The Eastern Young Cattle Indicator (EYCI) hit 600¢/kg cwt for the first time on record this week, buoyed by rain-induced producer confidence at many of the major selling centres.
Widespread rain – albeit far from drought breaking in many cases – over the Christmas period acted as the catalyst for many producers to retain stock, while also drawing out strong competition for the limited pool of cattle.
Elders Casterton livestock agent Jody Darcy said he expected the indicator to stay around the 600 cent mark, for another month or two.
“It’ll hover – we will be out of cattle, in the south-west and south east but in March, the Omeo cattle sales will take place, with between 10-12,000 head, and you will see a sharp increase again, demand driven by the north,” Mr Darcy said.
“We will have nothing left in our paddocks here, other than breedintg stock, I can’t see the fat market doing what it is doing, as vealers have run out, down here.”
He said yesterday’s Casterton weaner sale saw strong competition from Queensland restockers.
Tuesday’s sales resulted in the indicator jumping 14.5¢, before a further 1.25¢ lift on Wednesday meant the landmark of 600¢/kg cwt was obtained.
Markets that had particularly large price jumps were IRLX Inverell, where EYCI-eligible cattle lifted nearly 60¢ from the week before, averaging 620.25¢/kg cwt.
Perhaps even more impressive, in the first sale for the year, EYCI-eligible cattle at Roma averaged 660.5¢/kg cwt – up 191¢ from the first sale of 2015.
Dalby and Singleton also performed well, with EYCI-eligible cattle averaging approximately 610¢/kg cwt at both centres.
The expectation is that cattle availability will remain tight for January, and thereafter will depend on the timeliness of follow-up rainfall.
