Prices down at Leongatha’s store market

There has been recent rain in the area, but no follow-up, according to Landmark auctioneer Stuart Jenkin.

“There’s no feed about, so no one’s prepared to pay, so they’ll sit and wait until the end of winter and go from there,” Mr Jenkin said.

Prices on heifers and steers were $20-50 cheaper per head, in comparison to the previous sale at the same selling centre.

Lighter, younger steers, at 200-230 kilograms, made from $500-$750/head, while the better, heavier steers topped at $1100/head.

Lighter heifers made from $500-700/head, while the better end reached $850/head.

There was an air of disappointment among vendors, but acceptance that this was the current market state.

Sharon Kelly, ‘J&S Kelly’, Korumburra, sold two pens of Angus steers, with her top pen of 11, 392kg, making $1120/head, or 286c/kg.

Ms Kelly said she was not selling steers any earlier than normal, but that it had been hard to get cattle up to scratch because of the difficult season.

She said she was happy with the prices, given the state of the market.

Amanda Wilkin, ‘A&B Wilkin’, Mirboo, sold two pens of five steers, av 376kg, with the heavier pen making $1080/head, or 270c/kg, and the lighter pen making $980/head, or 273c/kg.

Ms Wilkin said she had hoped both pens would exceed $1000/head.

She said it had been a struggle to get cattle up to this point.

“It’s been dry, we were hoping to hang on to these steers for a bit longer, but we had to make room for the cows and calves,” Ms Wilkin said.

Ian Hengstberger, ‘Hengstberger & Lloyd’, Dumbalk, sold 27 Friesian steers, ranging from 402-486kg, for between 153-196c/kg.

Mr Hengstberger said he had a good spring, but a dry autumn, and after selling these would be taking advantage of lower prices, and buying more cattle to fatten up from the north.

Neil Arnup, 'N&M Arnup', Fish Creek, sold a pen of five heifers, 317kg, at $770/head, or 243c/kg.

Having sold steers earlier in the year, Mr Arnup said he normally sells his heifers at this time, after picking which heifers to keep.

“Everyone’s dry around here, we’ve been feeding hay,” Mr Arnup said.

Mr Jenkin said vendors from East Gippsland, particularly the Bairnsdale region, sent cattle to the sale, to take advantage of what had been a slightly better season.

With Bairnsdale offering a huge yarding at its store sale the following day, he said it could work out to be a smart decision.

“There was probably 150-160 cattle from Bairnsdale, that’s probably the vendors trying to be a bit opportunistic, even though it is dry here, we haven’t done it as hard as they have,” he said.

In what was a small crowd, feedlotters were active buyers, but local farmers were not.

Mr Jenkin said the buyers aren’t here because the cattle aren’t here.

“We had two or four breeders in our lineup last sale that had 300 or so calves on offer, but we’ve now sold our major lines of cattle here,” he said.

“It was a public holiday yesterday, so it’s definitely a holiday market today.”