Sitting at my desk on Cup eve studying my travel form guide for the past month has allowed me to reflect on the busy and successful selling schedule of the past 30 days.
Starting on the Thursday of the AFL Grand Final I attended the Hamilton Agents annual spring cattle sale reporting it as a“one out of the box” performance.
The cattle market at the time was in rapid descent whereby the benchmark index had sunk from its peak of about 720c/kg exactly 12 months earlier to 505c/kg on the day of this sale.
Not surprisingly and due entirely to an abundantly promising spring out west this sale rated extraordinarily well and better than other previous sales given the circumstances.
The following day my trusty Stock & Land Triton eyeballed the banks of the Murray River and Swan Hill’s annual September sheep sale which offered an unprecedented 30,000 head driven adversely by a failed spring across western NSW and the dominantly sheep grazing areas of the Riverina.
This clearance was more than satisfactory ably lead by a ready to explode demand by prime lamb refatteners and a ravenous inquiry by the meat processing trade.
The following Thursday/Friday was back to the Border to a competitively keen Barnawartha cattle sale, then an on-farm visit to advertise the Bott family ewes for the upcoming Corowa Breeders-only crossbred sale before heading to Jerilderie for its spring sale where Merino ewes topped at $254, and most were sold from $170 to $230.
The following Thursday/Friday I was back on the border to photograph ewe lines for the upcoming Corowa special before heading to Deniliquin for its annual spring sale where Merino ewes again sold particularly well, to $234 a head for the best priced while most young ewes made $180-$220.
Whilst in the area I also made an impromptu visit to Boonoke at Conargo to photograph and promote the sale of 600 Hereford cattle planned for sale at VLE Koonwarra, in South Gippsland, a line that sold exceptionally well according to the selling agent, Elders.
During October’s third week, a sheep sale at Wycheproof, by Landmark and Rodwells, and the monthly Ballarat cattle sale each found prices further improved. These were then followed by sales in the next week at Casterton and Hamilton, Tuesday, Kyneton on Wednesday, and the record breaking Corowa ewe sale on Thursday where Crossbred ewes made to $314 before moving onto the Elders Wycheproof on Friday.
To complete this five week – 8000Km October road trip, we’ve farewelled the Wellard-China live-Ex boat from Portland, had a peek at Mortlake saleyards, returned to Swan Hill and taken in Colac market. While this week its Bendigo-Edenhope-Bendigo for more crossbred sales.
