The good times in the beef industry continued to roll at the January Warrnambool store cattle sale on Friday.
Steers made about 375c/kilogram and topped at 392c/kg while heifers got to 362c/kg.
Cows with calves at foot made up to $2650.
About 1380 head were yarded for the sale whose focus on females drew a good crowd of buyers, predominantly from the Western District, who were willing to pay the top prices for the smaller than usual offering.
Grassmere farmer John Howard was one of the big beneficiaries of the big prices.
Mr Howard averaged $2420 for the rising two-year-old 109 pregnancy tested in calf (PTIC) heifers he sold, the best average he has achieved during his long career as a beef farmer.
The $263,760 payout had an ironic story because Mr Howard is downsizing from beef and expanding into dairy, following his philosophy of buying into primary industries in slump so he can capitalise when they hit a high.
Mr Howard has been breeding cattle since 1992 and the heifers were sired to Ballangeich, Claremont and Rossander bulls.
The sale of the heifers were part of his decision to downsize from a 300 to 100 beef herd and increase his dairy herd from 300 to 400 head.
Those paying the top price of $2620 each for 39 of Mr Howard’s heifers were Kevin and Julie Wyatt of “Wright Swamp” of Mount Richmond near Portland.
The Wyatts said they bought the Howard heifers to improve their herd’s genetics and got the cash to do so after selling heifers for up to $4.46/kg at this month’s Hamilton weaner sales.
Also happy were Paul Martin and Amanda Barker of Yambuk who gained $2650 each for 15 Limousin cows with 16 calves (including one set of twins) at foot.
Also smiling were Andrew and Alison Anderson of “Rossander” at Warrnambool who gained an average of $1072 for the 85 8-10 month old steer calves they sold.
The steers were weaned at three months old in June because of last year’s tough start but still made comparable money to calves weaned later.
The sale also featured the dispersal of the Terka herd at Kirkstall with 10 PTIC heifers fetching $1890 each, their older sisters $2020, fifth calvers up to $2000 and mature aged cows up to $1700.
Indicative prices: Steers – P. Mahony, aver 290kg, 392c/kg, 4 Euro; A.Adams, 297kg, 362c/kg; R. Longbottom, 349kg, 360c/kg.
Open auction: Angus steers, 300kgs, $1247; 12-18 month Hereford/Freisan heifers, $1600. Calves: Karrara Farms, 29 Freisan, $540 each.