bld Angus steers, weighing 276-348kg, for an average of $1285 was GJ Robinson & R Vaughan, Homerton, Vic. Their 348kg top draft sold at $1360 or $3.91/kg to Southern Australian Livestock, which also bought their 313kg second draft at $1350 or $4.31/kg.
Nutrien Gawler was right in the thick of the action, targeting 340-380kg steers and successfully bidding on 21 Bassano-bld Angus, 382kg, offered by Coffeys Lane, Heywood, at $1410 or $3.69/kg; and 10 Angus steers, 10mo and 381kg, at $1410 or $3.70/kg from N&A McIntyre, Worrolong.
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John Hommelhoff, buying for Brian Smith Transport, paid $1370 or $4.09/kg for 26, 335kg Angus steers from Gralan, Mount Gambier, and also snapped up 12, 394kg Boonaroo-bld Angus steers from RI&JM Telford, Glenburnie, at $1480 or $3.76/kg.
Iluka Estate, Beachport, sold 13 Angus-cross steers, 360kg at 10mo, at $1370 or $3.80/kg to Nutrien Keatley Mount Gambier, which also bought its 337kg second draft at $1300 or $3.86/kg. Nutrien Gawler bought 18 of Iluka's Limousin-crosses, 10mo and 336kg, at $1170 or $3.48/kg.
Pine Lodge Partnership, Mumbannar, Vic, sold 52 Angus steers, 9-10mo and weighing from 263-379kg, for an average of $1337, with a draft of 30, weighing 334kg sold at $1370 or $4.10/kg to Anthony McDonnell.
John Chay, Millicent, bought 19 Pasturefed Cattle Assurance Scheme-eligible Angus-cross steers, 10-11mo and 367kg, from Balrook, Dartmoor, Vic, at $1360 or $3.71/kg and it second draft of 18, 325kg, at $1360 or $4.18/kg.
A draft of 19 Stoney Point-bld Angus steers, 8-10mo and 282kg from S&K Higgs, Nene Valley, was bought by the Rogers family, Kalangadoo, at $1210 or $4.29/kg, while a 235kg second draft sold at $900 or $3.83/kg to Green Triangle Livestock.
Blue Gums, Casterton, Vic, sold 18 Yarram Park, Taronga and Melville Park-bld Hereford steers, 447kg, to Nampara at $1620 or $3.62/kg, with a 430kg second draft sold to Elders at $1450 or $3.37/kg.
Walkenny Park, Cape Bridgewater, Vic, sold three Bowmont-bld Hereford steers, 10-12mo and 475kg at $1570 or $3.30/kg to Teys Charlton, with Nutrien buying its 308kg second draft of 33 at $1160 or $3.77/kg.
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Only two pens of cows with calves at-foot were offered,with the top price of $1610 achieved by Struan Valley Pastoral, Struan, for six, five- to six-year-old composite cows with six CAF, not rejoined. Five Hereford-cross heifers with five 2018-drop Angus-cross CAF, not rejoined, made $1380 for Mittenwald Nominees, Naracoorte.
Heifer sales were a complete contrast from January, with very strong prices paid. Heavy heifers were in strong demand, with the gallery hanging in right the way through to the end of the sale.
Princess Royal, Burra, paid the sale high heifer price of $1480 or $3.32/kg for 17 European Union-accredited Coolana and Banquet-bld Angus heifers, 446kg, sold by Leaella Partnership, Wallacedale, Vic.
Bassendean Farms, Strathdownie, Vic, sold 22 Boonaroo-bld Angus heifers, 386kg, at $1390 or $3.60/kg to Elders a/c McKinnon. A 335kg second draft sold to regular heifer buyers Apsley, through Miller Whan & John, at $1200 or $3.58/kg.
Apsley also bought 21 Pathfinder-bld Angus heifers, 321kg, from AJ&MS Reichelt at $1250 or $3,89/kg and 23 Irelands and Yancowinna-bld Angus-cross heifers, 315kg, from T&S Pastoral, Mount Schank, at $1150 or $3.65/kg.
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