A HEALTHY yarding of store cattle was presented at the Wangaratta Livestock Exchange for the October sale on Thursday with 1650 head and heavy heifer prices raising some eyebrows.
Heavy heifers at 350kg+ made $1150 to $1380 which divided down to $3.40/kg, which Elders Wangaratta manager Kirsty Taylor said was very strong.
Heifers 300-350kg were $850 to $1120 and Euro heifers were $1000 to $1170.
And light, black heifers were anywhere between $600 and $880.
Heavy steers 350kg+ made between $1300 and $1650, while Angus steers at 300-350kg were $1150 to $1360.
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Under 300kg made from $850 to $1100 which was solid and Euro steers made between $900 and $1180.
There were 20 cows and calves on offer making between $1400 to $2100.
"There was a lot of feedlot competition on the heifers but there was the odd restocker/breeder order to go back to the paddock which certainly pushed those joinable heifers along in price," Ms Taylor said.
"It was a solid result from a good yarding of cattle and there weren't many commission buyers present but those that were certainly operated.
"Those who are willing to take the gamble (were buying in) but the feed is certainly running out and that's probably forced a lot of people to sell, potentially a little bit earlier than they would like to sell.
"This is why we saw so many cattle at this sale."
With the drier than usual spring the quality of fat cattle has fluctuated significantly in the last 2-3 weeks, but Ms Taylor said anything that has been fat, in a state for processing, has sold very well.
"If we don't see a decent rain over a large area we might see higher numbers at sales continue as producers offload for the drier months," she said.
