Quality on the way

Tremendous April-May rainfall and a dry June followed by an extremely wet and cold August-September have set the benchmark for livestock to be of the highest quality at selling time.

To my mind it really has been a good season, dry in the north of Australia and a good season in the south.

My father did tell me as a young person, the south east was only put on this world to make money out of the rest of Australia whilst they are dry.

Saleyard numbers from both Mount Gambier and Naracoorte have both seen a significant downfall between July 1 and September 30.

Mount Gambier was finding it was 6000 head of cattle down and Naracoorte down 4570.

I do not feel that there are any fewer cattle in our region than previous years.

The reason for these numbers is a combination of things, with so much pasture available very few cattle have been sold.

A lot of vendors have taken the opportunity to put more weight into their cattle and reap the benefits later.

The variances in the cattle market from time to time is what really makes this industry challenging, heart wrenching and enjoyable.

It is fascinating to view the rhetoric viewed by many people, the price can drop one dollar a kilogram dressed in six weeks and then rise ten cents the following, and everybody opts for the optimistic approach.

With this sort of logic is it any wonder at times we are paying 50-80 cents more for our store cattle then we are actually are receiving in return.

My summation of the cattle industry is if we can continue to receive $5-$5.50 for our Ox, or in other words $1700-$1900, then a steer calf can make $1000-$1200 and at these levels everybody gets a fair go.

The lamb market has been the real surprise packet thus far of the spring.

Once again the biggest advantage in this area is our current season, which has just allowed for a sensible and orderly sell off.

The Upper South East of South Australia has been in full swing in their selling season for six weeks now while the Lower South East is just starting to get moving.

Interesting to note Naracoorte last week (October 17) yarded 29,394 sheep and lambs.

Whilst not unusual and I would expect a similar number there for the next four weeks that is 7594 extra than the next best yarding in 2016 which was on the November 8.

I would suggest it’s just buoyant prices bringing lambs into the saleyards and less of them being hooked.

Abundant feed has certainly seen a large number of livestock come into our area to be finished and you would think the district is also well placed to handle the vast majority of the feature cattle and sheep sales coming up.

The Naracoorte first cross sheep sales are always a highlight for our producers and will no doubt display the quality of our area once again.

With the spring sell off just commencing, producers, processors and agents can only be excited about the quality of product that is going to come in the next three months.

*Darren Maney is a Director of Thomas, De Garis & Clarkson based in Penola