Prices at the fortnightly Bairnsdale store sale increased by between $100-200 a head, with agents saying end-of-financial year buyers appeared to have pushed up the market.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
Agents yarded about 750 head, down by 520 on the last sale.
M&LA reported the top of the weaner steers reached $1400/head for a pen of 19 Angus, 369kg, or 401 cents a kilogram; the best heifers, 345kg, made $1130 or 327kg.
Bill Wyndham & Co auctioneer Colin Jones said the steers were probably $150-200 a head dearer, while female cattle sold to the same rates as previously.
South Gippsland and local agents were the main buyers.
"It was a fraction stronger, on the better end," he said.
"Some of it might be to do with the end of the financial year approaching and some people might need to spend a bit of money."
It wasn't one of the better yardings, "but there were some handy cattle there," he said.
"If a lot of the abattoirs get rid of a bit of backlog of cattle, it might improve a bit, but it might take a few weeks for that to happen."
READ MORE:
Nutrien East Gippsland Livestock, Bairnsdale, livestock manager Brad Obst said the sale showed a stronger trend, in a yarding of cattle that brought out lines of well-bred, lighter-weight weaners.
"I think we saw it as anywhere from $100-200 head dearer," Mr Obst said.
"I think we are in a bit of a downward trend, [but] we just need a bit of confidence back in the job and it will come good again."
The bulk of buyers would have been grass fatteners, taking advantage of the ability to buy cattle more cheaply than they had previously, he said.
"I am not an alarmist, like everyone else, I think we will have a relatively normal season," he said.
Elders Bairnsdale auctioneer Ryan Bajada said it was a mixed yarding, with the better bred cattle selling very well.
Other purchasers were driven by end-of-financial year considerations.
"There was a little pen of Friesian steers that made $200/head - at previous markets they could have made between $50-100," he said.
"There wasn't a lot of them, but it could be an indication of end-of-year 'spend ups' - they are not really cattle that are going to do a hell of a lot in these winter months.
"The taxman is going to start knocking on doors, really soon - there were no feedlots, it was just purely cattle going back to the paddock."
Abrew sold five Angus steers, 696kg, for $2110 or 303c/kg.
B Parisotto sold five Angus steers, 489kg, for $1730 or 354c/kg.
K Easton and Associates sold five Murray Grey steers, 413kg, for $1210 or 292c/kg.
L Dignan sold 21 Hereford steers, 304kg, for $950 or 313c/kg.
Dignan also sold 22 steers, 246kg, for $800 or 325c/kg.
S and E Richardson sold 18 Hereford steers, 216kg, for $750 or 347c/kg.
Condon Lee sold 14 Kunuma-blood steers, 10-12 months, 345kg, for $1240 or 359c/kg.
A second pen of 17, 309kg, sold for $1100 or 356c/kg.
BJ Manning sold 23 Angus steers, 306kg, for $1200 or 392c/kg.
P Kramme sold 20 Hereford steers, 238kg, for $810 or 340c/kg.
A second pen of 20, 199kg, sold for $600 or 302c/kg.
LD and EM Woodward sold 10-18-month old Hereford steers, 461kg, for $1340 or 291c/kg.
A second pen of five, 399kg, sold for $1210 or 303c/kg.
Nindoo Farm Trust sold 17 Angus steers, 257kg, for $930 or 362c/kg.
B and F Norman sold seven Angus steers, 236kg, for $710 or 301c/kg.
TJ and MJ Lee sold 18 Angus heifers, 329kg, for $1050 or 319kg.
They also sold another pen of 18, 287kg, for $970 or 338c/kg.
Miss L Woodgate sold 18 Angus steers, 368kg, for $1480 or 402c/kg.
Kathy Gabriel sold 11 Hereford steers, 307kg, for $1070 or 348c/kg.
Hilderbrant and W Chester sold seven Limousin-cross steers, 301kg, for $870 or 289c/kg.
Manning sold 13 heifers, 283kg, for $930 or 329c/kg.
Dignan's first pen of 15 heifers, 295kg, sold for $850 or 288c/kg.
Woodgate sold 12 heifers, 345kg, for $1130 or 327c/kg.
David Eagleson sold 12 Angus heifers, 280kg, for $800 or 285c/kg.
A small selection of cows with calves at foot sold from $1,020 to $1,780/outfit.
Preganancy-tested-in-calf females made between $860 and $1,600/head.
G Raynor sold a pen of three Simmental cows and calves for $1780
J Stewart sold 12 Angus cows and calves for $1600.
Colin Boyd sold 11 by 12 Angus and Black Baldy cows and calves for $1200.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
