- Yarded: 1645
- Heifers:
- +450kg $1176-$1260, av 250c/kg;
- 360-450kg: $920-$1240, av 275c;
- 280-360kg: $790-$1050, av 283c.
YOUNG beef heifer suppliers were dealt another jail free- card at Ballarat on Friday when a small following of buyers bid above expected prices.
Contesting a smaller than usual annual penning of 1645-head, three or four restocker and feeder orders claimed the bulk of the numbers for a result that overall averaged around $935 a head or 275c/kg.
The grown heifer penning, which ranged in weights mainly from 380 to 506kg saw the heaviest lot, at 676kg, sold for $1490 a head.
This yard of 10 was sold by Mt Talbot while the next best, sold at $1330, weighed 440kg and was offered by David George and family trading as Lake Goldsmith Pastoral.
And fresh from a successful clearance last week of cows with calves at foot, Des Grant, Terang swooped on almost 200 head of grown Angus heifers that he plans to join and re-offer next year.
Mr Grant’s haul included pens from Challowood- nine at 503kg bought at $1190, and 18, 461kg bought $1220 and KP Maher and Sons yard of 11, 462kg secured at $1180.
At the top of the weaner run Alpha Pastoral, Stoneleigh sold a yard of 17 Angus, 421kg at $1240 a head, with a second pen of the Alpha Pastoral Angus heifers, 376kg sold at $1070.
Q&M Hewitt sold a yard of 10 Angus, 389kg at $1060 while LG Shaw sold 11 Angus, 379kg at $1090.
Agent and buyer orders from Woodstock, Benalla and Avoca all purchased heifers to join or feed while northeast commission buyer Damien Whyte gathered a total of 366 Angus for interests at Narrabri, in northern NSW.
These cattle according to Mr Whyte will be first agisted in western Victoria before being shipped north to join a Wagyu breeding program.
The majority of his CB Hart Rural Agencies order was purchased in a price range of $850 to $940 a head for a buy average of $925.
A number of Ballarat-district operators also purchase young heifers for opportunity feeding the most active of these being John and Cheryl Fields, Avoca feedlot who scored 170 head.