A LARGE gallery of buyers fronted up at Mount Gambier on Friday for the monthly store cattle sale with the largest yarding for some time, with 3144 cattle on offer.
Prices for heavier steers seem to have stabilised, with selling to rates about the same as last month, Angus steers 450 kilograms-plus made from $4.93 - $5.61/kg; coloured steers 450kg+ sold at $4.55-$5.55/kg.
Angus steers 360-450kg were $5.23-$6.33/kg and coloured steers 360-450kg made $5.01-$5.96kg.
Prices for medium and lighter weight classes of steers were on the rise again, generally making from $6-$7/kg. Angus steers 320-360kg sold from $5.71-$7.53kg; coloured steers in the same class sold $5.87-$6.44.
Angus steers 280-320kg made $5.49-$7.50kg, the coloured steers in this weight range sold from $5.70-$6.71kg. Angus steers under 280kg sold $6.31-$7.56/kg with coloured steers in this class selling from $6.85-$7.01/kg.
Creek Livestock paid the top dollars-a-head price for heavy Angus steers at $2920 or $4.94/kg for a draft of 15, 591kg, 18-month-old Angus and Angus-cross steers, a/c GR&MC Savage, Mount Gambier.
On a roll early on, Creek Livestock also bought 14, 573kg 18-20mo Angus and Angus-crosses at $2870 or $5.01/kg sold a/c Mandala, Kalangadoo.
FJ&HR Gysbers, Millicent, sold nine, 553kg 16-17mo Pasturefed Cattle Assurance Scheme-eligible Glatz Black Angus-bloods at $2800 or $5.06/kg to Thomas Foods International.
Hunter Bros, Kingston SE, sold 101, 8-10mo PCAS-eligible Angus steers with weights from 266 to 336kg to a top of $2260 and an average $2161.
Thomas DeGaris & Clarkson bought 32 of the Hunter Bros steers, av 266kg, paying the top cents-a-kilo rate of $7.56/kg or $2010.
Hunter Bros also sold 33, 8-10mo PCAS-eligible Murray Grey steers weighing from 261-305kg for an average of $1912. Their lighter draft av 261kg sold at $1810 or $6.93/kg to John Chay Livestock, Millicent.
John Chay also bought a draft of 10, 231kg PCAS-eligible Angus-crosses at $1620 or $7.01/kg sold a/c Bridges.
GB Estate, Penola, sold 18, 241kg April/May-drop PCAS Angus and Angus-crosses at $1820 or $7.55/kg to Green Triangle Livestock; and Beechwood, Heywood, Vic, sold four 356kg Angus steers at $2680 or $7.53/kg to JBS Australia.
Manga, Kalangadoo, sold 54, February/March 2020-drop Angus, 247-340kg, for an average price of $1957, with their top draft av 247kg selling at $1820 or $7.37/kg to Creek Livestock.
BJ&MJ Gordon Trust, Kongorong, sold 37, 18-20mo Hereford-cross steers, 431-536kg, for an average of $2544. Creek Livestock bought their heaviest draft of nine, 536kg at $2700 or $5.04/kg.
Garrison Feedlot bought 170 medium to heavy weight steers including seven, 522kg 16-18mo Charolais-crosses at $2600 or $4.98/kg sold a/c D&J Spencer, Dartmoor, Vic; and 18, 457kg Yamburgan-bld Shorthorns at $2530 or $5.54/kg sold a/c Still Water, Penola.
DI,IA&GS Jones, German Creek, sold 10, 257kg Limousin steers at $1760 or $6.85/kg to Green Triangle Livestock
NP&AP Gough Pty Ltd, Branxholme, Vic, sold 20, 456kg Herefords at $2530 or $5.55/kg to Thomas DeGaris & Clarkson.
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Buyers with a couple of large interstate orders pushed heifer prices up another level this month, with 450+kg heifers selling from $4.84-$5/kg.
The 360-450kg heifers made $5.01-$5.77kg with 320-360kg heifers selling from $5.09-$6.04kg. Lighter heifers 280-320kg sold at $5.26-$6.25kg and heifers under 280kg made $6.06-$7.43kg.
GB Estate sold 20, 218kg 14-16mo Angus and Angus-crosses at the top cents-a-kilo heifer price at $7.43/kg or $1620 to JBS Australia.
Docklands Pastoral, Kongorong, made the highest dollars-a-head heifer price with nine, 447kg PCAS-eligible Angus at $2350 or $5.26/kg bought by Creek Livestock.
LK Ling, Mount Benson, sold 10, 233kg March/April-drop Angus at $1580 or $6.78/kg to PPHS, with a heavier draft av 283kg selling to Miller Whan & John at $1760 or $6.22/kg.
Kleenview, Casterton, Vic, sold 177 PCAS-eligible Nampara and Banquet-bld Angus and Angus-cross heifers ranging in weight from 262-402kg for an average of $1918. Their heaviest draft av 402kg sold to Miller Whan & John a/c Lindsay at $2030 or $5.05/kg while a lighter draft av 262kg sold at $1700 or $6.49/kg to Creek Livestock.
Alva Downs, Merino, Vic, sold 14, 468kg European Union-accredited Woonallee and Injemira-bld Simmental/Herefords at $2300 or $4.91/kg to Garrison. A lighter draft av 401kg sold to Creek Livestock at $2100 or $5.24/kg.
RJ Rogers & Son, Kalangadoo, sold 84, 16-18mo PCAS-eligible Angus and Angus crosses, 329-446kg, for an average of $2186 with the heaviest draft selling at $2350 or $5.27/kg to Garrison.
Chapman Farms, Parilla, had 63 Mandayen and Raven-bld Angus cows with two week to 4mo calves at-foot, sold to a top of $3420 to John Chay Millicent.
John Chay Livestock's Nat Robbins bought a single Angus cow with an Angus CAF at $3160 sold a/c Benara, Mount Gambier, and also one Hereford cow, not rejoined with a Hereford cross calf at foot, at $3340 sold a/c D Cornelius.
Nineteen Yoho and Kelson Pines-bld Poll Hereford heifers, pregnancy-tested in-calf to Morganvale bulls sold a/c Laslett Noms, Allendale, at $3110 to Green Triangle Livestock.
With plenty of feed in the paddocks and continuing showers, agents are confident prices will hold going forward.
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