PRICE jump of more than $200 per head kicked off the first of the East Gippsland mountain calves sales at Hinnomunjie on Tuesday where 1450 head were yarded.
Buyers showed their cards early during the first sale of series with heavy steers selling from $770 to $995 per head, or up to 240c/kg on estimated weights.
Lighter runs of steers proved popular with feedlots and fetched $700-880/head, with vendors recorded some of the best averages in decades.
“The cattle had more weight than other years because the season has come with us,” Sharp Fullgrabe principal Graeme Fullgrabe said.
“We had good rains prior to Christmas and in January, (so cattle) have come home with the wind in their sails.”
An early run of 14 month-old Hereford-Shorthorn cross steers, weighing 490 kilograms, offered by the Penderscourt family, received the sale peak of $1035.
The female offering also received a price boost selling from $580-$715 for the medium weight heifers while the lighter calves did not dip below $400/head.
“Buyers have gone away happy and vendors are definitely happy,” Mr Fullgrabe said.
*Full report in this week’s Stock & Land.
Annabelle Beale
National Sheep & Wool Writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media
National Sheep & Wool Writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media
