BEEF weaners are set to make the long 1800-kilometre haul from the Western District to central Queensland following solid competition from northern Australian buyers in the opening days of Victoria's weaner sales.
The tsunami of buyers descended on the Hamilton and Casterton weaner steer sales following solid rain events across large tracts of Queensland, ending three years of crippling drought.
The end result has been spirited bidding from processors, feedlotters and restockers for Victorian cattle to fill the North's stock drought.
The influence of the Queensland and NSW's enquiry has driven store cattle prices to their highest peaks since 2011, and seen the effect rippling into regular Victorian prime markets.
Sizeable gains have been recorded daily at selling centres right across the southern region including heavy bullocks to 230c/kg live weight at the Leongatha saleyards and 237c/kg at Mount Gambier on Wednesday.
Buyers have also had to become amateur meteorologists and are trying to interpret exactly where a low pressure system predicted for the
weekend across south-eastern Australia will dump falls the Bureau of Meteorology predicts could tally up to 100mm in some areas.
The reaction has been aggressive and resulted in 80pc of stock leaving the region including one third of sales bound for regions beyond Dubbo, NSW and with reports of cattle going as far north as Roma, Qld.
In total, feeders and restockers from northern NSW and Qld have claimed 34pc of 6400 head offered in the first two days of selling, with northern Victoria and southern NSW absorbing 19pc, Gippsland 15pc and western border regions 31pc.
It is a far cry from the activities of last year where the furthest known destination, after two days of selling, was Albury and where 66pc of stock were retained within Western Victoria.
Buyers have banked on the market shift as they send cattle to regions that have recently received rain or are forecast to this week – indicating their aggressive buying is set to intensify as the sales progress.
With close to 50,000 head still to be sold through Victoria's January weaner sales, talk around the saleyards suggests that what has already
occurred in terms of activity is likely just the beginning of a sustained period of frenzied activity.
