Just when it was thought the cattle market couldn’t get any dearer, demand has kicked again sending prices off the charts.
The industry’s benchmark indicator, the EYCI, highlights this recent rapid rise in prices, with the index up 46 points or eight per cent over the past two weeks and 65 points or 12pc higher over the past month.
The cause, of course, is the soaking rain that has fallen over the length and breadth of the eastern states breathing life back in the cattle breeding industry.
In terms of improved valuations the latest ramp up in physical market prices, where the index is calculated, has added about $200 a head to feeder steer values over the course of the past month.
This was the case at Ballarat on Friday, where a line of 40 Angus steers – in feedlot entry condition – made $1700 a head or 372 cents a kilogram live on an non-curfewed weight of 456kg.
This is compared to similar pens sold in the previous Ballarat market a month ago that averaged 35 cents a kilogram less.
The strong feeder interest displayed in the sale of these cattle highlights the reduced numbers that are now being offered in direct to feedlot sales.
MLA’s weekly survey of feeder cattle prices confirms direct supply numbers have tightened considerably. In this week report the highest price reported for Angus feeders was 350c/kg with an average of 338c while the best price four weeks ago stood at 325c with an average of 322c.
This compares rather poorly to the auction-high rates for similar 380-500kg Angus steers that made to a sale high of 383c/kg at Ballarat for a sale average of 363 cents.
Feeder steer prices, however, are not alone in this latest price surge.
Cows, for instant, have seen prices increased of about 35c/kg lwt or $200 a head for the heavy D4 class at Wagga Wagga over the past fortnight and up to $250 a head over the past month.
The same has been found at Leongatha where medium D1 dairy cows have improved in value by 45-50c/kg or $150-$200 a head while at Camperdown heavy D1 dairy cows have firmed by 40-45c/kg or $200-$250 a head over the same period of time.
With this week, June 22, presenting the year’s shortest day it shouldn’t be overly long before the eastern states become a sea of growing grass and long-overdue herd rebuilding can be recommenced.
Ironically, in one of the worst hit and driest areas of the northern Australia where the big cattle numbers are farmed this week’s Roma prime market was cancelled due to wet conditions.
This will add another dimension for the already strained winter supply as processors and feeders aim to trim costs and producers search in greater numbers for breeding stock.
