Northern buyers set the pace

Yarding 4803

Yearling Steers to $1190

Weaned Steers to $975

Yearling Heifers to $885

Weaned Heifers to $855

BOTH agents and producers were looking for northern buyers to come and make the Wodonga Annual Angus sale. Nobody was disappointed, as many buyers came from the north and set this sale on fire.

Competition from southern Queensland, and northern New South Wales was extremely strong to deliver the best possible outcome for both steers and heifers. Many sales of steers were being quoted as $140-$200 higher than 2014, and heifers anywhere up to $300 better.

A pen of 15-16 month Angus yearling steers, offered by “Willhaven”, Table Top, sold for $1195. As most of the cattle had weights displayed, these steers at 516 kilograms liveweight, were 231.5c/kg.

From there the rest is history, as about 80 per cent of the steers, and possibly heifers too, went north of the NSW border, and most of these will have a long journey north.

The cattle were mostly in very good condition and weaned several weeks ago. This led to some of the strong competition with feedlot buyers prevalent in the steer sale, and a lot of the heifers went the same way.

Many pens of the weaned steers made from $840-$975, or the liveweight equivalent of 230-270c/kg lwt. Numerous pens weighing over 340kg lwt sold from 240-265c/kg creating a very healthy average.

Lighter weight steers sold mostly between $700 & $820 with sales noted equalling up to 268c/kg lwt. Only a handful of pens made under $700.

The pride of the day was the heifers, which nearly sold between 200 and 220c/kg lwt. Not many heifers made less than $640 with many from $680-$855.

Jim Saunders, MSS livestock agencies, Gundagai and Tumut, was one of the northern buyers surveying the cattle at Wodonga, Thursday, January 8. Many buyers came from the north after good rain has sparked restocking demand. Jim said he had picked out numerous pens, but was waiting to see how the sale evolved.

The sale was conducted by Corcoran Parker, Elders and Landmark.