EVERYONE was encouraging a headline that read 'Steers to $1940 a head at Leongatha'.
The price - achieved at last Thursday's store cattle sale - was correct, but it needed a little explaining.
U Kratzat, Yinnar, sent 64 Angus steers, 0-2 teeth, to Leongatha, and while some could well have been sold at the previous day's prime cattle market, most were best suited to feedlots and restockers.
The steers weighed from 531-651 kilograms, and the sale prices equalled 288-308 cents/kg.
However, it was an interesting sale with Thomas Foods International (TFI) buying the first, and several of the next few pens for their feedlot. They were also a strong competitor for the heavy yearling steers mentioned above, buying some of them for slaughter and most for grain feeding.
During the course of the sale, their competition kept a few buyers out, and those buyers may have decided to purchase other breeds.
However, for the first time that can be remembered, TFI purchased Hereford and Charolais steers too.
Competition for the heavier Angus yearling steers came from an order for Landmark Tamworth, for feeder steers to go to southern NSW for feeding.
All of this interaction, coupled with local bullock fatteners, saw most of the yearling steers, 420kg-plus, sell mostly between $1000 and $1680.
Hengstberger & Lloyd, Fish Creek, sold 57 Hereford and Angus steers from $1310-$1460; P Carradodus, sold 12 Angus steers for $1290; and J Moncrieff, Mirboo North, 22 Angus steers from $1265-$1360.
Some agents and producers were quoting the sale a little cheaper than their previous sale two weeks before, but the main difference was the lack of quality lines of breeder steers.
There were numerous pens of good quality cattle penned, but few displayed their breeding, and a good number were not vendor bred.
Without having any outstanding sales over 300c/kg, the sale was quite solid.
Plenty of the steers, 300-400kg, sold between $800 and $1110, which equated to 275-300c/kg.
However, as can often occur in a very mixed quality market, there were opportunities.
D&K Clark, Nerrena, sold 25 Charolais-Angus steers from $980-$1060. JC&MC Walker, Almurta (property sold), offered 37 Angus and Hereford steers, from $945-$1000.
One of the better sales of the day was from S Smith, Inverloch, who sold 32 Angus and Angus-Hereford steers, 364-394kg, from $1050-$1110.
Three examples of lighter weight steers were, D&B Kalladay, Gelliondale, selling 45 Angus steers, Lawsons- and Yancowinna-blood, weighing from 257-339kg, from $735-$950.
Fewer crossbred steers were penned, and these sold to mixed competition.
M Buglisi, Hazelwood, sold 17 Friesian-cross steers from $960-$1150.
At the very bottom end of the sale was two pens of Friesian steers, not long off the bucket. These were consigned by Westco Pastoral Co, Lance Creek, and the entire line of 37 realised $380/hd.
The small offering of heifers was very mixed in age and quality. Glengarry North Tree Farm sold eight Angus heifers, 390kg, for $1035.
Carnacoo Pastoral Co sold 29 Charolais-cross heifers from $668-$980, and a mixture of 46 Angus heifers from S Storr, Toora, sold between $380 and $650 - a good indication of the range in price of the balance of the yarding.
A small, mixed, and generally plainer yarding of 29 cows and calves sold well, with most making from $800-$1450.
