NARACOORTE
Yarding: 778
Steers to $1350, av $1124
Heifers to $1411, av $1100
PRICES again exceeded agents' expectations at the Naracoorte combined agents store cattle sale on Thursday, helped by a few orders from Vic and NSW plus strong local support.
The majority of the nearly 800-head yarding were heifers which were withdrawn from the previous Naracoorte sale a fortnight ago to enable cattle to be spaced out in only every second pen to meet COVID-19 social distancing protocols.
Theron Farming, Lucindale, topped the sale with 20 January-February 2019 drop Angus heifers making $1411.
The 382.5 kilogram cattle sold for $3.69/kg to Schubert Boers.
Southern Australian Livestock's auctioneer Mat MacDonald said prices were 20 cents a kilogram to 30c/kg better than he expected.
"It is a bit daunting going to the sale with not many people there but the last couple of store sales have been the best we've had for a while," he said.
Mr Macdonald said 350kg Angus heifers made $3.60-$3.85/kg, lighter heifers (210-220kg) at $3.80-$3.90/kg and coloured heifers ranged from $3.40-$3.60/kg.
"They were good lines of cattle but most of the weight was in their frame so they will go ahead on good feed- you weren't buying condition," he said.
"We have put a fair few cattle through the yards in the last few months with some taking the money while it is there but I don't think we'll see too many numbers from now."
Lameroo vendors NJ&G Steer claimed the $1350 steer top price honours with 11 Angus weighing 357 kilograms.
Their 310kg seconds made $1220.
On a cents a kilogram basis steers topped at $4.22/kg for a pen of 10, 250kg steers from Morundah Props, Bool Lagoon, which equated to $1053.
They were knocked down to Thomas DeGaris & Clarkson Lucindale.
Morundah were also among the high prices for heifers with 17 making $3.82/kg to Miller Whan & John Mount Gambier and another 18 selling for $3.76/kg.
Also among the steer stand outs were 18 306kg Angus from Winterlake, Kingston SE, which made $1250, equating to $4.08/kg.
P&L Sinclair, Harpers Range, sold 13 7-8 month old steers at $3.85/kg and 12 heifers, weighing 270kg, made $3.65/kg.
Elders Naracoorte auctioneer Josh Reeves said the sale exceeded expectations with most heifers making $3.60/kg to $3.85/kg
He said Elders Broken Hill manager Ben Finch helped underpin the sale's success buying about 190 head- a quarter of the yarding- for a client to put on flood out country.
This order was for heifers as close to joining weight as possible.
Among these were 13 Simmental-Angus, EU accredited, 339kg cattle from Childerley Park, Naracoorte, which made $1260, as well as 14 Angus cross heifers from WD, RD & NW Robinson, Ullswater, Vic, for $1238.
Mr Reeves said even with the coronavirus uncertainty there was still a lot of confidence in the cattle market.
"Cattle are becoming harder and harder to get and with the rains in NSW and the break in Vic and our break hopefully on the horizon, everyone knows what the job will do, he said.
Mt Boothby, Tintinara, offered one of the stand out pens of heifers with 25 Stoney Point-blood Angus, weighing 324kg, making $1290, or $3.98/kg.
Pinkerton Palm Hamlyn & Steen's Ashley Braun, Penola, said the heavy end of their heifers 340-380kg made between $1220- $1350 ($3.58-$3.66/kg), while the 280-330kg made between $1150-1260.
He quoted the lighter end of heifers 210-260kg from $960-1160, equating to $3.75-$4.07/kg.
Nutrien Livestock Naracoorte livestock manager Brendan Fitzgerald said follow up rains in the eastern states had "spiked the job 20c/kg" from a fortnight ago when demand had begun to wane.
"People are getting used to the things (protocols) we have in place and there is no longer the panic (among vendors) of taking the money and running," he said.
The next Naracoorte store cattle sale is scheduled for Thursday, April 23.