King Island steers head to Yea as Pakenham vendors weigh up sale options

The MacCallum Livestock director will sell 105 18-month-old Angus steers at Elders' feature autumn sale due to the dry conditions on the Tasmanian island, marking the first time he has sold cattle in a Victorian store sale.

"Usually we would fatten these steers to 550-600 kilograms and send them to Greenhams' King Island beef brand, but we've decided to pull the pin this year," he said.

"It's been unusually dry on King Island since Christmas time so we've decided to destock these steers instead."

The steers have spent the last eight months on their 242-hectare property, Winton, on King Island, after they were trucked down from their breeding operation at Walcha, NSW, which spans 1010 hectares.

The operation spans 700 cows across both properties, with 450 breeders run in the northern operation.

Mr MacCallum, who runs the enterprise with his wife Lynda, said the decision to destock on King Island was a result of the driest summer and autumn on record.

"We wouldn't have had a quarter of the rain we would usually have by the end of May," he said.

The steers were loaded onto the boat on Monday and arrived at Port Welshpool in southern Victoria on Tuesday after a 10-hour journey.

From Gippsland, the steers were trucked 270 kilometres to Yea where they will be yarded and fed ahead of Friday's store sale.

"They've gone from Walcha to King Island which is 1200 kilometres, and then back to Yea," Mr MacCallum said.

"They've seen more of Australia than most people."

The MaCallum family purchased Winton in 2013 when Mr McCallum and his father, Peter, were working as stock agents at Scone, NSW.

Att the time, the pair were coordinating the purchasing of property for a client in their business, Waverley Station, which is now the second-largest landowner on King Island with portfolio comprising 6900 hectares.

"I've since got out of the agency business and in the process of purchasing cattle for Waverley, we found Winton and purchased it ourselves," Mr MacCallum said.

Given the unusually dry conditions on the island, Mr MacCallum said the opportunity to ship cattle to the mainland could sometimes take up to six weeks to arrange.

The decision to sell their cattle at Yea was a result of a recommendation from an agent at Wodonga who introduced the family to Elders Delaney Livestock & Property director Anthony Delaney.

Mr McCallum said depending on Friday's store market results, selling cattle at Yea in the future was an avenue he was "seriously considering doing more of".

"My wife is a cutting horse trainer so these cattle have been through and worked by our horses in a program," Mr MacCallum said.

"They are incredibly good to handle, they are very quiet, and being on and off trucks, they load themselves.

"They even know how to shut the game behind them when they get on the truck."

The steers are expected to weigh about 400 kilograms and Mr MacCallum said they would be well-suited to a feedlot or fattening operation.

"If these steers made 350-360c/kg, I would be really happy and if they made more than that, it would be great," Mr MacCallum said.

"I've looked at other marketing options and I hope this will prove the most lucrative.

"I looked at selling these steers directly to restockers and feedlots in Tasmania, but in the north-west it is really dry in Tassie, so that wasn't an option."

Several other major vendors will also sell cattle for the first time at Yea on Friday, including Eyton on Yarra, Healesville, which will offer 137 Angus steers, 12 months.

Eyton on Yarra manager Merv Steer has previously sold cattle at Pakenham, however, in the wake of the saleyard's imminent closure at the end of June, Mr Steer has opted to send his cattle to Yea's feature sale.

Cattle from other vendors at Maffra, Hastings, Dargo, Willow Grove, Pakenham South, Caldermeade, Drouin West, Rochester, Lardner and Yanathan will also be offered at the sale.

In previous years, many of these vendors have sold cattle at Pakenham's Victorian Livestock Exchange.

Elders Yea livestock manager Jamie Quinlan said 1600 of the 4000 cattle at Friday's sale - or about 40 per cent of the yarding - will be cattle that would have previously gone under the hammer at Pakenham.