Despite offering plenty of weight and a quality yarding, prices offered for store cattle were further corrected in line were sagging prime slaughter rates at Kyneton on Wednesday.
Heavy steers, which were rather dominant through the opening lane of the market, saw prices trimmed back into a $1200 to $1400 per head range, or 240-270kg to sell almost all lots returned to the paddock and without any interest offered by processors or feedlots.
Lighter grown steers and the first for the year drafts of weaner steers, however, drew much broad inquiry, with a live export operator providing an underpinning demand on all black steers.
The better end drafts, which offered weights of 360-450kg made $1070 to $1260 a head to average 305c/kg while the lighter pens back to 300kg made $1050 to $1130 to average 335c.
In the heifer pens well bred lines suitable for joining were keenly sought as almost all of the yarding sold upwards of $950 to a top of $1330 for heifers weighed at 490kg.
As a result almost all heifer sales were made in the 280 to 320-cents per kilogram range to be returned to the paddock in spite of some underpinning feeder and live export support.
A useful offering of breeding females also found prices corrected with a yard of Angus heifers, with young calves sold to $2360.
Most other cow and calf outfits were sold at prices $1800 to $2140 while pens of PTIC cows made $1360 to $1680.
