AFTER nearly 12 months of meteoric rises in cattle prices, the heavier end of the steer market seemed to take a slight pause last Friday with prices at the Mount Gambier store market holding firm to a bit cheaper on Angus steers weighing above 450 kilograms and those in the 360-450kg and 320-360kg categories.
Prices of steers 320kg and lighter however, continued their upward trajectory, most making in excess of $6/kg and often into the $7/kg territory.
Angus steers 450kg+ sold from $4.60 to $5.88/kg; coloured steers 450kg+ sold at $5.40-$5.63/kg Angus steers 360-450kg sold from $5.54-$6.29/kg; coloured steers 360-450kg making from $5.39-$6.28/kg.
Angus steers from 320-360kg sold from $4.90-$6.55/kg, coloured steers in the same class, sold $5.32-$5.95/kg. Lighter Angus steers 280-320kg sold from $5.23-$7.01/kg, the coloured steers in this weight range selling from $5.75-$6.27/kg; Angus steers under 280kg sold $6.49-$7.75/kg with coloured steers in this class selling from $6.68-$7.30/kg.
Unlike the last few months where feedlotters have had the upper hand, local graziers and restockers took the competition right up to them on the heavier steers, which made up a good percentage of this month's yarding.
Creek Livestock paid the top dollars-a-head price for heavy steers of $2800 or $4.95/kg for a draft of 12 Angus steers averaging 566kg sold a/c Wirreanda, Willalooka.
Wirreanda also sold 23, 532kg Angus-cross steers at $2650 or $4.98/kg to Thomas Foods International and a second draft av 498kg sold at $2650 or $5.32/kg to Teys Australia.
Spotted Gum, Suttontown, sold 10, 262kg Pasturefed Cattle Assurance Scheme-eligible Lawson-blood Angus steers at $1880 or $7.18/kg to Miller Whan & John while their lighter draft av 227kg hit the cents-a-kilo high of Friday's sale at $7.75/kg or $1760 a head, paid by Green Triangle Livestock, Mount Gambier.
Green Triangle Livestock also bought a draft of five, 271kg, 10-month-old Speckle Park-cross steers at $1810 or $6.68/kg sold a/c PC&FE Fisher, Drumborg, Vic.
BJ&MJ Gordon Trust, Kongorong, sold 20, 18mo 501kg PCAS-eligible Angus cross steers at $2770 or $5.53/kg to Nampara, Lucindale, with a lighter draft av 435kg sold at $2520 or $5.79/kg to Teys Australia.
Nampara also bought a draft of 16 Pathfinder and Nampara-bld February/March 2020-drop, 545kg Angus-cross steers at $2730 or $5.01/kg, sold a/c Lyndhurst Pastoral, Glencoe.
FG&JR Gysbers sold 14, 15-16mo, 483kg PCAS-eligible Glatz Black Angus-bld steers at $2760 or $5.71/kg to Thomas Foods.
Thomas DeGaris & Clarkson bought 22, 9-10mo 266kg Angus and Angus-cross steers at $1970 or $7.41/kg sold a/c Weopa, German Creek.
S&K Higgs, Nene Valley, sold 16, 304kg PCAS-eligible Lawson and Stoney Point-bld Angus steers at $2080 or $6.84/kg to John Chay Livestock, which also bought the Higgs lighter draft av 250kg at $1800 or $7.20/kg and a draft of 16 European Union-accredited and PCAS-eligible 8-10mo, 288kg Pathfinder-bld Angus steers, sold a/c Kumara SE Pty Ltd, Mount Gambier, at $2020 or $7.01/kg
Pascoe Park, Mount Gambier, sold 10, 16-18mo 488kg PCAS-eligible Angus steers at $2720 or $5.57/kg to Teys Australia, a lighter draft av 445kg selling to Thomas Foods at $2510 or $5.64/kg.
Avon Park Oakley, Dartmoor, Vic, sold eight March/April 2020-drop 453kg PCAS-eligible Hereford steers at $2550 or $5.63/kg to Thomas DeGaris & Clarkson a/c Smith, who also bought 16, 14-15mo 444kg PCAS-eligible Hereford steers at $2500 or $5.63/kg sold a/c Milroy Pastoral, Mingbool.
Laslett Nominees, Allendale, sold 66, 16-18mo 358-448kg PCAS-eligible Hereford steers to a high of $2500 and an average of $2324. Schubert Boers bought 60 of the steers, paying up to $5.78/kg.
Mia Mia, Portland, Vic, sold six, 8mo 308kg PCAS-eligible Simmental steers at $1820 or $5.91/kg to Miller Whan & John, Kingston, along with a lighter draft av 241kg sold at $1760 or $7.30 to Elders Albury, NSW.
In the heifer offering Wyndaqua, Eight Mile Creek, offered eight Angus/Friesian heifers pregnancy-tested in-calf to Caladenia Limousin bulls to Miller Whan & John, which made to a top of $2600, with the same buyer also nabbing 28 Angus/Friesian second-calvers PTIC to Caladenia Limousin bulls at $2200.
Creek Livestock bought five of Wydnaqua's Angus cross cows, PTIC to Angus bulls at $2480 and Nutrien Mount Gambier bought another draft of 14 Angus/Friesian heifers PTIC to Caladenia Limousin bulls at $2480.
A total of 62 cows with calves at-foot sold to a top of $3000.
M Devries, Heathmore, Vic, sold four Angus and Angus-cross cows with Black Simmental CAF for the top money, along with five Angus and Angus-cross cows with Black Simmental CAF at $2600 and two Red Angus cows with Black Simmental CAF at $2750, all selling to Creek Livestock.
Prices for heavier heifers were generally stable but the lighter classes sold dearer in line with Friday's steer prices.
The 450+kg heifers made from $4.45-$4.84/kg; 360-450kg heifers made from $4.86-$5.69/kg; 320-360kg heifers sold from $4.87-$5.81/kg; 280-320kg heifers $5.68-$6.63/kg; heifers under 280kg made from $6.09-$7.15/kg.
Holmes Livestock, Mumbannar, achieved the top dollars-a-head price for heifers with 11, 434kg PCAS-eligible Angus heifers at $2470 or $5.69/kg to Thomas Foods.
The highest cents-a-kilogram price paid for heifers on Friday was $7.15 or $1680 by Dale Keatley, Nutrien Mount Gambier for 13, 8-10mo 235kg EU-accredited and PCAS-eligible Pathfinder-bld Angus heifers, sold a/c Kumara SE Pty Ltd. A lighter draft the Kumara heifers av 281kg sold to Hardwicks at $1840 or $6.55/kg.
Emery Rural, Kingston SE, sold 11, 18-19mo 496kg EU-accredited and PCAS-eligible Simmental cross heifers $2400 or $4.84/kg to Corinda Downs, Mount Gambier.
Mia Mia, Portland, Vic, sold 23, 8mo Simmental and Angus/Simmental heifers for an average of $1690. Dale Keatley, Nutrien bought their lighter draft av 234kg at $1680 or $7.15/kg.
Spotted Gum, Suttontown, sold 10, 8-10mo 245kg Lawson-bld Angus heifers at $1720 or $7.02/kg to Mingbool, who also bought a lighter draft av 217kg at $1480 or $6.82/kg.
G Bernie, Murray Bridge, sold five, 16-18mo 437kg PCAS-eligible Angus heifers at $2320 or $5.31/kg to Garrison.
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Sign up here to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.