PAKENHAM agents offered one of their best yardings last Thursday, with very good quality breeding coming to the fore.
This quality aided very strong competition, and dearer prices. Very few pens of dairy, and dairy cross cattle were penned, which was one of the day’s highlights.
Not overly large, the yarding of 1506 head included a larger offering of cows and calves, which included some excellent quality outfits.
Parklea P/L, Narre Warren, sold four high quality Limousin cows and calves for $3000, while South East Pastoral Partnership, Bulla, sold 13 Angus cows and calves for $2575.
Other cows and calves of mixed breeding and quality sold between $1600 and $2200. D Greenland, Jindivick, sold 27 cows and calves from $1610-$2100.
Heavy yearling steers sold very well with strong demand from Teys-Cargill, buying heavier weights for its Charlton feedlot.
Account Burnside, Coldstream, sold 42 Angus steers, 0-2 teeth, from $1650-$1730, or 333 cents per kilogram liveweight.
These prices have not been achieved for steers of this weight for a couple of weeks. The estate of Lady Ansett, Mt Eliza, offered 21 Angus steers, 426-485kg, which sold for $1500-$1570, or 324-352c/kg lwt.
Buyers kept up the pressure right throughout the sale, especially when quality prevailed.
Clondisse, Flinders, sold a line of Angus-Hereford, and Hereford steers, which varied from 369-442kg lwt. These 122 steers sold from $940 for some young steers, to $1540. Loch Springs P/L, Trafalgar, sold an impressive line of 46 yearling Angus steers, which made $1460-$1500. Coming from Nilma North, just out of Warragul in West Gippsland, were 11 yearling Shorthorn steers of D,A,S&R Benson. Weighing 376kgs, these quality bred steers sold for $1300.
Demand for lighter weight, younger steers returned to the forum. Emphasizing this was 38 Angus steers sold by H&D Brown, Catani. All three pens had their weights displayed, from a base of 197kgs to 314kgs. Selling from $1010-$1200 put them in a range of 400-513c/kg lwt.
TJ Miller, Woolamai, sold 35 Angus steers for $1160-$1380, or 388-414c/kg lwt.
Competition from buyers wanting feeder steers led the way on heavier cattle, while producers sought many of the lighter cattle, along with the heavier steers. Some of the regular buyers stood back in awe at the prices being paid at times.
Heifers also sold very well with feedlot, breeder and restocking competition all combining. Ian Montgomery, Sommers, sold 17 yearling Angus heifers for $1420 with many heifers selling between $850-1150.
Similar buyer pressure for younger, lighter weight calves continued into the sale of heifers. Sugarloaf Nominees was a volume seller of heifers, offering 72 head. These sold for $715-$1030, average $910. Aiding this strong result was the small offering of only 393 heifers.
H&D Brown, Catani, sold 40 Angus heifers, which sold from $780-$910, the later two pens equalling 394 and 445c/kg lwt.