Industry focus turns to Victoria's high country for the 84th Mountain Calf Sales

Sales at Omeo, Benambra, Ensay and Hinnomunjie will take place between March 5-6 where an estimated 9000 cattle will go under the hammer.

In a change to the schedule, the March 6 sale at Ensay and Omeo's Hereford market will be brought forward an hour early to start at 10am and 1pm, respectively.

Elders Omeo livestock manager David Hill said the change in sale times was to accommodate buyers, agents and livestock carriers who were expected to travel considerable distances after the final sale.

"It's a courtesy to people travelling big destinations to get home," he said.

The series will kick off at Hinnomunjie on March 5 with 1000 weaner cattle in the Nutrien East Gippsland Livestock sale, followed by four Elders sales featuring 8000 cattle, including Omeo's Angus sale and Benambra on the same day on day one, followed by Ensay and Omeo on day two.

Mr Hill said vendors were "comfortable" heading into the sales after a mild summer.

"The cattle set to be offered in these sales have had an abundance of grass under them since they were born," he said.

"I don't think you could present the cattle any better on a weight-for-age basis."

The clearing of a backlog in cattle to be processed in abattoirs across eastern Australia and a steady uptick in cattle prices since Christmas are two factors driving the confidence of graziers in the area.

"We've seen prices rise 100-130c/kg since the end of last year," Mr Hill said.

"That helps people who are trading in the grass fattening program and it puts a floor in the weaner market where it is now compared to where it was prior to Christmas."

Veteran high country buyer Graeme Ward, Albury, NSW, said he had bought cattle from the annual sales for 55 years, and would return to the mountains in the first week of March.

Last year he bought more than 1000 cattle on offer with a fair portion destined to the Ogilvie Group's backgrounding operation at Naracoorte, SA.

"I find there's always the same people returning each year to buy these cattle because they know they perform well in whatever application they are going into," he said.

Buyers across Gippsland and north-east Victoria are expected to play a major role in the sales, with influence from buyers north of the Murray River expected after widespread rain in parts of NSW.

"I would love to see a general rain on the eastern seaboard and throughout the Riverina in the lead up to our sales to bolster that demand," Mr Hill said.

South Gippsland breeder and bullock fattener Alan Mitchell, Wonthaggi, farms on the Powlett River and bought 150 Hereford spring-drop steers, 18 months, last year.

"Some years there's quite a lot of those cattle, and other years there isn't," Mr Mitchell said.

"I've been going to Benambra and Omeo for 50 years and in the Herefords, they offer genetics you can't get at many other places, and they're bred in cold country so they do well in South Gippsland.

"We get our weather straight out of Bass Strait, so we need the cattle to be hardy and tough."