Great expectations for spring

The sentiments displayed by producers at Tuesday's auction proved green grass and rain generate healthy thoughts at this time of year.

Michael Capes, of Wyndham & Co, said the sale exceeded all expectations.

Mr Capes said the sale opened to strong demand and "never let up" throughout the steer and heifer sections.

That summed up the situation fairly well, as the talk among the crowd was of excessive frosts and even good falls of snow in the high country but with good sunny days of reasonable temperatures as a follow-up.

Late spring rain followed by traditional early winter falls has resulted in good early growth and, despite the frost, it continues to grow, boding well for a good spring.

This was reflected in a strong sale where yearling steers sold to $1060 a head or an estimated 190 cents a kilogram liveweight.

Lindsay White, Fernbank, sold the first six pens of the sale, encompassing 78 Angus yearling steers in good condition.

Thomas Foods International purchased the first four pens at $1000-$1060, with the draft averaging $997.

These steers were young and were purchased for slaughter after competition between two or three buyers.

This trend of solid prices for heavier yearling steers has presented itself at most sales of late, and at the Heyfield annual spring sales last Friday there were feedlot buyers present.

Travelling distances is not the issue; rather, finding numbers of suitable steers to continually fill orders is.

With a good to very good season as far away as at Dubbo, NSW, in the north and over to the South East of South Australia, both producers and feedlot companies will have to up the ante this spring.

Upon entering the Bairnsdale saleyard on Tuesday, potential buyers were presented with an excellent penning of steers and a small percentage of heifers.

Those early sales set the pace of the day.

Competition was restricted to the larger area of Gippsland but South and West Gippsland dominated the sale.

It is almost certain all producers selling stock across the eastern seaboard will be looking forward to similar results this spring.

Possibly one of the standout features of this sale was the strong competition across all breeds and weights.

There were a few large, annual drafts of steers that sent this sale to the fore.

CC&MP Wheeler, Buchan South, sold 128 Angus and Hereford steers, 12-16 months, to $860, av $763.

Liveweight prices were estimated to be about 215-230c/kg.

Hurley Family Partnership, Dargo, sold 192 Angus steers, Banquet- and Ireland-blood, to $780, av $688, and the lighter-weights were close to 245c/kg.

Buchan Station was another well-recognised name taking part.

Its 75 steers sold to $790, av $695, with the youngest of these estimated at 268c/kg.

At recent special store sales buyers have been seeking out the well-known breeders' cattle and paying handsomely to secure them.

Nothing drives demand better than a paddock full of grass, and this was evident in the heifer section of the sale too.

While all producers had selected the top lines of heifers for their own requirements, the yarding of heifers was still good.

Breeders and fatteners supplied all of the competition and paid $415-$495 for most heifers.

However, The Hurley Family Partnership sold its top pen of heifers for $602, with its total consignment of 116 head av $480.

These prices indicate the tide has turned and producers needed to heed that there may only be one way forward from here: up.

It's worth bearing this in mind and heeding the warning "buy early, buy right".